KeithQuinnRugby
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What a scene it was when Wales ran out to play New Zealand at the Millennium Stadium.
22 November 2014
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 22 2014
What a day to remember today for a very high percentage of the Quinn/Loveridge tour groups who are here in Cardiff. To sit in the stands at Millennium Stadium and watch a New Zealand v Wales rugby match unfold was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most. And even for those of us who have been before it was a super-charged feeling to be back again.
The 70,000 crowd's singing was the best I personally had ever heard. And I first came here 36 years ago!
I wondered whether it might have been because the sound of all the vocalists was amplified because the roof was closed over, or, was it because microphones dangling in front of the Male Voice Choir and Army band helped to raise the volumn's lever? Or was it the shear size of the 100-strong male voice choir who just made it all SEEM better that ever. I loved it all and found myself singing along to the bits that are so familiar. The only black mark on the local organisation came when the male voice stadium announcer said we were 'about to be entertained by 'several May-Owrry' songs by the choir.
The game itself I will review elsewhere on this page. Suffice to say it was a wonderful day. And the 34-16 result helped too (from a Kiwi point of view at least!!
Our group had walked down together from the Hilton Hotel and there was very little crowding along the short route. The hotel was only about 500 metres from the ticket entrance and our people wanted to go early, so we were in place by 3.30pm for the 5.30 kickoff. Never mind, that gave us plenty of time to take in all of the wonder of a Welsh rugby experience.
{FOOTNOTE} The date for this game; November 22 was a reminder that on the same calendar day 51 years ago, in 1963, the Cardiff rugby crowd had gathered to watch Wilson Whineray's All Blacks team play the Cardiff club team. NZ won 6-5. On that occasion the population had watched quietly. Everyone was subdued because the night before news had come through that in Dallas, Texas, the popular American President John F. Kennedy had been shot dead in Dallas Texas. The two rugby teams on that far off day had stood in silence at halfway in his honour.
Just because they had wanted to.
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Wales 13 NZ 8 in Cardiff; Their first win over the All Blacks for 50 years. But as of 2014 they had never beaten NZ again in over 50 more years!
JAMES, CARWYN
Llanelli and Wales
2 internationals for Wales 1958
A brilliant rugby man whether as a player, coach, lecturer, broadcaster or writer.
Carwyn James had the misfortune to play in the same era as the great Cliff Morgan, and it was not until 1958 that he played flyhalf for Wales, when it beat Australia by 9–3 at Cardiff. James kicked a dropped goal. Later that season he played centre against France, outside Morgan.
It was as a coach that the quietly-spoken James made his mark on world rugby. Without ever having coached Wales, he was elected to guide the 1971 British Isles team in New Zealand. Under his quiet tutelage the Lions played winning rugby against the All Blacks, and James’s innate tactical judgments and expert reading of opposition strengths shot him into world prominence.
His reputation was enhanced in 1972–73, when he coached Llanelli to its famous win over the All Blacks. He was also the guiding hand behind the Barbarians club’s fortunes against the All Blacks in the final game of that same tour — a game said by many to be the greatest game ever played. James later coached with considerable success in Italy, where his influence on the players at the Rovigo club was said to be enormous.
Personal differences between James and some members of the Welsh Rugby Union meant that he never coached the national team, although at the time he was clearly a very good candidate for the job.
After his spell of coaching he turned to writing and broadcasting, where he proved to be very successful, with a turn of phrase that said much for his intellect and rugby wisdom. He wrote several coaching and historical manuals on the game and was an expert interpreter of rugby on television and radio.
James was an ardent Welsh nationalist who turned down an OBE after the Lions tour of New Zealand. He spoke Welsh fluently and encouraged others to do the same.
Carwyn James collapsed and died in the Netherlands in 1983, and was deeply mourned by his friends and colleagues. Many called him a genius of rugby, though it was also said he was a prophet of the game who was never honoured in his own country. The prominent English writer, John Reason, called Carwyn James ‘the best coach the world has yet seen’.
Which club supplied seven players of the 1971 British and Irish Lions touring team to New Zealand - five of whom played all four tests?
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