It seemed a new thing then, with not much heard of it. You read more about it these days - sportsmen and women suffering after finishing their careers. Now, he says: “It was a hell of a battle. Then, he told how he encountered a void in his life after setting aside his playing boots.

Post-playing wasn’t easy even for one so outwardly strong as Thomas.Īfter being in a team environment for so long, he found it hard to cope when he stepped out of it, as chronicled in Delme, The Autobiography, the book he wrote with Alun Gibbard. The friendships you make are important as well. “There’s more to rugby than just playing on the field. I played with him at Llanelli for 10 to 12 years and he was more than a great rugby player, he was a great friend. “I’ve lost members of the family before, but Benny leaving us hit me as much as anything. 10's passing at the age of just 73 left Thomas acutely saddened. That’s the day Benny was born as a rugby player.” “A lot of people outside Wales didn’t know Benny until then, but after we beat the All Blacks people knew him all over the world. “To me, that’s the day he made a name for himself,” says Thomas. He remains the last man to captain a Welsh team to victory over the All Blacks.īennett, he says, was a shining light amid the gathering gloom of that autumn day. Welsh oak not even the All Blacks could cut down.ĭelme Thomas is carried off the pitch by fans after Llanelli beat the All Blacks in 1972 (Image: Mirrorpix) There is a great picture of the skipper being ferried shoulder-high off the field that Halloween day almost 50 years ago. I couldn’t do it if I wrote anything down - I’d work myself up so much.” “The words I said to the boys before the game were off the cuff, one hundred percent. “I’ve always said it: The day of days in my career was that victory over the All Blacks,' he says. Thomas has probably recalled the story thousands of times to different reporters, but another trek down memory lane isn’t too much for him. The genius fly-half then went out and played the game of his life as the Scarlets posted their never-to-be-forgotten 9-3 success. He told the likes of Bennett, Roy Bergiers, Gareth Jenkins and Ray Gravell he would trade everything he’d achieved with Wales and the Lions for a win “on our ground in front of our people”.īennett was in tears at the words. “Legend,” his mate said.ĭelme Thomas reads the Western Mail's account of Llanelli's historic win over New Zealand in 1972 (Image: Mirrorpix/Western Mail Archive)

“What a speech from Delme - no notes, from the heart: spine-tingling,” one summed up. Indeed, after he’d spoken at the late Phil Bennett’s remembrance service in June, two men in their 30s were talking outside Parc y Scarlets as this writer left the stadium. It's ensured respect flows the other way as well, even from those who were not born when the big man finished playing in 1974. Humility is in his DNA, along with courtesy, decency and respect for others, values instilled in him as a boy growing up in the west Wales village of Bancyfelin. It is the way he has carried himself over his life. Read more : Delme's speech moves people to tearsĬertainly, many will be moved to toast Thomas on the occasion of such a grand landmark.īut it isn’t just his deeds in rugby that make the former Llanelli, Wales and Lions lock so well-liked. They could fill the Principality Stadium several times over and still there’d be plenty outside waiting to come in. Good job doors were not flung open to all his admirers. We have a bit of a do this afternoon and have invited a lot of my friends,” says Delme Thomas on the morning of his 80th birthday. “If it was up to me I wouldn’t be doing anything, but my two daughters are here and I have to obey orders.

Locker combination gone home