Wales and Lions great Pricey is hanging up his pen after 40 years and bows out with belief his former Pontypool team-mate Lyndon Faulkner can get Welsh rugby moving in the right direction again

As a member of the legendary Pontypool front row, with a record 12 Lions Tests starts for a Welshman to his name and having built a reputation as a leading pundit, Graham Price has banked decades of rugby memories.

However, with his 75th birthday approaching, he feels the time has come to hang up his pen, so to speak, as a respected WalesOnline columnist.

Pricey has shared his unique insight into the game with the public for close on 40 years, from the early days with Wales on Sunday through to today. In that time there have been many commentators on the dramatic ups and downs of Welsh rugby, but few possess the same gravitas as the great man.

As well as being the rock upon which Wales and Lions teams were built, never once taking a backward step - “particularly in the scrum,” laughs Pricey - he has always been prepared to speak his mind and offer forthright, but constructive, criticism. Sometimes coaches might even have altered their team selection as a result of Price’s words of wisdom.

“I’ve just tried to be honest - and if that ruffled a few feathers some of the time, so be it,” he says. “Not everyone has always agreed with me, differing opinions are the beauty of rugby, but I’ve always been true to my beliefs in what I say. The game has changed so much though, not always necessarily for the better, and this is the right time to bow out and enjoy my retirement.”

When Price penned his first column at the end of the 1980s, Welsh rugby was in the doldrums. What’s new there, you might ask? What followed was what he terms “an incredible boom or bust rollercoaster” he was able to report on.

“There have been so many incredible highs, Grand Slams, great players - yet pretty soon we always seemed to be brought back down to earth by the lows, often tinged with major controversy,” he points out.

“Most of my favourite memories seem to have come against England - beating them home and away as a player during the 1970s, writing about Scott Gibbs’ Wembley try as a delighted columnist, the 30-3 thumping in 2013 when they came to the Millennium Stadium supposedly to give us a drubbing en route to a Grand Slam.

"I loved how we in effect knocked them out of their own World Cup at Twickenham in 2015 when, instead of Owen Farrell kicking a penalty at the end for a draw which would have kept England in the competition, they went for a try and lost.

“But I go back to near the start for perhaps the best one for me. The Arms Park 1993, when Ieuan Evans pounced on a Rory Underwood error for a try and unexpected 10-9 victory. I was in the company of my former Lions team-mates, Steve Smith, Maurice Colclough among them, and they were super confident. So let’s just say I enjoyed driving it into them over a few beers!

“Coincidentally we were staying that night in the same hotel as the England team. When they eventually traipsed in, the expression, look of thunder, on Brian Moore’s face was a picture.”

My mate Lyndon

Of course, England have the upper hand today with Welsh rugby on the rocks. Yet as he bows out, Price sees a glimmer of hope in the shape of his former 1980s Pontypool team-mate Lyndon Faulkner, who has taken over as WRU chairman.

“I got in touch with him after the appointment, invited him up to Pontypool Park for a match which he accepted,” says Price.

“Obviously our game is in a dark place at the moment, but if anyone can shine a light forward it’s Lyndon. He combines outstanding business acumen with a deep knowledge of Welsh rugby and that hasn’t always been the case.

“He’ll review everything and make clever suggestions of what needs to happen next. He won’t be afraid to speak his mind, upset one or two if necessary, even though he was always one of the quieter figures within our dressing room.

“Mind, that Pontypool upbringing under our legendary coach Ray Prosser will help Lyndon greatly because he’s going to need a thick skin. There was always plenty of straight-talking up there and Lyndon will obviously have picked up on that early.”

The original bad old days - and enter Henry

There is an analogy between today and yesteryear because Welsh rugby was also in a terrible state when Price started out as a columnist.

“The tail-end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s was a difficult period,” he says with a sense of understatement. “But we had a good club structure underpinning our game.

"As such my belief was that rugby goes in cycles and we would soon return to the top table, even if some fans wouldn’t necessarily have shared that optimism.

