All things considered, it probably isn’t a great idea to punch a local idol in South Africa.
Thinking about it, it’s not such a clever call to take aim at an individual enjoying such status anywhere. People tend to get upset about it.
And so to Durban in 1974, when JPR Williams became embroiled in a disagreement with all-round Natal icon Tommy Bedford.
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Articulate and politically liberal, the Oxford-educated Bedford was an advocate of multi-racial rugby in South Africa at a time of apartheid and also happened to be the best breakaway forward in the Republic. To the people of Natal, he was a champion.
He and his team-mates had also been ignored by the Springboks’ selectors for the Lions series that year, which deepened the indignation of the locals.
Just don’t rough him up, then. Evidently, Williams didn't receive the memo.
Well into the second half of the Natal v Lions match on that tour, with the visitors holding a precarious 9-6 lead and battling hard to preserve their unbeaten record on the trip, the then premier full-back in world rugby unleashed a fusillade of punches at Bedford.
In his autobiography published in 1979, Williams wrote: “I could not have picked a worse time and place to lose my temper on a rugby field. Midway through the second half, when the Natal side was holding us extremely well, I was fielding a high ball in our 22 when I fumbled it and was bundled into touch by Tommy Bedford, the great hero of Natal.
“I was annoyed with myself and then felt my hair being grabbed plus a hefty kick to my head. I now realise this was accidental but at the time I was furious. I lashed out at Bedford by rabbit-punching him on the floor.
“As he lay there flat on his back, as if unconscious, the horror of the situation dawned. The incident took place very close to the spectators and I thought the whole crowd was going to attack me. They were screaming at me and one fan was beating me over the head with a stick. What a scene! The crowd was going berserk and throwing nartjies (tangerines) on the pitch, which was common in South Africa, and then came beer cans and bottles, which were not."
Skipper Willie-John McBride, he went on to say, had to stop the game and call the Lions players into the middle of the pitch in case any of them got injured.
Williams' team-mate, JJ Williams, said the JPR-Bedford tete-a-tete “provoked the biggest riot I have seen during a rugby match”.
To the good doctor’s credit, he was contrite over the incident. To Bedford’s credit, he forgave him.
But there was punishment at the post-match marquee where Bedford’s wife, Jane, spotted Williams and gave him a piece of her mind.
The bad feeling didn’t last. Williams subsequently returned to Natal to play for them with JJ and fellow Lion Ian McLauchlan under Bedford as captain. Call that a nice twist to the tale. You can read about JPR at 70 here.
If the episode recounted here wasn't his finest hour, what a player he was. McLauchlan has since said that JJ Williams “used to look in the mirror and call himself a superstar”.
JPR didn’t have need for such self-validation. Belief oozed out of every pore. Courage, too.
Indeed, it’s hard to imagine there has been a more courageous player to play for Wales. And for Bridgend, his hometown team, he played as he did for his country, at 100 percent, the only way he knew.
But he made a point of never repeating a mistake and he was always big enough to say sorry. That counts for a lot.
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