Wales great JPR Williams will go down as perhaps rugby’s finest full-back — and yet his storied sporting career might easily never have happened.
The sideburned-sidestepper who first felled the All Blacks and then the Springboks on successive Lions tours has died, aged 74.
Tributes have poured in from across the globe at the passing of the peerless No15, who just so happened to have a day job as an orthopaedic surgeon.
Born and raised in Bridgend before later being schooled in London, he had a real chance of becoming a tennis professional. His doctor father had other ideas, however, and told him to “get a proper job”, as Williams himself later recalled.
So, seek a suitable career he did, and his exploits in medicine allowed him to pursue rugby as a passion — one that earned him 55 Wales caps and eight with the Lions.
At the vanguard of Wales’s glory era, William helped the Lions to what still remains their sole Test series win in New Zealand in 1971, and then was on hand as the tourists toppled South Africa in 1974 to boot.
Later, he combined his work as a surgeon by turning out at local club Tondu, still in the back-row into his 50s. He died on Monday and is survived by his wife and four children.
“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,” read a family statement. “The family request privacy at this difficult time.”
Williams won three Five Nations Grand Slams — in 1971, 1976 and 1978 — before his Test career ended in 1981.
Among the very best stars of London Welsh’s most decorated era, Williams represented the famed club from 1968 to 1976.
“One of Bridgend’s most decorated players and an icon of world rugby, JPR served the club most recently as club president,” read a statement from his hometown club Bridgend Ravens. Our thoughts are with JPR’s family and friends at this sad time.”
Williams’ fearless play marked him out as among the toughest operators in perhaps rugby’s most rugged era.
A match-saving tackle on France wing Jean-Francois Gourdon in 1976 remains replayed to this day. The shoulder barge would doubtless receive the harshest refereeing sanctions now, but was feted the world over at the time.
And his threshold for pain reached even greater heights when Bridgend hosted the touring All Blacks in 1978.
Williams was stamped on the face by New Zealand prop John Ashworth, leaving the field to receive 30 stitches, administered by his father Peter on the touchline, no less, before returning to the fray.
"A man with a hand in almost every great rugby moment to stand the test of time from his era, Williams was also involved in perhaps rugby’s greatest-ever try"
Former Wales and Lions flanker John Taylor helped the Lions to glory in New Zealand alongside Williams. Allied to being London Welsh team-mates, Taylor was Williams’s best man.
“He revolutionised how a full-back should play. He was unbelievable and perhaps the first attacking full-back,” said Taylor. “London Welsh was perfect for him, because we played attacking rugby from everywhere.”
A man with a hand in almost every great rugby moment to stand the test of time from his era, Williams was also involved in perhaps rugby’s greatest-ever try. Sir Gareth Edwards’s score for the Barbarians against New Zealand in Cardiff in 1973 still remains one of the game’s finest, and Williams was one of its architects.
World Rugby said Williams was “one of the greatest players the game has ever seen”, while the Barbarians hailed him as a man who “would always have a special place in the hearts and history of our club”. London Welsh lamented a “huge loss to all who knew and loved him”.
Former Wales half-back Jonathan Davies said: “Not many people can go simply by their initials. If you wanted anybody behind you at full-back, there would be nobody better.”
