JPR Williams: a fighter, a revolutionary and the ultimate competitor

The foresight of a primary school teacher in Wales helped create one of the best attacking full-backs of the 70s

- Paul Rees

JPR Williams described himself as a diehard Corinthian, but he was also a revolutionary. When he made his debut for Wales against Scotland in 1969, it was in a position then regarded as the last line of defence. Only 15 tries had been scored by full-backs in major Test matches in 88 years, but the former British junior tennis champion changed the dynamic and smoothed the way for players such as Andy Irvine, Serge Blanco and John Gallagher.

Williams, who qualified as an orthopaedic surgeon while playing for London Welsh, scored six tries in his 55 internationals for Wales, five against England, an opponent he boasted a 100% success rate against in 11 Tests. He was qualified to wear the white jersey as his mother, Margaret, was born in Rochdale, but there was never the remotest chance of a boy born and raised in the Bridgend area turning his back on his homeland.

Rugby union became stuck in a defensive rut in the 1960s. The ball was kicked even more often than it is today with players allowed to put it out on the full from anywhere on the pitch. By the time Williams started his career with Bridgend, a Welsh club competition called the Floodlit Alliance, which outlawed penalty kicks, had provided an attacking stimulus and a new rule driven by Australia that banned kicking directly into touch from outside a player's 22 encouraged teams to retain possession.

When Williams scored a try against England at Twickenham in 1970, he became only the third Wales full-back to achieve the feat after Vivian Jenkins in 1934 and Keith Jarrett in 1967. It was a position he moved to reluctantly after starting out as a fly-half:

he was small as a boy and was known on the tennis circuit as the Mighty Atom before he had a growth spurt when he was 16.