JPR Williams 1949-2024

Humbled to be asked by #TheBarbarians to write this for their website.

JPR.

On Monday 9th January, Bridgend Ravens issued a press statement that rocked the rugby world.

It said simply ‘Bridgend Ravens are devastated to announce the passing of JPR Williams.

One of Bridgend's most decorated players and an icon of World rugby, JPR served the club most recently as Club President.”

To sum up JPR Williams impact on rugby is almost impossible.

For those who grew up in the 70s, huddled around black and white TV screens watching grainy footage from the 71 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand or the 74 Tour to South Africa JPR was the Lions.

He was Wales, he was rugby embodied, he represented the values of courage, of fun, of respect and of belief. For the working class Welsh valley rugby community, a group of people who relied so much upon the sport as part of their very identity, he was also the beacon of hope, the vanquisher of the oppressive Saes and a man that represented their culture with every atom of his body.

Williams was born in 1949 just outside Bridgend, Wales, and was educated at Bridgend Boys' Grammar School (now Brynteg Comprehensive School) and then Millfield School in Somerset, as was his Wales teammate Gareth Edwards. An admirable all-round sportsman, his tennis exploits are well documented, a sport he dominated at youth level, before fully committing to rugby. He won the 1966 British Junior title at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, beating David Lloyd 6–4, 6–4 and went on to compete in the full Junior Wimbledon competition.

With his sights set firmly on a career in medicine, JPR’s focus moved to rugby where he played firstly for Bridgend and St Mary’s Hospital. Capped at 19 he played three unbeaten matches in the 1969 Five Nations, winning against Scotland and Ireland and subsequently drawing versus France in Colombes.

Although brilliant in the scarlet of Wales? and a crucial component of the 1971 Welsh Grand Slam (kicking a crucial penalty against the old enemy England in Cardiff) ?it was the red of the British and Irish Lions that confirmed Williams as a global rugby icon as he played a pivotal part in the 1971 series, won 2-1 by the visitors and where the Welsh medical student scored a vital try in the drawn fourth test that secured the series.

With the series secured, Williams and Wales embarked on a decade of rugby dominance in the northern hemisphere. This was so much more than a form team- it was a collective of rugby superstars- Bennett, Edwards, Fenwick, John, JJ, Taylor, Dawes, Morris the Pontypool front row, Wheel, Davies, Cobner and many more- and amongst that galaxy of talent it was the star of JPR that shone brightest of all.

For that ten year period, a gloomy time in Welsh political history off the pitch as incomes were ravaged by mining and steelwork decommissioning, it mattered not what closures or redundancies faced the hard working local communities as long as their beloved rugby team were delivering on the pitch- something they achieved rather more often than not.

And it wasn’t all about the results; it was the impudence and ambition with which they played- from the footwork of Bennett to the ambition of Edwards, they played the game as people wanted to watch it- with flair, ambition and sporting spirit.

But as any rugby player or watcher knows, running the ball is one thing but if you can’t defend then you are toast. And it was JPR, the rock at the back, that set those defensive standard, putting his head in places where his medical training would tell him risked life and sanity, hitting forwards with tackles harder than a back row, and setting the agenda for every part of that notorious Welsh physicality that underpinned their flowing rugby.

The 1974 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa is arguably the most lauded series in the history of two of the greatest rugby teams in history. It was the apex moment of amateurism and one that was almost defined by the physicality and belief of the tourists. No man characterised that more than JPR- he was the man that led the infamous 99 Call alongside Willie John McBride, the player that stood as both the metaphoric and real last line of defence, as he stood with head bloodied and bandaged, sock rolled down and fists clenched, ready to fight to the very end for his team and his nation.

It was that image that made the headlines, that inspired kids in the valleys to pick up a rugby ball and that told his own team that nobody, not even a posh doctor in the backline, was allowed to take even half a step backwards against the mighty Springboks. Nobody who watched it will ever forget the 'Battle of Boet Erasmus Stadium', in Port Elizabeth, one of the most violent matches in rugby history, and the famous footage of JPR running over half the length of the pitch to launch himself at Moaner van Heerden after tempers boiled over.

The Lions went through the tour undefeated, winning 21 of their 22 matches and being held to a draw in the final test match, albeit in controversial circumstances, and winning the test series 3-0. The 1974 squad became known as 'The Invincibles' and is regarded by many as the greatest rugby tour in history and it was JPR Williams that became the characterisation of Lions defiance to everyone both in South Africa and the wider sport.

Williams recorded three Grand Slams for Wales in 1971, 1976, and 1978 and played in 55 tests for Wales (six tries) and eight for the British and Irish Lions. Remarkably, he was capped not only at winf and fullback, but played a test versus Australia on the openside flank in Sydney in 1978, a position he continued to play in after his international retirement for his local club Tondu. His win rate for Wales in the Five Nations at 80.6% is unsurpassed, as is his Lions win rate of 75% over two tours.

Williams retired from international rugby union in 1981 and continued his career as an orthopaedic surgeon. However, he continued to play club rugby for many years, playing throughout the 1980s and 1990s for Bridgend and then for Tondu Thirds into his fifties. He finally retired from medicine in March 2003 and was often seen socially around his beloved Old Deer Park, home of London Welsh, in Richmond, sweeping into the club gates in his black 4x4 with the reg JPR 53 reminding all that rugby royalty was in the house.

He represented several cricket teams, particularly the Lord's Taverner’s, between 1976 and 2004, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1980. In January 2006, in a party of 16 Welsh men and women, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania for charity, helping to raise more than ￡200,000 for the NSPCC's 'Full Stop' Campaign. He continued his service to rugby as President of Bridgend Ravens, a post he held up until his death.

Williams succumbed to viral meningitis on Sunday 8th January in University Hospital Cardiff, a place he worked many times in his career, leaving both a nation and a sport mourning for one of its greatest players.

For many, he was rugby and he was Wales- an iconic characterisation of the culture of his beloved country and the game that he dominated for so many years.

He is survived by his wife Scilla and his children Lauren, Annie, Fran and Peter.