Bleddyn Willliams - The Prince of Centres

Many things have happened since Wales last beat the All Blacks here at the home of Welsh rugby.

Anywhere. Nearly 60 years, for example.

But a few things remain imperishable.

Take the name of the captain of Wales on that day in 1953.

The man they called the Prince of Centres.

COMMENTATOR

And how good was he?

Well, he was as successful as John Dawes.

As thoughtful as Mike Gibson.

As smooth as Jeremy Guscott.

As robust as Philippe Sella.

He was the Brian O'Driscoll of his day, of any day.

He was the great, the truly great, Bleddyn Williams.

COMMENTATOR

My first recollection of the superstar was in the '50s

when they talked of Bleddyn.

He was very, very special.

Bleddyn Williams, his name, will live as long as rugby's been played.

For people of my generation, he was the best ever.

He's still the best ever.

History will judge Bleddyn Williams to be probably

the supreme centre of all time.

It's 56 years since Wales last beat the All Blacks.

Here is a man who did it twice in less than a month.

My father has now passed away, but if anyone asked him

what was his most memorable game for the All Blacks, 1953 in Cardiff stood out like a beacon.

CROWD SINGS

He was a great centre.

The Prince of Centres.

The Prince of Centres was born not into royalty

but into the large Williams family of Moy Road, Taff's Well,

a village just north of Cardiff.

Taff's Well - on the River Taff.

And complete with its well of warm spring water.

1923, an age of horse-drawn barges along the canals,

tickling trout in the river,

village life surrounded by iron works and quarries

on the fringe of the great coal port of Cardiff.

He was a true son of Taff's Well.

I had the privilege once of meeting his mother, the dear old lady

that gave birth to all these children, including the 8 boys.

He grew up a great rugby player, both for Taff's Well,

he was spotted by a local teacher,

he got into Cardiff and well, the rest of it is history.

On the advice of Wilf Wooller, cricket captain of Glamorgan,

rugby centre for Wales, Bleddyn was awarded

a scholarship to Wooller's old school, Rydal in Colwyn Bay.

BOMBS EXPLODE

Consequently, this country is at war with Germany.

AIR RAID SIRENS WAIL

From Rydal, North Wales, and Cardiff, South Wales, to Phoenix, Arizona.

Whatever was going to happen on the home front in rugby did not happen.

At least, not until the Second World War was over. Any rugby then was played in the services.

In this case, the Royal Air Force.

Pilot Officer Williams joined up at the age of 19 in 1942.

And to get his wings, was posted to the desert

on the other side of the pond.

I was trained as a pilot in America and I qualified and came back

and I was going on to advanced flying school. But when I did go back,

Arnhem had taken place and they'd lost so many glider pilots,

and they had a surplus of us.

So, I was volunteered to become a glider pilot.

So, we did the Rhine operation, we dropped about five miles in the German side of the Rhine.

But before I went on that, I'd been selected to play

for Great Britain against the Dominions, as they were called then.

The game was to be called at Leicester.

The game was a week after we'd landed in Germany,

but on the Friday before the game was on the Saturday,

Hugh Bartlett was my CO

and after the war, he become captain of Sussex...cricket.

So, he said to me on the Friday morning,

"Ble, aren't you supposed to be playing at Leicester tomorrow?"

I said, "Yeah, but fat chance I've got."

Well, he said, "Pack your bags."

Within about an hour, I was on a Jeep,

and I was driven to the Rhine.

Now, I went across... Going the other way.

Pick up more troops.

They met me there with another Jeep, they drove me to Eindhoven in Holland.

Flew me from there to Brize Norton in Oxford.

I stayed the night.

I went...I travelled to Leicester the following day,

and played, and we won the game. And I scored a try.

-Not even Hitler gets in the way of...

-Exactly what I was going to say.

The war was incidental to rugby football.

'We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing.

'Today is victory in Europe day.'

1946, the end of the Second World War, he'd served as an RAF pilot,

come back into civvy street, put his boots on again,

and Leeds Rugby League Club

sent their general manager to South Wales,

and the general manager was one Edward Waring.

