Really enjoying watching these games in lockdown. I was only 4 years old in 77. So this is all new to me. Such a shame JPR, Gerald, & Gareth didn’t tour. It would have been ever better. !!
3:51. Grant Batty having to throw down the Lions line just to get the ball to go straight (with the wind.) Excellent clip. Remember this game well. NZ weren't actually very strong in 1977, and still hadn't got over the loss of fullback Joe Karam to league. They were coming off the series loss in SA in 1976 too. British Isles rugby too wasn't what it had been in the first half of the decade. The biggest difference between the two teams were the coaches. Jack Gleason for NZ made great tactical use of limited resources, John Dawes took too long to sort out his best pack and wasn't a patch on Carwyn James from '71, when Dawes had been captain. Gareth Edwards made a significant difference in every match he ever played in, and may have done so here, but you can only judge the teams as they were.
Grant Batty’s last Test. He injured his knee at the beginning of the season the previous year and later, still not completely fit, was selected for the tour to South Africa, where he did little to set the world on fire. After the First Test against the Lions, he decided that he wasn’t going to recover his old form and retired from the game. When he was on form, he was a game changer - his abilities were electrifying. Terry McLean, the sports writer said of Batty that, even though he was only five-feet-four-inches, pound for pound, he was one of the strongest men ever to play for the All Blacks.
Grant Batty (Batts) last game for the AB's. He had lost a lot of pace through a serious knee injury the year previously, but he made it to goal line for the winning try with Prop Graham Price nearly catching him!
Agreed! A solid scrummager and what a turn of speed in keeping pace with NZ tryscorer Grant Batty. Lion's full-back and Scottish Great Andy Irvine being the only other person within shot at the touchdown.
Gareth Edwards didn't tour due to the fact he had already toured in 1971 and as it was an amateur game in those days he had to rely on his employer to let him go on tour. He felt he owed his company and repaid their loyalty. JPR didn't tour as his medical career was more important. Mervyn Davies would probably have been the captain of the tour but for his near fatal illness he suffered the previous year in the Schweppes Cup Semi Final against Pontypool.
Roger Ellor-Jones Edwards didn't go because it was to physical for his ageing body and already made up his mind he was retiring the following season and really wanted one more season and one more five nations , he felt if he went on the tour his ageing body couldn't take another season and he desperately wanted one last five nations to finish at the Arms Park and win another GS but that is why .
I was there for this game, sitting at the north end of the field. All the All Black tries were scored down the far end and we (the spectators in the stand where I was sitting) were expecting more of the same at our end in the second half. Instead, we got nothing. Someone said later that the game was two bad teams having an off day. One thing stuck out, though: fullback Colin Farrell should never have been an All Black. Many first-class provincial players could not make the extra step up to international level and Farrell was a clear demonstration of that. He played again in the second Test and was replaced for the remaining two Tests by Bevan Wilson, who showed that he *could* make the step up.
@GaryDuncanson-ub3lk Irvine's five tries were against King Country/Wanganui Combined. I was at that game, too. When the Lions tour itinerary was announced, my father and I decided to see as many of the North island games as we could. We made it to six: Poverty Bay/East Coast Combined, King Country/Wanganui Combined, the First Test, Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Waikato. Phil Bennett played in most of them and we were amazed at his skills. Sure, we had seen him on TV many times, but in person, he was on another level. I know nothing about Farrell's private life after 1977 but, like you, I hope he is well.
@GaryDuncanson-ub3lk Mike Gibson was/still is well thought of here - he came here in three Lions tours. His last game was against Bay of Plenty I Rotorua in 1977 and he had to go off, injured - he had recurring back and hamstring problems on tour. As he left the ground in Rotorua he received a standing ovation.
The Lions would have had a better chance of winning this series if Terry Cobner had captained the side. Phil Bennett was out of sorts, homesick and frankly didn’t want to be there. The Lions has their greatest ever pack of forwards, however, they didn’t put it together behind the scrum.
Ahh the days of rampant facial hair, muddy fields & not a kicking tee in sight. Remember watching 71, 77 & 83 tours as a kid. 71 was a team of stars (Barry John was my hero!!!). 77 good side but all blacks great. What a player Andy irvine was though...doesn't get much of a mention in lions greats but he's up there with the very best. Thanks great vid.
Thank you very much for sharing this. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it 🏉
Really enjoying watching these games in lockdown. I was only 4 years old in 77. So this is all new to me. Such a shame JPR, Gerald, & Gareth didn’t tour. It would have been ever better. !!
