Barry John (6 January 1945 – 4 February 2024) was a Welsh rugby union fly-half who played in the 1960s and early 1970s during the amateur era of the sport. John began his rugby career as a schoolboy playing for his local team Cefneithin RFC before switching to the first-class west Wales team Llanelli RFC in 1964. Whilst at Llanelli, John was selected for the Wales national team—as a replacement for David Watkins—to face a touring Australian team.
In 1967, John left Llanelli RFC for Cardiff RFC where he formed a partnership with Gareth Edwards: one of the most famous half-back pairings in world rugby. From 1967, John and Edwards made an inseparable partnership with rugby selectors, being chosen to play together at all levels of the sport, for Cardiff, Wales, the Barbarians and in 1968 for the British Lions' tour of South Africa. The tour ended prematurely for John when he suffered a broken collarbone in the first Test match against the South African national team.
In 1971, the Wales national team entered what is considered their second 'Golden Age', with a team rich in experience and talent. John was part of the team that won the 1971 Five Nations Championship, the first time Wales had achieved a Grand Slam win since 1952. He then cemented his reputation as one of the sport's greatest players with his pivotal role in the British and Irish Lions winning tour over New Zealand in 1971. On the 1971 tour, John played in all four Tests, playing some of his finest rugby and finishing as the Lions' top Test scorer.
John won 25 caps for the Wales national team and 5 for the British Lions. His excellent balance whilst running—along with precision kicking—made him one of the great players of the modern era. He retired from rugby at the age of 27, as Wales's highest points scorer, citing the pressure of fame and expectation for his decision.
Rugby career
Early career with Llanelli Barry John was born in Cefneithin, Carmarthenshire, in Wales on 6 January 1945. He attended Cefneithin Primary, and there he was fortunate to receive skilled rugby teaching. The headmaster, William John Jones, and teacher Ray Williams, were both former Wales international rugby players.John (1974) p. 46 Despite his natural talents, he never played at schoolboy level for Wales, but represented both his school and his local village team, Cefneithin RFC.Thomas (1979) p. 161 He once played a game for rival team Pontyberem while still a schoolboy, but John recalls in his autobiography that the local resentment at making such a sporting faux pas ensured he never did so again.John (1974) pp. 38–39
John was then educated at Gwendraeth Grammar School in the Gwendraeth Valley, north of Llanelli and while still a teenager he made his first top-flight rugby appearance for Llanelli, on 4 January 1964, in an encounter with Moseley.Hughes (1986) p. 194; Note: Although Wayne Thomas states that John played in the 1962/63 Christmas encounter with Moseley, in that season Llanelli played and beat Moseley in September. In the 1963/64 Llanelli lost to Moseley on 4 January. Although Llanelli lost the encounter, John scored a try and converted it, and played in four more matches for the Llanelli senior team towards the end of the season.Hughes (1986) p. 193 He continued to represent Llanelli while at Trinity College, Carmarthen, and gained a reputation as a kicking fly-half with a penchant for putting over dropped goals. During the 1964/65 season, John began to make an impact on the Welsh club scene. His dropped goal against Aberavon on 26 October 1964, only 17 games in, was his 11th of the season.Hughes (1986) p. 195
John gained more attention the following season. A win over Swansea, where he scored two dropped goals, was described by the Llanelli Star as being down to the "genius of one player, Barry John".Hughes (1986) p. 197 He almost missed the second away encounter of the season with Swansea when he was 'held to ransom' by his fellow students at Trinity College. He was only released when Llanelli's club chairman, Elvet Jones, promised to make a donation to the college "rag". Llanelli won all four fixtures against Swansea that season, John scoring in all of them. As well as his two dropped goals in the first away fixture, he scored another in the second away game and a try in both the home matches at Stradey Park. In the 1965/66 season John was chosen to play in trial matches for the Wales national team. Although he was not picked, he was chosen as reserve to regular fly-half David Watkins.Thomas (1979) p. 162
During the 1966/67 season, John was again chosen to trial for Wales. One of the trials forced him to miss the second Swansea encounter of the season, played away on 12 November 1966; his place in the Llanelli team was given to a youth debutant from the Felinfoel club, Phil Bennett.Hughes (1986) p. 199 Bennett became one of the greatest fly-halves produced by Wales, but he was kept from the Wales squad in his early career by the presence of John.Thomas (1979) p. 182 In 1966, John was awarded his first international cap for Wales, taking Watkins' place at fly-half for the match against the touring Australia team.Thomas (1979) p. 154 This was seen as a surprise move by the Welsh Rugby Union selectors, as Watkins had recently returned from a British Lions tour where he was team captain. Wales lost to Australia 11–4, the first time the Welsh had been beaten by the 'Wallabies', due to poor form in the midfield, with the criticism aimed at John, Gerald Davies and John Dawes.Sports historian Wayne Thomas in his 1979 book A Century of Welsh Rugby Players (p. 162) places criticism for this loss on the midfield players. Stating "John himself escaped the worst criticism even though guilty of poor positioning to take Allan Lewis's long pass". Conversely, John's play during this game is praised by other sources. Watkins in his 1979 autobiography The David Watkins Story (p. 101) wrote: "He [John] played very well and I knew he would retain his place against Scotland". John himself, in his 1974 autobiography (pp. 69–70), wrote that he "... hadn't played a blinder ... but I hadn't made a lot of mistakes", and follows this up with an extract from Cliff Morgan's after-match report which stated: "Barry John had a grand first international and looked as if he could beat the defence at any time." Although experiencing defeat in his first international, John managed to gain revenge over Australia just over a month later when the same team faced Llanelli at Stradey Park. Llanelli beat the Wallabies 11–0 after a bruising forward contest. John himself scored a try, and then added to his tally with a dropped goal.
