The results were in and Rugby World’s Player of the Year for 1978, by a country mile, was the immortal Gareth Edwards. Receiving 1186 points across the reader’s votes, he more than doubled the score of his closest rival, Scotland’s Andy Irvine, who managed 583.
Elsewhere in Rugby World, a stentorian editorial noted that all was not well in some corners of the game. “It will be interesting to see what effect the now infamous ‘Rugby trial’ will have on players’ and officials’ attitudes next season. To suddenly find yourself with a police record and a suspended sentence after punching an opponent in a Rugby match must have come as a great shock to John Billinghurst, captain of Caerphilly 3rd XV. He left Usk Borstal scrum-half George Grist with a double fracture of the jaw, which meant him missing work for nine weeks.
“We may now see a spate of court cases next season as it becomes the fashionable thing to do. This may not do Rugby a lot of good in the public eye, but it may force selectors, at all levels, to realise their responsibilities and not pay people whose primary, and often sole talent is to physically intimidate the opposition. Yet alternatively, courts must appreciate the physical nature of the game and judge accordingly.”
More on the state of the game in July 1978 can be found here.
