Wales’s Grand Slam chasing side of 1971 had to beat a fine French team at the Stade Colombes in Paris on a warm March afternoon in the final match of the Five Nations Championship. Wales, led by centre John Dawes, followed the gaining of the Triple Crown by achieving the accolade, the first one since 1952.
It was the first win by Wales in Paris for fourteen years but the French team did not make it easy. In fact, the home side took the lead with a try by their great forward Benoit Dauga and a further Dauga charge saw Barry John attempt to stop him and suffer a bloodied nose, which put him temporarily off the pitch.
France looked set to score again as right wing Roger Bougarel threw the ball inside, but fullback JPR Williams nipped in to catch it ten yards from his own goal line. He stormed away on a 70-yard run before going inwards to draw the cover and found scrum half Gareth Edwards racing up on the left wing outside him and he dived over in the corner.
John’s conversion attempt missed but he placed a penalty early in the second spell to put Wales in front and then he produced a gem of a try as he took an Edwards pass on the blind-side to glide past the French defence, after hooker Jeff Young had taken the heel against the head. It was tense and exciting, and a good French team made Wales work all the way to success.
