Sir Gareth Owen Edwards, CBE, KB was born on 12 July 1947 and is a Welsh former rugby union player who played scrum-half and has been described by the BBC as "arguably the greatest player ever to don a Welsh jersey".
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26 Facts About Gareth Edwards
2.
Gareth Edwards played in the 1970s, but, if he played now, he would still be the best.
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3.
Gareth Edwards was outstanding at running, passing, kicking and reading the game.
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4.
Gareth Edwards was prominent in the Welsh national team that was to the fore in European rugby in the '60s and '70s.
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5.
Gareth Edwards is one of a small group of Welsh players to have won three Grand Slams including Gerald Davies, JPR Williams, Ryan Jones, Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins and Alun Wyn Jones.
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6.
Gareth Edwards was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2015, for services to sport and for charitable services.
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8.
Gareth Edwards attended Pontardawe Technical School for Boys, where he was taken under the wing of sports teacher Bill Samuels.
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9.
Gareth Edwards won a scholarship to the elite Millfield Public School in Somerset.
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12.
Gareth Edwards was very fortunate in playing with two of the best outside halves the game has ever seen: Barry John and Phil Bennett.
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14.
Gareth Edwards followed up this success by receiving an MBE in 1975.
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15.
Gareth Edwards was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.
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16.
Gareth Edwards played ten times for the British and Irish Lions, playing for the 1971 Lions team that was the only such team to win a series in New Zealand, and for the unbeaten 1974 side in South Africa.
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18.
Gareth Edwards played for Cardiff College, Wales Secondary Schools, East Wales, Wales, Barbarians, Wolfhounds, Irish President XV, World XV in South Africa in 1977, the combined England and Wales against Scotland and Ireland at the RFU centenary in 1971, first Wales Sevens team SRU centenary in 1973, and the RAF on tour in Cyprus 1972.
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19.
Gareth Edwards' try for the Barbarians against the All Blacks in 1973 at Cardiff Arms Park, often referred to simply as "that try", is regarded as the greatest try ever.
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20.
From 1978 until 1982 Gareth Edwards was a team captain on the TV quiz show A Question of Sport along with Liverpool and England footballer Emlyn Hughes.
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21.
In 1997, Gareth Edwards was one of the first fifteen former players inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame along with former playing partners Barry John and JPR Williams.
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22.
Gareth Edwards is the subject of a plaque in the Rugby Pathway of Fame in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, which is credited as the home of the game.
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23.
On 21 November 2001, Gareth Edwards was voted the "Greatest Welsh Player of all time" at a rugby dinner held at the Cardiff International Arena by the 'Welsh Rugby Former International Players' Association' and First Press Events company.
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24.
Surprisingly, Gareth Edwards has admitted that All Black scrum-half Sid Going most likely got the better of him over their seven encounters, "As I say, he was the best I played against and, yes, he probably had the edge on me in the games we played".
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25.
Gareth Edwards is a director at the Cardiff Blues region, director of Mercedes dealership Euro Commercials Ltd.
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26.
Gareth Edwards was patron of The Richard Hunt Foundation and in 2010 he was named a Patron of the Jaguar Academy of Sport.
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