RugbyFootballHistory.com

1970

April 1970, Nigel Starmer-Smith tries to wrest the ball from the hands of Frances captain, Christian Carrere in France vs. England in Paris. France won 35 - 13.

1971 - Scotland, sticking to their belief that rugby should remain an amateur activity, took a long time to accept the idea of a coach. They finally succumbed in 1971 and appointed Bill Dickinson as a coach.

John Taylor lands the most famous kick in Five Nations history. His late left-footed conversion of a corner try by Gerald Davies brings Wales a one-point win against Scotland.

1972 - Wales and Scotland are unable to travel to Dublin at the height of the Troubles.The Championship remains unresolved with Wales and Ireland unbeaten.Against Scotland, Gareth Edwards scores one of the tournament's best-ever solo tries from a run from deep inside his own half.

In the Wales vs. New Zealand test - best remembered for All Black prop Keith Murdoch being sent home after the match - was the first rugby match to be televised live by satellite back to New Zealand.

In October , a privately chartered plane transporting a Uruguayan rugby team to Chile crashed in the cordillera of the Andes. The wreckage lay in one of the most inhospitable environments in the world, and because the fuselage was no more than a white speck against the snow of the surrounding mountains rescue was a remote possibility. Drinking water wasn't a problem once the survivors had devised an efficient way to melt snow, but faced with the lethal cold of an Andean springtime, and suffering from the onset of starvation as well as injuries sustained in the crash, their outlook was bleak. When the survivors heard on the radio that the search had been called off, desperation and hunger set in with a vengeance, and, to quote Nando Parrado, 'what drove us was nothing like ordinary appetite'. In order to live, the survivors would have to consume the only food for miles around: the flesh of their dead companions.

The extraordinary story of the Old Christians rugby team was thoroughly documented by Piers Paul Read in his 1974 bestseller Alive.

1973 - One of the best trys you are likely to see. The famous Gareth Edwards try for the Barbarians vs. the all blacks. Cliff Morgan's famous commentary went like this: "Kirkpatrick to Williams. This is great stuff. Phil Bennett covering, chased by Alistair Scown. Brilliant! Oh, that's brilliant! John Williams, Pullin, John Dawes. Great dummy! David, Tom David, the half-way line. Brilliant by Quinnell. This is Gareth Edwards. A dramatic start. What a score!"

Video (click and wait approx. 1.7Meg).

Gareth Edwards said "The game against the All Blacks is one I will never forget and those of us who played in it will never be allowed to forget".

1974 - Michael O'Brien became the first streaker at a major sporting event at the England vs. France game at Twickenham in January 1974. The word streaking was added to the English language the same year.

	Micheal O'Brien (credit Getty)

1975 - Rugby in the USA enjoyed a renaissance, beginning in the 1960s and continuing through the 1970s. This created the need for a national governing body to represent the USA in the International rugby community. Four territorial organizations gathered in Chicago, Ill., in 1975 and formed the United States of America Rugby Football Union (now known as USA Rugby). Today, USA Rugby is made up of seven Territorial Unions (TUs) and 37 Local Area Unions (LAUs),and supports more than 40,000 members.

1976 - USA Rugby fields several national teams, nicknamed the Eagles. The National Men’s Team, first took the field in 1976, and is becoming a prominent part of the International scene. Boca Raton RUFC formed.

 

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