IF Warren Gatland’s current crop of heroes needed any motivation to equal the Grand Slam achievements of the iconic Wales team of the seventies, they got it yesterday.
The sad news of Wales and Lions legend Mervyn Davies’ death cast a shadow over the rugby world and Wales, today, have a chance to lift it and celebrate an all-time great.
Former Wales captain Davies, who led his team to a Grand Slam in 1976 before a brain haemorrage later that year cut his career short, was a hero on and off the field and would have loved to see Sam Warburton’s team triumph at the Millennium Stadium today.
It will be an emotionally charged occasion and no doubt tears will be shed. Stories will be recounted again of the legendary Lions tours to New Zealand in 1971 and South Africa three years later, on both of which Davies was instrumental in the victorious outcome.
There will be a minute’s silence before the game and Wales will wear black armbands as a mark of respect.
But the greatest tribute they can pay to a true rugby legend is to win it for ‘Merv the Swerve’.
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