Barry John, the former Wales fly-half, considered a rugby legend, has died at the age of 79, his family announced this Sunday. “Barry John died peacefully today at the University Hospital in Wales, surrounded by his loving wife and four children,” the former international’s family announced.
After his international debut in 1967, at the age of 22, against Australia, Barry John won two Five Nations Tournaments in 1969 and 1970. But the one who totaled 25 capes in the Welsh red jersey, including 23 associated with scrum half Gareth Edwards for one of the greatest hinges in the history of rugby, had definitely entered the legend in 1971.
That year, Barry John contributed, along with Gareth Edwards, fullback JPR Williams and Mervyn Davies, some of a golden generation, to the Welsh final victory in the Five Nations Tournament and Grand Slam. , the first in the Leek’s XV since 1952. A few months later, he guided the British and Irish Lions to a winning streak during their tour of New Zealand.
Retired at just 27 years old
During this tour where the talented fly-half had played 17 of 26 matches, the Lions had won two of the four test matches against the All Blacks, drawn once and lost only one of them. After a truncated edition of the 1972 Tournament, he bowed out prematurely, at just 27 years old, in full glory.
“I felt less and less close to the people. Some others had fun, not me,” he later confided. “I was no longer sufficiently equipped mentally and physically to continue to face high-level rugby,” he added.
“Barry was going to reach his zenith. He should have stayed playing longer. The world has never seen the best of Barry John,” lamented Mervyn Davies, his former teammate, in the book “The Lions of Wales”. The death of Barry John comes less than a month after that of JPR Williams, one of his former accomplices in the hegemony of Welsh rugby in the 1970s, on January 8 at the age of 74.
