SHANE WILLIAMS: WALES AND LIONS LEGEND
It has been a tough week in Welsh rugby following the passing of the great Phil Bennett. The nation has been in mourning, although the lingering impression has been one of joy at having been able to enjoy the skills of a great player on the field and a wonderful man off it.
A legend across the rugby world, he was a Grand Slam captain of his country, a Springbok slayer with the greatest British & Irish Lions team of all time and a conqueror of the All Blacks with Llanelli and the Barbarians.
As well as that he played for Wales Schools U15 and Wales Youth, toured Argentina with Wales on the uncapped tour of 1968, led Wales U25 XV to victory over Fiji in 1970, scored 26 points for a Wales XV in a big win against Japan in 1973, scored 52 points in four games on the 1973 tour to Canada and then 60 points in three games in Japan in 1975, including a 34-point haul in the second Test.
His death once again raised the age-old debate of who is the greatest player to fill the outside-half jersey for Wales. Having won two Grand Slams, won a series with the Lions and captained them on a second tour, beaten the All Blacks with his club side and hoisted the Wales points record to 166 in 29 appearances, he has a great claim to the title of the greatest No.10 of all time.
Those numbers would have increased to 265 from 36 games had caps been awarded for a further seven appearances he made for Wales XVs (Argentina and Japan twice, Fiji, Canada and New Zealand once each). Add in 236 points in 27 games for the Lions (including the Queen's Silver Jubilee Match in 1977), 189 points in 20 games for the Barbarians and then a massive 2,532 points in 413 outings for his beloved Llanelli and you start to see the scale of his achievements – 3,042 points in 496 games.
I simply couldn't imagine what it took to play more than 400 times for a club side. How did they find the time to fit in all those matches? Phil was there for most of them and helped Llanelli win the WRU Challenge Cup four times among many other title triumphs.
But I just mention those few figures in passing. The real essence of the man was his humility, kindness and deep-seated sense of commitment to Felinfoel, Llanelli and Wales. Some of the stories that have come out this week have been amazing.
We all know that chasing Phil on the rugby field was like trying to catch a cross between Road Runner and Scarlet Pimpernel. They sought him here, they sought him there, but they were never able to catch him. Just ask the All Blacks flanker, Alastair Scown!
“He was an absolute genius, a player who had a massive heart and never shirked a tackle”
Graham Thomas, who was Phil's ghost-writer on the Sunday Mirror for 25 years, told a great story about him at the 50th anniversary of the Welsh Rugby Writers' Association last week. When he wasn't watching his beloved Scarlets, Phil used to go with one of his sons to stand on the touchline at Felinfoel, where he was President. On one occasion a player from the opposition broke his leg and had to wait for an ambulance.
Phil raced to his car to get some blankets to take onto the pitch to keep the player warm and then stayed with him until he had been successfully taken to hospital.
I was born in 1977 when Phil scored that great try against Scotland at Murrayfield. It was voted as the greatest Welsh try by Welsh fans in a WRU poll a few years ago and it was something that inspired me. I thought that if someone that small could do something like that then I wanted to try to emulate him. He was an absolute genius on the field, a player who had a massive heart who never shirked a tackle and always got stuck in.
But away from the rugby pitch he was one of the nicest men I ever met. Five years ago, I played in a game for Amman United, my local team, and got a bang to the face that fractured my cheekbone. I was due to speak that same night at the Diplomat Hotel in Llanelli and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to meet the commitment. I turned up, but I couldn't talk. I explained the situation to Phil, who was also there, and told him I'd have to go to hospital some time that night. “Don't worryboy, I've got this sorted”, said Phil.
He stepped in and captivated the audience for an hour, talking about me, his love of Llanelli and Welsh rugby in the sixties and seventies. I didn't have to do anything. That was the measure of one of the true icons of the global game.
The outpouring of emotion this week has been simply incredible and thoroughly deserved. I expect there to be a massive crowd at Parc Y Scarlets on June 24 when Wales says goodbye to one of its most famous sons at a service of remembrance, in much the same way as they did when we lost Ray Gravell.
For those who never got the chance to see Phil play, or better still to meet him, there is now a statue of him in his home village of Felinfoel.Sporting statues are few and far between in the UK, but the diminu tive man from a small village on the outskirts of Llanelli was thoroughly deserving of his iconic status.
I just hope the Welsh team that plays in South Africa next month, the country where he led the Springboks a merry dance on the 1974
British & Irish Lions tour, will honour his memory with some great performances. That's what he would have wanted more than anything else.
We may have lost a legend, but his memory and inspiration will live on through the video clips, stories and statistics that will remain to showcase his extraordinary talent. He started one of the greatest tries of all time for the Barbarians against New Zealand and then finished one of the best Welsh tries of all time at Murrayfield.
Not a bad epitaph!
