Terry Holmes at 65, a true rugby great who was so good he almost carried a poor Wales team on his own

It was a big birthday for one of Welsh rugby’s greats, but it passed without media fanfare.

Terry Holmes wouldn’t have minded. He never was one for a fuss, particularly over himself. But that shouldn’t be cause for others not to salute the iconic figure who turned 65 in March.

How good was he? Worth hitchhiking up to Pontypridd in heavy rain to see him play for Cardiff in a Welsh Cup tie back in the day. That’s what a teenager and his mate did. The weather was dismal but the game wasn’t live on TV — of course it wasn’t — so anyone interested in watching had to make the effort to be there.

Holmes scored a try but Cardiff lost on a mudheap of a pitch. It was worth the effort to attend, though, to see him play at close quarters for the first time. A belated thanks to the mayor’s chauffeur who unexpectedly provided us with our carriage all those years ago. Rarely can two hitchhikers have travelled in such style.

Holmes was always worth seeing. His greatness had been apparent from the moment he broke into the Wales set-up as a 21-year-old in 1978. A few months earlier he had been the number three scrum-half at Cardiff behind Gareth Edwards and Brynmor Williams (read how Williams beat the All Blacks and got punched in the face for it here). The assumption had been that Williams would claim top-dog status after Edwards retired.

He had been an outstanding player himself, after all, dynamic in everything he did and considered by many to be the best number nine in Britain behind Edwards. But Holmes came to the fore on tour in Australia that summer to the point where he usurped Williams, who was to play just two more games for his country.

There unfolded a seven-year reign as Wales scrum-half for Holmes before he left for rugby