"Even then we won the 1994 Five Nations under Alan Davies, a glimmer of hope, yet that was followed by the Kevin Bowring years where we started enduring some truly humiliating defeats - 60-26 to England, 51-0 to France and then 96-13 in South Africa when Dennis John was caretaker.

“I used to enjoy ribbing my old England opponents when we beat them; suddenly they were getting their revenge. But what really hurt was that people started feeling sorry for us and the mickey-taking stopped. That was a nadir, the point at which Wales did something which was perceived as really controversial at the time by bringing in a foreign coach.

“Wales used to be masters of producing top coaches, but clearly this change was required because Graham Henry came in and gave us something that was missing - belief. He altered the mindset, had greater demands of professionalism with his attention to detail and an ability to communicate with the players which transformed the set-up.

“Basically Henry tried to bring the New Zealand system to Wales, get us playing the way they did over there. It worked to a large degree. We went on a 10-match winning streak, we beat South Africa for the first time in history, yet typical of Welsh rugby it then falls off a cliff with the controversy surrounding the eligibility of Brett Sinkinson and Shane Howarth.

“It was never the same for Henry after he chose England players ahead of his own Wales stars for the 2001 Lions and he was replaced by Steve Hansen. My abiding memory of his era was Shane Williams bursting to the fore in the 2003 World Cup when Hansen in effect picked a second string versus New Zealand.

“The reserves decided they weren’t just going to rock up as cannon-fodder. To this day I believe they ripped up the game plan by playing off-the-cuff rugby. The Welsh Way. We lost, but Shane was brilliant and there was hope for the future again.

“Henry and Hansen each went back to New Zealand to win the World Cup with their own country and I always feel they learned from mistakes made in their early years with Wales.”

Ruddock - the good and the bad

Price feels if there is one moment which sums up the boom-bust cycle he talks of, it is the Mike Ruddock era in charge.

“He led us to our first Grand Slam in 27 years, showing what this team was capable of,” starts Price. “The future was looking so rosy - then we shoot ourselves in the foot with his sudden and unnecessary resignation, which nobody had foreseen.

“I guess Gavin Henson, who followed Shane as another real ace in the pack, was a microcosm of it. He had everything, did Gav. Tremendous kicking, playmaking skills, excellent defence. Who can forget the win over England when he landed that penalty near the end and upended Mathew Tait so hard he ended up carrying him like a handbag! Yet I always felt Gav was an unfulfilled talent. Off the field things seemed to affect his rugby and, like Paul Gascoigne in football, you felt he could have achieved so much more.

“In comes Gareth Jenkins, a popular choice at the time, but who I felt was a bit past his sell-by date when he got the job. Ruddock had brought greater organisation, stiffened up the set-piece, made sure there was a foundation to play off. Jenkins left 24 hours after we lost to Fiji in our World Cup group when instead of keeping things tight up front, using our superior scrum and lineout, we played into their hands with a chaotic game plan and paid the penalty.”

Enter Gatland - and Warrenball

With Welsh rugby in the doldrums once more, the WRU asked another New Zealander to ride to the rescue. Enter Warren Gatland. “The rest is history,” says Price. “He didn’t seem to like the Warrenball tag, but I’ve no idea why. We used to play that way at Pontypool in the 1970s. It worked for us, it worked for Gatland.

“When I played for the Lions in New Zealand they adopted this policy, using a big inside centre to crash into tackles and create space for the man out wide. It meant that whilst being a forward-orientated country, their wingers scored lots of tries.

“Gatland brought it in here too and central to this plan was Jamie Roberts, a full-back-cum-wing initially, who he converted to a ball carrying centre. It was a limited game-plan, Gatland never really evolved it, which was a bit of a negative for me. But he’ll point to three Grand Slams and two World Cup semi-finals and it’s hard to argue with that.”

Would Gatland’s side, involved in Welsh rugby’s second golden era, have beaten the great team of the 1970s, given professionalism and sports science were on an equal footing?

“What I would say is that our team would have read the game better, not limited ourselves with a one-dimensional approach,” Price replies. “We had players like Phil Bennett, Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams who would play off the cuff rugby in any era.

