It hardly seems imaginable now, but Phil Bennett was once dropped by Wales. Not for long mind you! It was back in January 1976 that the great fly-half was left out of the squad for the Five Nations opener against England at Twickenham, with John Bevan and David Richards being selected ahead of him.
That provoked a huge public outcry and criticism within the press and it was followed by a dramatic turn of events as both Bevan and Richards pulled out through injury, resulting in Bennett being restored to the side.
He proceeded to play a key role as Wales won 21-9 to lay the platform for a Grand Slam. He was never to be dropped again.
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It was an episode which created such a furore that Max Boyce was inspired to write a poem about it, as he recounted the tale of calling a television repair man to fix his set after hearing the initial squad selection. It had the desired effect.
“I switched it on and the fault had gone. It said ‘Bennett, Outside Half!’” declared Boyce in the final triumphant line.
So what did the man at the centre of the saga recall about that whole affair and the game itself?
Speaking in 2016, he said: “I can remember I dropped out of the game against Australia the month before because I had a cut on my foot,” explained Bennett.
“Wales had asked me to play, but I said I wasn’t fit. Then on the Monday after that, Llanelli were playing against Bath and I said I would play. I couldn’t kick because the cut was on my instep but I could run. We had a hell of a side back then and I knew I wouldn’t need to kick, so I played. I don’t think that went down too well with the Wales selectors.”
It would seem not, given Bennett was then left out of the party for the trip to Twickers. What made things worse was the way he found out the news.
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“I had got to know the selectors very well by then, so I thought somebody would have phoned me to say I was out of the squad,” he said. "But it was Peter Jackson who rang me on the Saturday night. He said, ‘Have you heard the news, you’re not in the Wales squad.’
“I said ‘Thanks for the call, that’s great news!’ I had been in and around the squad since about 1968 and it was pretty much the first time I wasn’t involved. On the Sunday morning, Wales were training at the Afan Lido and I went for a walk with my baby.
“I do remember the outcry. People were quite annoyed. The Llanelli folk were going bonkers and there was an uproar going on around you.
“You do feel it because you are a proud Welshman. I was hurt, but life goes on.”
Everything was about to change
Then, suddenly, everything changed.
“I remember having the call to come to training the following Sunday because John and David had both got injured,” said Bennett.
“You had the Big Five selectors at the time and I bumped into one of them when I arrived. He said ‘I went for you Phil’. Then another of them came up to me and said ‘It wasn’t me, Phil.”
“I think about four of them told me it wasn’t them in the end!
“But I was just chuffed to be part of the game.”
Come match day, Bennett more than justified his recall, pulling the strings expertly and having a hand in both of JPR Williams’ tries, but he is quick to acknowledge the part the Welsh forwards played in a convincing victory.
“Two years earlier when we lost to England at Twickenham, they had pushed us back in the scrum a fair bit,” he said.
“Bobby Windsor was quite put out by that and insisted we would never go back again.
“By ‘76, we had the Pontypool front row together. We all know what a great tighthead Graham Price was, while Charlie Faulkner would scrummage from 8 until 8 if he could. He just loved it. And of course Bobby was as hard as nails.
“Then you had Geoff Wheel and Allan Martin who were a superb pairing in the second row and the likes of Terry Cobner, Mervyn Davies and Trevor Evans in the back row.
“People go on about the backs in the 1970s, but we had such a outstanding pack back then and they laid the foundations.
“England had a good pack of forwards themselves, men like Fran Cotton, Peter Wheeler, Mike Burton, Billy Beaumont, Andy Ripley and Tony Neary.
“But we had the upper hand in the scrum on the day and got on top.”
It was from a scrum that the first of JPR’s tries stemmed on 35 minutes, with Bennett and centre Steve Fenwick linking to release JJ Williams out wide.
“JJ threw a lovely inside pass and JPR was such a good support runner as a full-back that he was there to stretch over in the corner,” said Bennett.
“It was a great score and it put us in a good position and gave us a lot of confidence going into half-time.”
Coming on the back of Gareth Edwards’ opener, it had given Wales a commanding lead and they capped their win late on as JPR crashed through two would-be tacklers for his second following a switch move with Bennett, again off a scrum.
“JPR and I have been good friends now for more than 50 years,” said Bennett.
“We first played together when we were 14 or 15. We were both picked to play for Wales Schoolboys against England Schoolboys at Twickenham and we won that game.
“From the outset, we had a great rapport on the field. We could read each other’s minds.
“He would always be there on my shoulder. Nobody could pick a full back coming into the line in those days and because he was hard as nails and so strong, he was such a threat.
“I could run flat across the field and because his angles of running were so good I could put him into a hole.
“For that second try of his in ‘76, he took the pass off me on the 22 and there was just no stopping him. Once he got the ball, there was only one outcome. He would have taken the posts down as well if it meant scoring the try.
“He is the bravest man I ever played rugby football with.
“He would die for Wales and push himself through the pain barrier.
“Who else would take a stamp on the face against the All Blacks, go off for loads of stitches and run back on as if nothing had happened?
“If I remember rightly, he had half a dozen stitches in his cheekbone that day against England.
“The courage of the man was incredible.”
England 9, Wales 21 (Twickenham, Jan 17, 1976)
England: Pens - A Hignell (3)
England: A Hignell; P Squires, A Maxwell, D Cooke, D Duckham; M Cooper, M Lampkowski; F Cotton, P Wheeler, M Burton, B Beaumont, R Wilkinson, M Keyworth, A Ripley, A Neary.
Wales: Tries - JPR Williams (2), G Edwards; cons - S Fenwick (3); pen - A Martin
Wales: JPR Williams; G Davies, R Gravell, S Fenwick, JJ Williams; P Bennett, G Edwards, A Faulkner, B Winsdor, G Price, G Wheel, A Martin, T Cobner, M Davies (capt), T Evans.
THE FAMOUS MAX BOYCE POEM
I heard it first on telly.
I thought, ‘That sounded odd!’
Bevan and Dai Richards in, and Phil not in the squad!
So I phoned the Rediffusion man, when his number I had found.
I said, er, The pictures alright; there’s something wrong with the sound!’
Well, this chap came round in overalls and told me not to fret.
He’d change the speaker and the valve and he’d overhaul the set.
Well he’d finished it by Sunday, and he left me with a laugh.
I switched it on and the fault had gone. It said ‘Bennett, Outside Half!’
