Rugby, Phil Bennett is dead: with Wales he drunk the All Blacks in the middle of the century

Phil Bennett, one of the legends of world rugby, has died. The opening half of Wales, the Lions and the Barbarians, star of the seventies, died at 73. He had been ill for some time The announcement was made by his usual club, Llanelli – now Scarlets – on social media.

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Bennett played 413 games for Llanelli in 15 seasons, scoring 2444 points. He won 29 caps between 1969 and 1978, being part of the Wales Grand Slam twice. He was one of the protagonists of that extraordinary team, along with Gareth Edwards, his predecessor with 10 Barry John, JPR Williams. Considered a genius of rugby, able to read the game like few others, gifted with an accurate football and movements that drunk the defenses, he was the protagonist with the Lions jersey in the 1974 South Africa tour and three years later in New Zealand, as captain . He also participated in the memorable match between the Barbarians and New Zealand in January 1973 in Cardiff, when the goal was scored that is still considered the most beautiful in history. It was Gareth Edwards who scored it, but Phil Bennett was the engine of that action, the man who picked up the New Zealand football in the 22 and who with a series of feints and moving to the left triggered the action, cutting out half black defense . A year later he had another memorable day, this time with Llanelli, when the red jersey team beat New Zealand 9-3 at Stradey Park.