A group of Lions took a collective look back at one of the one of the greatest tours in history when they met up for a reunion dinner this week.
London Welsh’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ from the 1971 Lions tour of New Zealand were all present to celebrate the club’s 125th anniversary, as well as the 40th anniversary of that famous series win against the All Blacks.
John Dawes, Gerald Davies, Geoff Evans, Mike Roberts, JPR Williams, Mervyn Davies and John Taylor all featured for Britain and Ireland’s elite on that historic adventure as the Lions recorded their first and only series win in New Zealand.
“It was a terrific evening. Contrary to what people might think, we don’t actually meet up that often – it’s a good number of years since we were last all together,” said Taylor, who played 15 times on the ’71 tour, including all four Tests.
“Five of us played in all of the Test matches, so a third of the Lions team was made up from London Welsh – that’s pretty special.
“A Lions tour in those days was three-and-a-half months, so while we were probably already a band of brothers, when you go through something like that it brings you together even more.
“There was a lot of reminiscing and late doors we even had a late rather creaky rendition of the tour song Sloop John B.”
The Lions of London Welsh
| Name | Total games in 1971 | Tests played |
| John Dawes | 19 | 4 |
| Gerald Davies | 10 | 4 |
| Meryvn Davies | 14 | 4 |
| Geoff Evans | 6 | 0 |
| Mike Roberts | 11 | 0 |
| John Taylor | 15 | 4 |
| JPR Williams | 15 | 4 |