And Waring came down, spoke to Bleddyn

and offered him £6,000.

Now, £6,000 in 1946

according to the experts is the equivalent of about seven million pounds.

He turned it down.

He said to me, "I almost went,

"but I never wanted to go for two reasons.

"One, I love rugby union.

"Two, I'd had a scholarship to Rydal school in North Wales.

"And I felt that had I cashed in my chips to go to rugby league,

"I would have been letting them down."

He stayed in amateur union in South Wales,

but not just at any old club.

Straight after the war, Cardiff entered a golden age,

playing a glittering brand of rugby that drew admirers from all walks of life,

including a wing forward turned actor, Richard Burton.

We'd be wrong, however, not to distinguish the gradations,

and, after the Second War, a Cardiff side attracted so much talent

that it created a style of its own.

The mental picture that I have of Bleddyn, going back to the 1947 season,

the wonderful 1948 season,

when he set the club record for scoring tries,

was always when Cardiff were, say, attacking from the halfway line,

what you could pretty well depend on

is that Bleddyn would come off his right foot

to beat his opposite number in the centre,

then he'd come off his right foot again

to beat the open side wing forward who was coming across

to try and nail him, having been told, "You will have to nail Williams,"

and then as the fullback came across, he'd come off his right foot again.

It was a triple side-step off his right foot.

But one distinguishing, significant feature about him,

above all else, in comparison to others,

was the side-step, the jink.

Bleddyn could do it and give a masterclass

on how to beat an opponent by the sleight of his legs, as it were,

as opposed to sleight of hand.

And leaving the opponent desperate in his wake.

And then the posts would be right in front of him,

but instead of taking the try himself,

he would then show, absolutely to perfection, how to deliver a pass to the wing.

In those days, it was much more difficult to pass the ball, the old leather ball.

You used to have to sway your body away

and you'd pass and move the weight of your body away,

just to make sure you got a perfectly weighted pass into the wing,

just here, below the stomach, so all the wing had to do then

was catch it with two hands and run in.

This was no one-man team.

A one-family team, perhaps.

Of the eight Williams brothers,

seven at some stage played for Cardiff.

Bleddyn has had an affinity with the Cardiff Rugby Club

for well over 60 years.

Indeed, the family, I played with several of them,

Elwyn and Tony.

It was always something that Bleddyn encouraged us to do,

to play rugby,

and also to make sure that we did the things correctly.

But he always associated himself and been seen on a regular basis

at the Cardiff Rugby Club.

He endeared himself to the club.

It was his beloved club and he belonged there.

Nowhere else except for Cardiff.

There was another brother. Not of the same blood,

but a soulmate, Dr Jack Matthews, centre partner.

Hard, tough Dr Jack and Bleddyn, the perfect pairing.

Him and Jack, they were an inseparable pair.

I mean, from the playing fields of the '50s

right through almost until earlier this season,

you didn't see one without the other.

We call them frequently here the Dynamic Duo

because they always seemed to be together.

I can well remember, as a 19-year-old,

having been chosen for the Welsh Secondary Schools,

to play in the centre at the same time I was about to make my Cardiff debut as a scrum half.

I asked both him and Dr Jack for some advice on centre play.

They both looked at one another, had a laugh,

and said, you know, but they still gave me some great advice.

What a contrast.

Bleddyn, who was all grace and artistry

and Jack, the perfect foil, the man who would have gone through a brick wall,

sheer power in the days long before there was any such thing as a gym monkey.

The amazing thing was their scissors move.

I'd never seen it before

and I'm pretty sure that was the first time

that the scissors and dummy scissors move was instigated and played.

He knew what I was going to do and I knew what he was going to do.

It was something between us, I don't know what it was.

The understanding came from above because we had no coaches.

We used to talk a lot on the field,

weigh up the opposition and then we'd work it all out accordingly.

That's what one had to do in those days.

I never had a hospital pass from him!

International rugby had been on hold for seven years.

Now aged 25, Bleddyn was more than ready for it in 1947.

Well, he was a role model because he could do everything.

He was an outstanding attacker, outstanding defender.

