THE years were rolled back and nostalgia reigned on Thursday night at a special reunion of the Newport team which beat South Africa 11-6 forty years ago.

The evening at Rodney Parade, organised by the Friends of Newport, was described as a great success, with 13 members of the team attending plus a couple of the reserves and one touch judge.

Allan Skirving, the ex-Wales wing and former St Julian’s High School scholar, travelled from Australia where he has lived for many years while outside half Billy Raybould came from France.

Skirving scored one of the two tries (the other was by centre David Cornwall who couldn’t attend from Italy) while captain and full back John Anthony, who kicked a penalty and conversion, also attended from the Midlands, as did prop Barry Llewellyn from West Wales.

Mike Dams, the Newport historian who helped organise the reunion, said: “The most pleasing thing was the way the players wanted to come and get back together again.

“We showed highlights of the match which were, of course, in black and white with commentary by Bleddyn Williams and it also showed the changes around the ground since those days like the cricket pitch and power station which are no longer there.

“Officially the attendance was said to be 22,000, but everyone agreed it was more like 25,000 and then there were the problems with the anti-apartheid demonstrators.

“Allan Skirving told the story of how he had to travel from Canterbury for the match and was late because of the traffic so had to get out of the car and jump a fence to get into the ground. The police chased after him because they thought he was an anti-apartheid demonstrator!”

The evening, in front of an audience of more than 100 in the Rodney Hall, took the form of a question and answer session with Phil Steele, a former Newport full back now with BBC Wales, the MC.

Avril Malan, the Springboks captain in 1969, sent a message, part of which said, “We by no means took the match lightheartedly. I kept in mind that in the 1960-61 tour it was said about the match against Newport, which we won 3-0, that never had a team deserved to beat the South Africans more than Newport.

“All I can say at this stage is that the outcome of the game in 1969-70 was a true reflection of who the better team was. Congratulations with the 40th anniversary celebration and may the best team win in our next encounter!”