Gareth Edwards

Gareth Owen Edwards ( born July 12, 1947 in Pontardawe, Wales ) is a former Welsh rugby union player at the position of scrum Halbs. He is considered one of the best players of all time. Edwards was the son of a miner from Gwaun - cae - Gurwen. A scholarship enabled him to attend the prestigious Millfield Public School.

Career

At the age of 19 years, 1967, he made ​​his international debut and until 1978 he played in all 53 internationals for Wales, where he ran aground as captain 13 times. He is still the youngest captain of the Welsh national team, with 20 years the first time it was this honor. During his career, Wales dominated the Five Nations with seven wins, including three Grand Slams

Ten times he also played for the British and Irish Lions, including the legendary Lions team that the first and so far only time could win a game series against the All Blacks in New Zealand in 1971. The following tour in 1974 in South Africa was the participation of Edwards for the Lions unbeaten at the end.

The particular strength of Edwards was in addition to his extraordinary speed, strength and agility to be wit with which he brought it to twenty attempts in his international career. Especially famous is the attempt for the Barbarians in 1973 against the All Blacks in Cardiff, often referred to simply as, "that attempt " ( "that try" ) referred.

As he wrote an autobiography, he could not thereafter compete in the then still pure amateur sport Rugby Union, exercising a team or intervene in any way in the sport.

A survey of the magazine Rugby World said Gareth Edwards in 2003 as the best player of all time. Surprisingly, however, it declared that the All- Blacks scrum half Sid Going 've dominated him in the seven games they played against each other:

However, could this have been because of the respective strikers, so Edwards:

Today, Gareth Edwards works as a commentator for the BBC and the Welsh S4C. A statue of him stands in the St David's Shopping Centre in Cardiff. In 1997 he was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, 2007 in the IRB Hall of Fame.