How certain players are remembered

I was watching Jonathan Davies's documentary last night, if anybody does not know about it, it is called Jonathan Davies Trimsaran boy, and boy did it not take me back, I was talking about it with my old man in the shop this morning and I was going on about how good he was, and he was saying as good as he was, he was no Barry John and the what not, but what I had to remind him was, I was never old enough to have watched the likes of Barry John and Gareth Davies and the rest of the seventies era, but I grew up watching the likes of Jiffy and Robert Jones, and I always wanted to be like these players, I remember the triple crown, and Bleddyn Bowen's two tries at Twickers, and for me this is why I hold Jiffy in such high regard. If you take a look at what Jiffy actually achieved in his career and the stuff he does now for charity you can see why he is still as popular now as he was when he was playing, I am glad he has put people right for the reasons with him going to league, and when people on here go on about how he does their head in with his punditry, at least he knows what he is talking about. If you have not seen this program I strongly suggest you take a look at it. So this brings me back to the title, what players do you hold in such high regard and how did they influence you as you were growing up ?

Davies does do my head in with his punditry mainly because he talks jibberish. It's a valid point though. You say Martin Johnson and people immediately think of the NZ RWC where as I always remember his exploits in red, white and green as I grew up he was this giant among men with a reputation to match.

Ray Gravell - I didn't really know a great deal about him but happend to be in Wales when he died and watched the tribute programme to him.
I don't know exactly why but he seemed a really good bloke and a great Welshman both in and out of rugby so I bought a couple of books by/about him which confirmed that and I've always held him in high regard since.

Oh and growing up as a wee boy in Norn Ireland in the 1970s Willie John McBride is/was/and always will be the greatest.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Davies does do my head in with his punditry mainly because he talks jibberish. It's a valid point though. You say Martin Johnson and people immediately think of the NZ RWC where as I always remember his exploits in red, white and green as I grew up he was this giant among men with a reputation to match.

Sam if you watch the documentary people like Jeremy Guscott hold him in very high regard for his punditry and the league boys do as well, not many people can claim that they are experts in both codes, anyway, it is very interesting to see who other people revere in the rugby world, and I only hope more people can add to this thread so I can find out more. 

Davies proved many a wise (or not so) old man wrong when he went to league and he became a huge success.

Because of the generation in which he played he achieved far more in league than he ever did or would have in union and unfortunately like most of that era his best years (from a union point of view) were lost to league.

bedfordwelsh wrote:Davies proved many a wise (or not so) old man wrong when he went to league and he became a huge success.

Because of the generation in which he played he achieved far more in league than he ever did or would have in union and unfortunately like most of that era his best years (from a union point of view) were lost to league.

If the WRU were not so pig headed not to listen to him and some of the other players when they came back from New Zealand at the end of the eighties then perhaps we would not have had the dark days of the nineties but the old farts were to pig headed. 

It was a very good documentary, showed what a great player and pundit he has been and what an absolute saint he is for cancer charities.

Jiffy didnt want Wales to tour NZ post RWC and he was right to do so What he demanded of the WRU was that Wales needed to treat the amateur game as a professional one, as the Wallabies, New Zealand and England had all started to do. It took twenty five years for Wales to catch up, finally we are getting back to where we once were.

Davies was a good player but is a terrible pundit. He doesn't come across very well at all. It's not just his accent and tone but his whole approach.

He's also quite happy to spout his views and criticise coaches but it's something he's never had the cojones to do.

Just because you can play a sport well doesn't mean you can describe it or know how to take if forward (and vice versa).

LordDowlais wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:Davies proved many a wise (or not so) old man wrong when he went to league and he became a huge success.

Because of the generation in which he played he achieved far more in league than he ever did or would have in union and unfortunately like most of that era his best years (from a union point of view) were lost to league.

If the WRU were not so pig headed not to listen to him and some of the other players when they came back from New Zealand at the end of the eighties then perhaps we would not have had the dark days of the nineties but the old farts were to pig headed. 

LD,

It wasn't just players they failed to listen to in the 80s, a lot of what Henry and Hansen introduced was first suggested by Kevin Bowring but because they were paying him a fortune it was easier to ignore him and get rid.

Cyril wrote:Davies was a good player but is a terrible pundit. He doesn't come across very well at all. It's not just his accent and tone but his whole approach.

He's also quite happy to spout his views and criticise coaches but it's something he's never had the cojones to do.

Just because you can play a sport well doesn't mean you can describe it or know how to take if forward (and vice versa).

Exactly, so maybe he recognises that just because he's played rugby to a high level doesn't mean he can coach it and thus has decided not to. There's plenty who thought they could and ended up being stinkers, and not just in rugby. Nothing to do with 'cajones'. Can't recall Guscott, Moore, Butler, Barnes, Greenwood, et al. coaching either. They are all pundits though and are entitled to their opinion.

Weak from you Cyril.

LordDowlais wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Davies does do my head in with his punditry mainly because he talks jibberish. It's a valid point though. You say Martin Johnson and people immediately think of the NZ RWC where as I always remember his exploits in red, white and green as I grew up he was this giant among men with a reputation to match.

Sam if you watch the documentary people like Jeremy Guscott hold him in very high regard for his punditry and   the league boys do as well, not many people can claim that they are experts in both codes, anyway, it is very interesting to see who other people revere in the rugby world, and I only hope more people can add to this thread so I can find out more. 

He knows what he's talking about but he isn't always good at talking about what he knows