“Even if we were defending on our own line, if one of those spotted space they’d run the ball out and automatically the rest of us would be switched on to go with it. We had structure, but we also played what was in front of us.

“The front row battle? Only thing I’d say to that is they’d have to play with our rules back then - which is anything goes! It’s funny mind, but the only time you were penalised was if the scrum-half put the ball in crooked, or the hooker struck too early. These days the scrum-half always puts the ball in crooked, the hooker never strikes - yet those aren’t penalised, while referees blow up for a myriad of other offences.”

Price’s dream team

We asked Pricey to name the best Wales XV of his era as a pundit. His selection is a mouthwatering one… Leigh Halfpenny; George North, Jonathan Davies, Scott Gibbs, Ieuan Evans; Stephen Jones, Mike Phillips; Gethin Jenkins, Ken Owens, Adam Jones, Luke Charteris, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton, Taulupe Faletau.

“There are so many full-back options, Liam Williams, Lee Byrne, Neil Jenkins among them, but Halfpenny had everything,” explains Price. ”For a small man he was immense under the high ball, outstanding in defensive positioning, good running into the line and one of the greatest kickers we’ve had.

“North was the closest I’ve seen to a Welsh version of Jonah Lomu, a giant with blistering speed who appeared in four World Cups, won over 100 caps. I loved Shane Williams, but Ieuan gets the nod for the other wing spot because of what he did with the Lions. Seven Lions Tests speaks for itself - he was a devastating finisher in his own right.

“Gibbs had more to his game than Roberts so wins the vote at 12. You don’t argue with anyone who can put Os Du Randt on their backside. He’d complement Davies perfectly.

“We’ve had lots of fly-halves, even today with Sam Costelow versus Dan Edwards it remains the most scrutinised position. None have been of the quality of Barry John, Phil Bennett and Jonathan Davies, but Stephen Jones was reliable, a decent goalkicker and put in a huge defensive shift.

“Phillips walks in at scrum-half, better than Rob Howley for me. You can never compare anybody with Gareth Edwards, but Phillips’ blockbusting style and physicality make him the closest thing I‘ve seen to another Terry Holmes.

“Gethin used to struggle in the scrum, but he held his own towards the end and his work around the field was always immense. Adam Jones also had problems early on, in his case with fitness levels, but that was eradicated. Whenever Adam was missing, his reputation was enhanced because the scrum invariably struggled without him.

"Some other pack members are automatic picks, but I go for Charteris as Alun Wyn’s lock partner. Robert Norster had just finished by the time I started writing and I feel Charteris’ size and lineout work meant he was a more reliable source of ball than Ian Gough, Ian Evans, Brent Cockbain, Adam Beard or any of the others.”

And finally, his favourite Pontypool front row tale

“We had a special rapport as the first front row from one club to be selected en bloc by Wales and the first club front row to be chosen by the Lions. The 'Viet Gwent' they called us, after the Vietnamese jungle fighters - we certainly weren't adverse to some dark arts and gave as good as we got.

“Bobby took the field for one game in Paris with a headband on. He'd had his ear bitten at a scrum the previous season and wanted protection. This time he was being punched, the kind of thing the referee couldn't see with 16 bodies packed down.

“He’d had enough. Next scrum Bobby told Charlie to step back a fraction and as the two teams went down, instead of striking for the ball he just booted their second row Alain Esteve straight in the chops. Esteve was as hard as they come, a huge bloke, one of rugby's 'most frightening figures'.

“He simply stood up and instead of retaliating, as we’d have expected, he looked Bobby in the eye, smiled and winked. 'Well if that's your best shot', that type of thing.

“We vowed never to take a backward step, but even Bobby, as tough as they came himself, was spooked by this.

“Charlie, what the heck do we do?' he asked in a panic, knowing retribution was on its way.

"'Tell him he's wanted on the phone,’ came the reply.

"We creased up laughing. I have no idea why Charlie came up with that one, but it genuinely happened in the heat of Wales versus France battle.”