This lockdown is giving me a great opportunity to look back and boy I'm i enjoying it
3:51. Grant Batty having to throw down the Lions line just to get the ball to go straight (with the wind.) Excellent clip. Remember this game well. NZ weren't actually very strong in 1977, and still hadn't got over the loss of fullback Joe Karam to league. They were coming off the series loss in SA in 1976 too. British Isles rugby too wasn't what it had been in the first half of the decade. The biggest difference between the two teams were the coaches. Jack Gleason for NZ made great tactical use of limited resources, John Dawes took too long to sort out his best pack and wasn't a patch on Carwyn James from '71, when Dawes had been captain. Gareth Edwards made a significant difference in every match he ever played in, and may have done so here, but you can only judge the teams as they were.
Grant Batty’s last Test. He injured his knee at the beginning of the season the previous year and later, still not completely fit, was selected for the tour to South Africa, where he did little to set the world on fire.
After the First Test against the Lions, he decided that he wasn’t going to recover his old form and retired from the game.
When he was on form, he was a game changer - his abilities were electrifying.
Terry McLean, the sports writer said of Batty that, even though he was only five-feet-four-inches, pound for pound, he was one of the strongest men ever to play for the All Blacks.
Grant Batty (Batts) last game for the AB's. He had lost a lot of pace through a serious knee injury the year previously, but he made it to goal line for the winning try with Prop Graham Price nearly catching him!
10 years old at the southern end stand, freezing cold, was a great game!
pretty cool how visually the filming of the games got better as the years rolled on....yay technology
There has never been and I doubt will be another all-round great prop like Mr Pontypool, Graham Price! A TRUE legend of the game!
Agreed! A solid scrummager and what a turn of speed in keeping pace with NZ tryscorer Grant Batty. Lion's full-back and Scottish Great Andy Irvine being the only other person within shot at the touchdown.
Good highlights
0:25 I can't believe Andy Irvine's mum made him get a haircut like that...
The state of the pitch OMG. !!!
Gareth Edwards didn't tour due to the fact he had already toured in 1971 and as it was an amateur game in those days he had to rely on his employer to let him go on tour. He felt he owed his company and repaid their loyalty. JPR didn't tour as his medical career was more important. Mervyn Davies would probably have been the captain of the tour but for his near fatal illness he suffered the previous year in the Schweppes Cup Semi Final against Pontypool.
Roger Ellor-Jones Edwards didn't go because it was to physical for his ageing body and already made up his mind he was retiring the following season and really wanted one more season and one more five nations , he felt if he went on the tour his ageing body couldn't take another season and he desperately wanted one last five nations to finish at the Arms Park and win another GS but that is why .
Grant Batty after his playing career ended lived in Chepstow, South Wales.
I was there for this game, sitting at the north end of the field. All the All Black tries were scored down the far end and we (the spectators in the stand where I was sitting) were expecting more of the same at our end in the second half.
Instead, we got nothing. Someone said later that the game was two bad teams having an off day.
One thing stuck out, though: fullback Colin Farrell should never have been an All Black. Many first-class provincial players could not make the extra step up to international level and Farrell was a clear demonstration of that. He played again in the second Test and was replaced for the remaining two Tests by Bevan Wilson, who showed that he *could* make the step up.
@GaryDuncanson-ub3lk Irvine's five tries were against King Country/Wanganui Combined. I was at that game, too. When the Lions tour itinerary was announced, my father and I decided to see as many of the North island games as we could. We made it to six: Poverty Bay/East Coast Combined, King Country/Wanganui Combined, the First Test, Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Waikato.
Phil Bennett played in most of them and we were amazed at his skills. Sure, we had seen him on TV many times, but in person, he was on another level.
I know nothing about Farrell's private life after 1977 but, like you, I hope he is well.
@GaryDuncanson-ub3lk Mike Gibson was/still is well thought of here - he came here in three Lions tours. His last game was against Bay of Plenty I Rotorua in 1977 and he had to go off, injured - he had recurring back and hamstring problems on tour. As he left the ground in Rotorua he received a standing ovation.
Great to see Brad Johnson playing,who went on to coach future all Blacks Buck Shelford,Frano Botica,Gary Cunningham to name a few
@Ivkkarate was actually after the tour but get your drift same as they lost to NZ univerisities
How about British lions vs Fiji
The Lions would have had a better chance of winning this series if Terry Cobner had captained the side. Phil Bennett was out of sorts, homesick and frankly didn’t want to be there. The Lions has their greatest ever pack of forwards, however, they didn’t put it together behind the scrum.
how many knock on's by the ab's
who won the series
Ahh the days of rampant facial hair, muddy fields & not a kicking tee in sight. Remember watching 71, 77 & 83 tours as a kid. 71 was a team of stars (Barry John was my hero!!!). 77 good side but all blacks great. What a player Andy irvine was though...doesn't get much of a mention in lions greats but he's up there with the very best. Thanks great vid.
All Blacks won the series
A weakened Lions. No Gareth Edwards, no JJ Williams, no JPR Williams etc.
😂