Edwards reflects on a memorable career – and ‘that try’

'Growing up in a Welsh mining village, you are either going to become a humorist, or a manic depressive,' says Gareth Edwards. He got the lucky break and became one of the best scrum-halves the world has ever seen.

Famous for scoring 'That Try' for the Barbarians against the All Blacks in 1973, Edwards was in Hong Kong this week, celebrating his 60th birthday at a charity event with All Black legend Colin Meads, former British and Irish Lion and England international Martin Bayfield and venerable Scottish commentator Ian Robertson.

'I can't believe I'm about to turn 60,' Edwards said. 'It doesn't feel like it is 40 years ago since I first played for Wales. Once you turn 40, the camera's on fast-forward.

'Everybody thinks I must be tired of watching the footage of 'that try' against the All Blacks in 1973 at Cardiff Arms Park, but in actual fact I only saw the clip in its entirety about two years ago at the BBC with Phil Bennett and David Duckham. Up until then, I'd only seen glimpses of it, but not the whole thing,' he said of the try that Bennett started and Edwards finished off at Cardiff Arms Park.

'That All Black side was the finest I ever played against, and would stand up now, even by today's standards,' said Edwards, who is currently translating another autobiography from Welsh, where he describes life as a son of a poor miner from the village with a name that looks like a bad Scrabble hand (Gwaun-cae-Gurwen).

'Life was simple, we lived out on the streets, and you had a wonderful sense of belonging in that isolated hamlet near Swansea.

'You lived for the moment until you won a race or scored a goal. Getting that scholarship to Millfield British public school was a lucky break.'