He had all the attributes necessary and I think, probably as a youngster,

we all sort of looked at him as the model centre,

we wanted to be a Bleddyn Williams.

The centre was the showpiece, probably still is, of rugby.

As kids, I might have wanted to be John Charles or Duncan Edwards,

they were the heroes of the day,

and Bleddyn Williams was very much part of that.

I remember telling my PE master then, Bill Samuel,

that I wanted to be a centre like Bleddyn Williams.

He was a star, a natural selection now for the Lions, but there was a problem.

As Wales strode towards the Triple Crown in 1950,

and as that year's Lions tour to New Zealand approached, he was injured.

I was in plaster for three months, but I had to prove my fitness.

And it was proved on the day at Bath when Wales played France

the same day at Cardiff Arms Park, it was Cliff Morgan's first game for the first 15, and he said to me -

cheeky little so-and-so - he said, "One way to prove yourself fit - score a try in the last minute."

And he said "you'll do it".

So off we went on the field. Two minutes from the end, Morgan said "Are you ready?" I said "Yes."

He went outside the fly-half, inside the full-back, gave me the ball, I scored a try under the post.

"Williams is fit!"

The Ceramic arrives in Wellington, bringing to New Zealand

the first British rugby team to tour this country since 1930.

During its three-month stay, the team will play 23 matches...

I was fortunate enough to go on a Lions tour in '71, and we were away what I thought was a long time,

cos we had to play 26 matches over something like 13 weeks.

But this particular '50 Lions tour,

they seemed to be away for an eternity.

And it's amazing today, to think, I've just come back from a Lions tour lasting, what, six,

six and a half weeks? Whereas theirs was six months.

It took them six weeks through the Panama Canal to get to New Zealand,

and then they'd do the round the world trip and come back via Suez, another six weeks.

To think of going away for that length of time really is quite extraordinary.

This, the 5th British team to tour New Zealand, is composed entirely of players of international experience.

Of its 30 members, 3 come from England, 5 from Scotland, 9 from Ireland and 13 from Wales.

There were 13 Welshmen because they won the Triple Crown in 1950.

Now, we had no coach, so the four captains were the coach.

Karl Mullen from Ireland was our captain,

but Bleddyn was the vice captain.

And they actually did most of the training with us, and the management, and Bleddyn of course

captained the side on many occasions when sometimes Karl Mullen was hurt at one time.

But Bleddyn had a magnificent tour.

Throughout their tour the British Isles team has played fast, open football

that has drawn record crowds all over New Zealand.

The ball goes out to the British Isles backs.

The ball goes along the line to Williams, who kicks for touch

and finds it with a good one near the corner.

One day, I wasn't playing, we were having a provincial match in the North Island.

We were losing up to a few minutes of the game, and we weren't meant to lose this game,

and I'm sitting in the stands thinking, "Surely we're not going to lose this game?"

Just in the last few minutes of the game, Bleddyn Williams broke through,

touched it underneath the posts and we won the game. I remember going in afterwards,

talking to him, just saying, "Thanks, Bleddyn. That was really magnificent."

Athletic Park, Wellington, and the British Isles and New Zealand rugby union teams

take the field for the third of four tests. With the first game drawn and the second won by New Zealand,

this may be the vital match of the rubber. British Isles win the toss,

Scott kicks off for New Zealand and the referee orders a scrum at the halfway.

It would be another 21 years before John Dawes' Lions would win a series in New Zealand

for the first and only time. But the 1950 tourists went down in history as one of the strongest teams,

certainly one of the most admired.

Cuts out two men and hands it to Bleddyn Williams who races down the field on his own!

I can remember Graham Henry telling me that his father had told him,

having seen the 1950 Lions team in New Zealand,

that Bleddyn and Jack Matthews, the best centre pair he had ever seen.

Full time comes, with the final score 6-3 to New Zealand...

It doesn't really matter which era you're in, if you're a great player you could have played in any

generation, any era, and had he been on the Lions tour that's just been, he'd have been star of that side.

