“The shops were closed like Sunday / And the streets were silent still / And those who chose to stay away / Were either dead or ill / But those who went to Stradey, boys / Will remember ’til they die / How New Zealand were defeated / And how the pubs ran dry.”
It is one of the most famous results in rugby history. Max Boyce, the poet behind those lyrics, wrote that they would sing his song in 100 years’ time. From the day itself, we are halfway there. On October 31, 1972, Llanelli welcomed the All Blacks to Stradey Park and won 9-3 – the score which gives Boyce’s song its title.
Roy Bergiers’s charge-down try, Phil Bennett’s conversion and Andy Hill’s
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