Sad loss to Rugby today Barry John ..

[pargyle]

Probably the greatest fly half that rugby has ever seen. I saw him play in the five nations, Wales against England, Twickenham, 1970 I think .. wales won by a few points but if it had not been for Barry John they would have lost .. He was just unbelievable - if there was a hole in the defence he found it. RIP ... one of the greats.

 

[JamezF]

Absolute legend of the game. JPR Williams and Malcolm Price only four weeks ago, too

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

Probably the greatest fly half that rugby has ever seen. I saw him play in the five nations, Wales against England, Twickenham, 1970 I think .. wales won by a few points but if it had not been for Barry John they would have lost .. He was just unbelievable - if there was a hole in the defence he found it. RIP ... one of the greats.

Absolutely wonderful to watch fleet of foot and speed. So different from the game now with its leviathans thumping into each other.

 

[JamezF]

Absolutely wonderful to watch fleet of foot and speed. So different from the game now with its leviathans thumping into each other.

It's a totally different game these days, and more's the pity. When you look at some of the "giants" of the game back then... Grant Batty (NZ winger) was tiny, Jaques Fouroux (French scrum half) also. Even Gareth Edwards and Phil Bennet were quite small. I'm not sure any of them would have got a game now.

James

 

[JamezF]

Claim to fame (kind of): my dad has just told me that he once shared a breakfast table with Barry John on a train to Paddington

James

 

[Newbeeneil]

Claim to fame (kind of): my dad has just told me that he once shared a breakfast table with Barry John on a train to Paddington

James

When I started my company back in 1991 we carried out several significant contracts over the next 10 years on multi storey car parks at Cwmbran where Graham Price MBE was the Town Centre Manager. A mountain of a man but lovely to deal with.

 

[JamezF]

When I started my company back in 1991 we carried out several significant contracts over the next 10 years on multi storey car parks at Cwmbran where Graham Price MBE was the Town Centre Manager. A mountain of a man but lovely to deal with.

That amateur era of the game seemed to give rise to a whole bunch of players who were lovely people, but could absolutely turn the "animal" knob up to eleven when it came to playing the game they loved.

James

 

[Buzby]

Was he a beekeeper though. Sport can't bl**dy escape it

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Was he a beekeeper though. Sport can't bl**dy escape it

too busy with old John Barleycorn to mess around with bees

 

[Swarm]

As a full back in my playing days, my hero was and always will be JPR, I can still see the Springbok forwards getting out of his way in '74 and the 99 call. Without doubt the hardest man that ever played, I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours with him one afternoon way back in the '80's when I fixed his phone line. A very intimidating character!!

 

[Antipodes]

As a full back in my playing days, my hero was and always will be JPR, I can still see the Springbok forwards getting out of his way in '74 and the 99 call. Without doubt the hardest man that ever played, I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours with him one afternoon way back in the '80's when I fixed his phone line. A very intimidating character!!

Did they die within four days of each other?
I see in Wikipedia that JPR regarded John as "without doubt, the greatest player he played with".

 

[Swarm]

Jan 8th and Feb 4th.