Wales legend and Bok tormentor JPR Williams dies at the age of 74

JPR Williams (l) chats to Gareth Edwards as a host of former Welsh Internationals were invited to watch the Wales team train at The Millennium Stadium on November 6, 2008 in Cardiff, Wales. (Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

By Craig Ray

9 Jan 2024

Wales’ JPR Williams, one of the greatest fullbacks to play rugby, died at the age of 74 on Monday after suffering bacterial meningitis.

The triumphant 1974 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, with the tourists claiming the series 3-0 with one draw against the Springboks, was characterised by their forward power.

Those Lions understood that to beat the Boks they needed to at least match them up front. But even so, it required magic behind the pack to make that forward effort count. And Wales fullback JPR Williams was one of several magicians that the Lions back division possessed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pcLeDVBaEs

With his long hair and bushy sideburns, his socks often around his ankles at a time when it wasn’t de rigueur as it is today, JPR cut a swathe, literally, through South African rugby.

The 1974 Lions won 21 of their 22 matches on that tour, with the fourth Test against the Boks drawn when the series was already won by the tourists.

In the infamous “Battle of Boet Erasmus”, JPR ran 60m to join another skirmish at the infamous “99” call that Lions skipper Willie John McBride had devised. JPR responded to the battle cry, targeting the much larger Bok lock Moaner van Heerden.

It underlined his commitment to the team, bravery and, of course, the loose interpretation of laws at the time.

“I’m not particularly proud of it now, but I remember sprinting about 40 yards to hit their biggest guy in the second row, Moaner van Heerden,” he told The Times in 2009.

Dawie Snyman of the Springboks and JPR Williams. (Photo: Wessel Oosthuizen / Gallo Images)

“As I went towards him, there were two players running the other way, Phil Bennett and Andy Irvine. At least I’d picked on the biggest guy.

“I met him on the train about three or four years ago when South Africa were playing Wales and he was coming down to present the jerseys to the South Africans, and he paid me a great compliment – he said it was the best punch he’d ever had in his life.”

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But it wasn’t only the Boks who learnt the hard way about his elusive running, strong tackling, impressive linking play and brilliant rugby brain, the entire rugby world suffered against JPR at one stage or another.

He was influential in the 1971 Lions series win over the All Blacks, landing a spectacular drop-goal from near the halfway line in the drawn fourth Test, which gave the Lions a 2-1 series win.

He was the defensive rock in every team in which he played, the counter-attacking inspiration and the man who feared nothing and never saw a lost cause.

JPR played all eight Lions Tests in those two series, winning five, drawing two and only losing one.

He was part of the 1973 Barbarians team who scored what is considered the greatest try of all. JPR played an influential part in the move, finished by Gareth Edwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXUdGPjJHkc

JPR Williams was also a key member of the glory years of Welsh rugby in the 1970s, alongside greats such as Edwards, Phil Bennett, Mervyn Davies, Gerald Davies and the wonderful JJ Williams.

“The world of rugby has lost one of its greatest players of all time, a man who revolutionised fullback play over an international career of 12 years that included 55 caps for Wales and eight for the British & Irish Lions,” said Wales Rugby Union president Terry Cobner.

“He was the defensive rock in every team in which he played, the counter-attacking inspiration and the man who feared nothing and never saw a lost cause. We all thought he was ‘Mr Indestructible’.

JPR Williams during the 1974 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa. (Photo: Wessel Oosthuizen / Gallo Images)

“Although he played during the amateur era, he was thoroughly professional in his sporting outlook and always drove standards in training and on the field. With JPR in your side, there was always a chance of winning anything.

“Welsh rugby will remember him as one of our greatest players of all-time – those 55 caps, three Grand Slams and six Triple Crowns prove that.

Nobody’s getting through Heaven’s defence tonight.

“He also played in all eight Tests in New Zealand and South Africa on arguably the two greatest tours undertaken by the Lions in 1971 and 1974.”

A statement from his family confirmed the news: “JPR died peacefully today at the University Hospital of Wales surrounded by his loving wife and four children, after a short illness, bravely battling bacterial meningitis. The family request privacy at this difficult time.”

JPR Williams chats to Gareth Edwards as a host of former Welsh internationals were invited to watch the Wales team train at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 6 November 2008. (Photo: Stu Forster / Getty Images)

Competitor of competitors

Born in Bridgend on 2 March 1949, John Peter Rhys Williams became the 1966 British junior tennis champion, beating David Lloyd at Wimbledon, as well as excelling at rugby.

He played for Wales Schools U19 at rugby and won the first of his Welsh caps as a teenager against Scotland at Murrayfield in 1969.

He followed his father into the medical profession and became an orthopaedic surgeon. In 1980 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He studied medicine at St Mary’s and while in London starred for London Welsh, helping them to become the most powerful and attractive side in the UK.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Germany’s football great Franz Beckenbauer dead at 78

Tributes have poured in from across the rugby world.

Rugby commentator Nick Mullins wrote: “JPR Williams and Franz Beckenbauer on the same day. Sporting gods for so many of us growing up in the 1970s. Nobody’s getting through Heaven’s defence tonight.”

Former Lions coach Carwyn James, who led them in 1971, perhaps best summed up JPR: “Like a forest animal he was blessed with the sixth sense for the presence of danger. It was an element he sought and loved. Fearless. Uncompromising. The competitor of competitors.” DM

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Competitor of competitors