Well, he'd created a great name for himself, showing the New Zealand chaps what a Welsh sidestepper

was like, as opposed to, shall I say, the Maori sidestep,

which always take the straight line, the straight route to any line and no deviation. But he did that,

and succeeded, and then came home as if that was not enough for him.

He came back and in 1953 of course, famously, he played against the All Blacks twice.

1953. It was a famous year all round. Post-war austerity

suddenly was brightened by a sense of a fresh start.

Of scaling new heights. In sport, there was the Matthews Final,

Sir Stanley at his dazzling best.

And the Ashes were reclaimed for the first time in 19 years.

And then, late in the year, the mighty All Blacks came on tour.

Huh!

People talk about the fact that it's now 56 years since Wales last beat the All Blacks,

and here is a man who did it twice in less than a month, each time as captain.

Cardiff's golden age was supposed to be over.

The great team of the late '40s had turned into something more faltering

in the early '50s. But not on this day.

We went to see them play at Llanelli, and we found a little flaw in their game.

The idea was that we would throw the ball long into the line-out,

tie up their back row, and then we felt, at the time,

that man-for-man, we were much better than they, behind the scrummage.

In the dressing room it was all a little bit tense

but Bleddyn then spoke and eased our minds.

He said, "We can do this easily. We've got the team here to do this,

"we've got the half-backs, we've got the backs."

And he turned and said, "It's up to you, boys."

And...we responded.

Bleddyn always used to say they were underrated up forwards,

but he always to say, "Get us 40% of the ball and we'll do the rest."

'Completely undeterred by this,

'however, Cardiff kicked off, and proceeded to show,

'in a thrilling match, how the tourists can be beaten.'

CHEERING

'Within eight minutes, Cardiff were on the attack,

'with Thomas sending Williams away on the wing.

'A kick ahead was followed up strongly,

'and from a scramble near the line,

'Judd made the touchdown.'

CHEERING

'Cardiff, still with a couple of points in hand, continue to press the tourists.'

Cardiff scored a second try through wing Gwyn Rowlands.

Final score - Cardiff - 8, New Zealand - 3...

cue celebrations all round.

It was tremendous. The reactions - wonderful.

I think we owned Cardiff...we walked up and down the streets, you know,

people were coming up and patting you on the back,

and shaking you by the hand, and it was quite remarkable.

Cardiff had the better side on the day,

and they fully acknowledge that.

And it was a better game than the other one, as a matter of fact.

CHEERING

The rivalry between Wales and the All Blacks is as intense now as it ever was.

In fact, today's intensity is born of what it was then.

THEY CHANT

THEY SING THE WELSH NATIONAL ANTHEM

When New Zealand came over, they were 2-1 down in the series,

they're probably about 23 up now in the series,

but, at that time, they had lost in 1905, they'd won in 1924,

they'd lost by one point in 1935...and....

they were thirsting for victory in 1953.

As All Blacks, we speak about that game. You know, you're told,

in no uncertain terms, as an All Black,

when you win, celebrate success.

But park it very quickly,

and remember your losses more than your wins.

Well, it was something special,

because I was youngster of just 12 years of age. I went with my father

to the game. And we were standing at the end where it was all standing,

but, typically Welsh, we were all handed right down

to the front, so the boys could sit on the front row.

So we had, really, a prime seat.

My father, who's now passed away, you know,

if anyone asks him what was his most memorable game for the All Blacks -

1953 in Cardiff stood out like a beacon.

Just three weeks after Cardiff's victory,

the same place, the same opponents and the same try-scorer -

Sid Judd scoring after the same sort of forward rush,

just as he had done for Cardiff.

'A wild scramble followed, and Judd dived over to score.'

CHEERING

New Zealand recovered, and the score stood at eight-all.

'Someone tries to force his way over,

'but restraining hands claw him down.'

If Cardiff's win was purer, more expressive of a certain style,

Wales' win was gutsy, improvised.

Down to 14 men, stand-in wing Clem Thomas launched a kick,

and it was gathered by Ken Jones.

If Cardiff's win was the cue for celebrations,

now the whole country went mad.

CHEERING

It was a great achievement, really, because we had no coaches at all.

