Wales’s youngest captain, Gareth Edwards led a depleted Wales side out at the Arms Park in a match that many critics had suggested should not have been played due to opposition to the Apartheid regime. Howls of dissent had greeted the Springboks at each of their matches, they had lived cocooned in their hotels and had already lost to Scotland 6-3, England 11-8 and drawn with Ireland 8-8 before heading Cardiff. Before this match was over, Edwards would produce a moment of magic to savour and send the home crowd ecstatic.
Wales came out of the traps quickly playing towards the West Stand in the first half which remained scoreless. As had become the norm for Wales v South Africa fixtures at the Arms Park of the era, the conditions were muddy and clean play virtually impossible. In the quagmire of a pitch Mervyn Davies enjoyed an afternoon testing himself against some of the greatest back row forwards in the history of rugby.
The match came to life in the second half with a score against the run of play in the far corner of the West Stand by Syd Nomis. Conditions made a game of running rugby virtually impossible and De Villiers and Gareth Edwards traded penalties.
Refusing to give up and trailing by three points to South Africa’s unconverted try and penalty, Wales responded to South Africa’s defence by spreading the ball wide. Deep into injury time Phil Bennett passed to Barry John who kicked high and wide accross the field. Centre Ian Hall secured the ball and set up a ruck ten yards from the South African line.
Ever-present as an icon of expansive thinking during the 70s golden era, Gareth Edwards, spotting that Syd Nomis was embroiled in the ruck and unable to defend the far side of the field, ran past the back of the ruck, received the ball and ran down the narrow channel to quite literally splat down in the far corner at the East Terrace levelling the match at 6-6.
The match very nearly became Wales’s first victory over South Africa and stepping up with confidence from the try Edwards prepared to slot the conversion between the posts. He very nearly found the accuracy, but he had not found the distance and the heavy leather ball, saturated from the dampness of the field of play, fell six feet short of the posts and slightly wide.
The try remained one of the most iconic moments of 70s Welsh rugby and although many of the Welsh players were disappointed with a draw, in later years, the faltering record of Wales against South Africa showed just what an important draw the match was.
