And 50 years ago then there was the Jarrett match – the day a fresh-faced 18-year-old beat England in Cardiff almost single-handedly. On 15 April, 1967, England came to Cardiff not with a 15 match unbeaten record to protect, but with a Triple Crown to gain. Wales hadn’t won a game in the championship that season and Jarrett, normally a centre, had played only 40 minutes in his international position of full back in a club match for Newport.
But, by the time the final whistle was blown, a rugby fairytale had been written and a legend had been born. Jarrett’s record equalling 19-point contribution, including a sensational solo-effort try from his own 22, swept Wales to a 34-21 victory that demolished England’s Triple Crown and title dreams.
His captain on that famous day was David Watkins, who is in no doubt about the spin-offs such an individual match winning performance would have brought the Wales matchwinner in the professional era.
“If Keith had done that today, it would have made him an instant millionaire, what with boot endorsements, advertising contracts and so on. It was that outstanding a performance – yet before the match Keith was as cool as anything, he was totally calm and composed,” recalled Watkins.
On the outside maybe, but Jarrett has always remembered things in a slightly different fashion. “I know Dai says that I looked cool, but I can promise you I was very, very nervous. After all, I had played only half a match at full back – and that had hardly gone well. Dai came up to me at half-time and asked me to move back to centre with the excuse that they were missing my penetration.”
Watkins, who was also Jarrett’s club captain, declared: “The Welsh selectors asked us to play Keith at full back and that meant we had to ask our normal full back John Anthony to play at centre. He wasn’t happy with that, but agreed to give it a go.
“The game against Newbridge was a real local derby clash with a lot of pride at stake. They were very tactically aware and made life very difficult for Keith, so much so that I had to go up to him at half-time and ask him to switch back to centre. At that stage I thought I had messed up his prospects of playing for Wales against England.
“We hadn’t won a game going into that final match, but then there is always a great belief among Welsh players that they can beat England, especially at the Arms Park. My biggest concern as captain was to win the toss so we could kick-off and England didn’t kick to Keith.
“We kicked off and I gave the first two penalties to Keith to kick to touch – even though that was my normal job. When we won a third penalty 45 metres out, I asked him to do the same thing and stick it in the corner but he said ‘I’ll have a go at goal.’
“He put the ball down, kicked it high and handsome and, even before it went in off the top of the upright, he turned round to me and said ‘I told you so.’ Keith had this incredible inner belief and confidence in his own ability.
“He always seemed so laid back, a player who was capable of anything. After that he just got better and better – he didn’t miss a kick and scored that try.”
Jarrett had returned to Monmouth School for a third year in sixth form in an attempt to go to Oxford or Cambridge and was only three months out of school. “I was like a professional sportsman in my final term. I trained twice a day, three hours in the morning and another three in the afternoon. The only problem was I had to study Latin O level to try and get into Oxford or Cambridge. I got the O level – but never went up.
“Cliff Jones was chairman of the Welsh selectors at the time and in light of that Newbridge game (Newport lost 14-9) I guess it was a bold move by them to carry on and play me at full back. As for the game itself, I heard about one second of noise and then it went deadly quiet for me for the rest of the match.
“Maybe it was concentration, but I didn’t hear the crowd at all. Not even after I scored my try, when the ball bounced nicely for me from Colin McFadyean’s attempted touch kick and I just automatically went for it.
“The first thing I did when we got back to the changing room was to ask our physio Gerry Lewis for a fag and I went and sat in a corner by myself, puffing away happily.”
Jarrett is grateful for the encouragement of his school coach Rod Sealy, who allowed him to experiment on the field.
“If something didn’t come off all he said was try it again. It meant that when I played for Wales there was no fear about trying different things. The funny thing about that game was that at the time I thought we had totally outplayed them, but when I saw the video later they had murdered us up front,” recalled Jarrett.
“I guess that was the greatest day of my rugby career – though it remains the only full match I ever played at full back.”
Jarrett went on to be selected for the British & Lions tour to South Africa in 1968 but his trip was ruined by tonsilitis and he lost around two stone because of the illness. Jarrett, who turned professional with Barrow for £14,000 in 1969, had his sporting career brought to a cruel end when he suffered a stroke in 1973.
It may have been a sad end to his playing career, but it was those 19 points that rocketed him to eternal fame. And the story goes that just before midnight at the end of the greatest day in his sporting life a Cardiff bus driver, recognising him walking along the pavement, offered to take him to Newport once he had reported back to the bus depot.
At first his boss said no but, on hearing who the sole passenger was going to be, did a rapid U-turn and instructed the driver “take a double-decker – just in case Mr Jarrett wants to go upstairs for a smoke.”