I still pinch myself, really, you know,

to captain two sides against them within a month,

which is rather nice.

What we didn't appreciate was the enormity of the victory.

To us, it was the All Blacks, something special,

we had never seen anyone from another country before.

And to come over and have Wales beat them

was something which just sticks in your memory.

-COMMENTATOR:

-'And Rowlands converts the winning try.

'Wales have triumphed...'

We're not expected to lose, which puts a degree of pressure on,

but if the All Blacks lose, it's a national disaster.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jim Bolger once said to me,

"When the All Blacks win, I'd love to be the All Black captain,

"but when they lose, I'd much rather be the Prime Minister of New Zealand,"

which puts it in perspective.

Whenever I look back at Bleddyn Williams' record

and realise that he not only played against the All Blacks,

but he captained Wales and Cardiff both to victories

and, dare I say it, they were celebrated annually

up until very recently and why shouldn't they?

One of the great joys I got out of being an All Black

was the pleasure it gave to Mum and Dad

and they went to every game I toured, played,

except in 1989, we toured Ireland and Wales,

Mum had to go by herself because Dad would not go back to Wales.

Time was running short on the field.

He would retire with 22 caps, having captained Wales on five occasions,

and won five times.

He really should have gone on the Lions tour of 1955 to South Africa,

but somebody decreed that nobody over the age of 30 should be selected.

The Prince of Centres deserved better than to be a victim of ageism.

Perhaps it was time to look beyond the playing side of rugby

There was a trail being blazed. What to do next?

Follow his young fly half, Cliff Morgan, and go into the media.

..Have had very much better in the first half.

In fact, it's been a very disappointing game...

Because of Bleddyn's fame and his wonderful personality,

he was able to bring to that little studio

in a chapel down in Broadway in Cardiff

some of the most famous people you can imagine.

One day, he turned up with Stanley Baker, the actor, Sir Stanley,

who admired Bleddyn, as we all did.

I have Bleddyn's autobiography

and it automatically opens at page 37

because he says that if I hadn't fallen for the lure of tinsel and paint and so on,

I might have made a very nippy wing forward for Wales.

However, I think he was being over-generous.

SINGING

Bleddyn became the presenter, with his blazer,

presenting Welsh Sports Parade on a Tuesday night.

Tonight's Sports Parade comes from a very famous sporting centre here in Wales.

It was very pioneering and Bleddyn, I have no doubt about it,

was very much part of how we established ourselves.

We could pick defensive players, as we have in the past, especially in the centre,

-but I would favour people like Gerald Davies...

-I'm going to interrupt you

because we've just heard that the team is through now.

Full back, Teddy Price...

Stuart Watkins, right wing.

He was the image of BBC Wales television sport.

and he carried that mantle very well indeed.

And then he wrote about the game for over 30 years for the Sunday People.

From Moy Road in Taff's Well on the edge of Cardiff

to the centre of the city, to the centre of the rugby world,

the Prince of Centres,

and beyond, to writing and broadcasting

and further still, to enjoying a quiet pint in Cardiff Athletic Club

with his soul mate Dr Jack,

or quietly watching from the back of the press box,

the retired, retiring Bleddyn Williams.

But what peaks he had mounted in the middle.

The twin peaks of '53.

They set him apart. They defined a marvellous life.

I was at a club awards ceremony in Mid Wales

and Bleddyn Williams was the guest of honour.

The club president introduced him and there was a polite round of applause.

I said, "Hang on. This is the player

"the centre of all centres,

"who beat the All Blacks not once, but twice, in 1953,

"who was captain on the last day Wales beat New Zealand."

So, for Bleddyn Williams, not a polite round of applause,

but farewell to one of the greatest players of all time.

# I've been wasting today

# I could just run away

# Out where the west winds come

# With someone like you

# A pal good and true

# I'd like to leave it all behind and go and hide

# Someplace that's known

# To God alone

# Just a spot to call our own

# We'll find perfect peace

# Where joys never cease

# Out there beneath a kindly sky

# We'll build a sweet little nest

# Somewhere in the West

# And let the rest of the world go by. #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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