• Rewind to 1973

The greatest try ever scored

Gareth Edwards claims he never ran so fast © PA Photos

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Every sport has a yardstick, a single moment or individual that acts as a measure by which to judge those who come before and after.

In football the moment is Diego Maradona's meandering, jinking, tormenting run against England at the 1986 World Cup, or Brazil's work of art against Italy's team of the 1970s. Cricket uses Donald Bradman's 99.94 average as the standard bearer for all batsmen; golf has Jack Nicklaus' 18 majors to plant its flag aside.

Football's 15-man code, rugby union, rests its reputation on a try scored by arguably the greatest player ever to have donned the Welsh jersey, fittingly produced at the former home of Welsh rugby: Cardiff Arms Park. A work of art in sporting terms as all the pieces of a hugely complex puzzle fell into place, Gareth Edwards' try for the Barbarians as they beat the 1973 All Blacks was a collective masterpiece borne out of a single vision shared by one group of exceptional players, playing on the very edge of their instincts to improvise the moment by which all others are judged in the game of rugby.

On November 13, 2010, a try by England's Chris Ashton against Australia sparked arguably the loudest roar heard at Twickenham since the era of Clive Woodward, when the likes of Will Greenwood, Lawrence Dallaglio and Martin Johnson were brushing aside all before them on a seemingly destined path to the 2003 World Cup. Back then the roars that greeted Woodward's men were ones of pride and anticipation - England were the best in the world at that time - but Ashton's touchdown inspired a noise borne out of promise and new hope for the future.

Ben Youngs, the talented 21-year-old Leicester scrum-half was the catalyst for the move, fittingly so, given that Edwards also donned the No. 9 jersey. As Australia pressed on the England line, Youngs faked to clear with the boot, but then chose to keep the ball in hand to allow Ashton to race 90 metres up field, jagging inside at speed to score one of the great Twickenham tries.

But that is how it will be remembered in the future: 'One of the great Twickenham tries', not 'the greatest try ever scored'.

Chris Ashton produced one of the biggest roars heard at Twickenham for many a year © Getty Images

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That honour belongs to Edwards and the 1973 Baa Baas side, one largely re-assembled from the 1971 British & Irish Lions team that had beaten the All Blacks in New Zealand two years earlier. To this day that victory remains the only series the Lions have ever won against the Kiwis, and on January 27, 1973, the All Blacks wanted revenge.

New Zealand had just completed an unbeaten tour of the Home Unions, and they boasted world class talents such as Ian Kirkpatrick and former New Zealand record try-scorer Bryan Williams. England had been denied a single point in their encounter at Twickenham, while one of the best Wales sides ever to have graced the game had succumbed to a 19-16 defeat on home turf.

However, this was the one the All Blacks truly wanted. They performed the now-world renowned haka prior to kick-off, the only time they did so on a 28-match tour. Yet within four minutes of their encounter with the Barbarians, they were stunned by a try of rare quality.

Just as Clodoaldo's mazy brilliance had set the ball rolling in Brazil's magical goal against Italy in 1970, fly-half Phil Bennett produced the rugby equivalent in Cardiff. Clodoaldo's movement was poetic as he dazzled four Italians inside his own half, and Bennett was equally imaginative as a series of jinks and side-steps from an almost stationary starting position turned defence into attack inside his own 22. Cliff Morgan, whose commentary on the match is now legendary, captured Bennett's impish movement as he chased a bobbling kick back towards his posts, reporting: "Kirkpatrick, to Williams. This is great stuff. Phil Bennett covering, chased by Alistair Scown. Brilliant, oh, that's brilliant..."

Next came the moment for which rugby owes a great debt to French referee George Domercq, who refrained from stopping play after a dangerously high tackle from New Zealand wing Bryan Williams on his namesake, JPR. With play allowed to go on, Morgan's hectic commentary continued: "John Williams... Pullin, John Dawes. Great dummy..."

Gareth Edwards was a mercurial figure in Welsh rugby © Getty Images

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Dawes' subtle show of the ball to the outside allowed him to burst up to halfway, where Morgan was now sensing something magical in the offing: "David, Tom David, the half-way line...". Like an NFL commentator shouting '40, 30, 20' as he counts down the yards to a touchdown, Morgan's acknowledgement of "the half-way line" was evidence he was beginning to see a piece of history unravelling. Crucially, Tom David had only been drafted in on the morning of the match after legendary Wales No. 8 Mervyn Davies, a staple of the victorious Lions side, called in with the'flu.

David's role was to break the desperate tackle of an All Black before releasing a one-handed offload fully 15 yards back towards the touchline to keep the move alive. The pass was in danger of dropping dead, but No. 8 Derek Quinnell defied his enormous frame, stooping like a cricketer in the slips to keep the ball in hand, before releasing the only controversial pass of the entire move.

With scrum-half Edwards screaming "give it here" in Welsh, Quinnell popped the ball sideways to his compatriot, or was it forward? Nevertheless Edwards, arriving like the proverbial steam train, outstripped the New Zealand backline to dive over in the corner.

Edwards, who now regales his defining moment in endless after-dinner speeches, recalls: "I have never run so fast on a rugby pitch. Earlier in the movement I had been tracking back and then suddenly play came sweeping past me so I has to start sprinting flat-out just to offer some support. I was absolutely at full pelt when I called to Derek."

However, nobody can do justice to the try quite like Morgan's full, unedited, commentary, so it is left to him to narrate on the moment that eclipses all others in the game of rugby.

"Kirkpatrick, to Williams. This is great stuff. Phil Bennett covering, chased by Alistair Scown. Brilliant, oh, that's brilliant. John Williams... Pullin, John Dawes. Great dummy. David, Tom David, the half-way line. Brilliant by Quinnell. This is Gareth Edwards. A dramatic start. . . . what a score!"

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