Despite the Wales loss against Australia, the selectors kept faith with John, and he retained his place for the next Wales international. Played away from home, the opener of the 1967 Five Nations Championship against Scotland had him paired at half-back with Cardiff's Billy Hullin. John played badly while carrying a leg injury, and the next match he was dropped, replaced by the more experienced Watkins.
Joining Cardiff In the 1967/68 season, John left Llanelli and joined Cardiff, where he formed a partnership with Gareth Edwards. Although John and Edwards later became the scourge of New Zealand, their first international pairing had an inauspicious start. On 11 November 1967, the pair played their first international together, facing Brian Lochore's touring New Zealand team. Edwards, like John, had two international games to his name, paired with Watkins in the final two matches of the 1967 Five Nations Championship. John regained his international place after Watkins had switched to professional rugby league just the month before, joining Salford for a club record fee of £16,000. Wales had an error-strewn game, in a match played in a cutting, rain-laden wind which turned the pitch into a muddy field.Billot (1972) p. 196 Wales captain Norman Gale won the toss and chose to play the first half into the gale, and finished the half 8–0 down. John raised Welsh hopes with an early dropped goal, his first international points, but a panicked blind back pass from Wales' number 8, John Jeffery, gifted Bill Davies an easy try.Billot (1972) p. 197 The game ended 13–6 to New Zealand, with Edwards looking uncomfortable throughout, and John's kicking inaccurate, there was little to suggest the pair would become one of the great half-back pairings in rugby history.
Just over a month after playing for Wales against New Zealand, John faced the tourists again, this time as part of an East Wales team, made up of players from Cardiff, London Welsh and Bridgend.Billot (1972) p. 202 The New Zealand 'All Blacks' were under pressure throughout the match, with John kicking from deep and away from the opposing forwards, allowing his team to make rushes on the 'All Black' defence. After 22 minutes East Wales took the lead when a missed drop goal attempt from John was collected by Cardiff wing Frank Wilson for a try. A defensive lapse from the East Wales team allowed an equalising try, but with the score at 3–3, East Wales dominated the last ten minutes of the match. With the last kick of the match, John had space for one final dropped goal, but his kick sailed inches outside the post.Billot (1972) p. 201 The New Zealanders were glad to escape with the draw and finished the tour without losing a single match. Three days after turning out for East Wales, John and Edwards were paired to face the same New Zealand team, this time played at Twickenham for invitational touring side the Barbarians.Starmer-Smith (1976) pp. 185–187 The half-time result of 3–3 flattered the Barbarians, who were out-played in the forward positions, but the team took the lead early in the second half when a perfect diagonal kick to the corner by John resulted in a try by England's Bob Lloyd. The Barbarians defended strongly for twenty minutes, but lost to two very late tries.
Both John and Edwards were selected for all four matches of the 1968 Five Nations Championship. The first match, away at Twickenham to England, recorded Wales coming from 11–3 down to draw 11 all. Both half-backs were on the score sheet, Edwards with a try, John with one of his trademark dropped goals. After a home win over Scotland, Wales lost to both Ireland and, eventual Championship winners, France. At club level, John finished the season with a total of nine tries and nine dropped goals for Cardiff.Davies (1976) p. 157
1968 British Lions, the 1969 Triple Crown and Wales tour John was selected for the British Lions in their tour of South Africa in 1968, but played in just four games before an injury forced him to return home. He played in three matches against district teams, Western Province, South Western Districts and , all wins for the tourists. He was then selected for the First Test, played at Johannesburg, against the South Africa national team. John's first Test for the British Lions lasted for only fifteen minutes, when after running for the line he was tackled by Jan Ellis, and John broke his collarbone on landing on the hard ground.
John played infrequently for Cardiff during the 1968/69 season, making just 14 appearances.Davies (1976) p. 158 Despite this he was available for all matches in the 1969 Five Nations Championship, again playing in each match paired with Edwards. The Welsh selectors had dropped five players from the previous Championship, and notable debutants in the team to face Scotland at Murrayfield on 1 February 1969 were J. P. R. Williams and Mervyn Davies. John scored his first international try in the encounter after charging down a kick and dummying his way over. Scotland, who were under enormous pressure from the kick-off, lost 17–3.Godwin (1984) p. 341