In 2025, the family of Welsh rugby legend JPR Williams auctioned a series of jerseys from his collection.
The highest amount paid was £27,500 for the Barbarians jersey he wore in the famous match between the Barbarians and the 1972/73 All Blacks.
While this was clearly a substantial sum, it is overshadowed by the amount another jersey from the same match sold for at auction a couple of years before.
Find out which jersey it was and its sale price, and read about some of the other most expensive memorabilia items to be sold at auction.
“Gareth Edwards… a dramatic start!”
Any rugby fan, regardless of age or nationality, can picture it and hear the commentary from Cliff Morgan.
It is the traditional end-of-tour match between the 1972/73 All Blacks and the Barbarians.
The Baa-Baas fly-half Phil Bennett collects a high kick inside his own 22. He jinxes past four tackles (“brilliant, oh brilliant!”) and passes to JPR Williams.
JPR evades a high tackle that would surely result in a red card these days, before passing to the England hooker, John Pullin.
The ball then goes through several pairs of hands (“John Dawes… Tom David, the halfway line… Brilliant by Quinnell!”) before Gareth Edwards takes a pass that seems to be intended for the winger outside him (“Gareth Edwards, a dramatic start!”) and dives over the line.
With good reason, it is often called the greatest try in rugby history, and, as you read above, it occurred in one of the most legendary matches.
The iconic Barbarians black-and-white striped shirt Edwards wore that day set a world record for a rugby jersey when it sold at auction for £240,000 in 2023.
The team that invented modern rugby
The first All Blacks tour to the northern hemisphere was in 1905.
They won a remarkable 34 matches with just one defeat, 3-0 to Wales. The controversy surrounding that defeat and a disallowed All Blacks try still lingers to this day.
Their remarkable points differential of 976 to 59 highlights their dominance and the advanced, innovative nature of their tactics and rugby style.
Among the innovations they introduced to the game on that tour were:
- Playing with a fly-half or “two five-eighths” between the forwards and backs.
- Each forward in the team had a specific role in scrummages, rather than packing down in the order they turned up.
- Being the first to use lineouts as an attacking weapon, with the man throwing in targeting players jumping.
- Forwards being involved in passing moves, rather than simply winning possession and giving it to the backs.
- The use of their fullback as an attacking weapon, rather than simply the last line of defence.
Just one of those innovations would have been worthy of note, so you can only imagine the turmoil caused by all five. Furthermore, all this was wedded to a level of organisation and fitness well above the average in British rugby.
It is little wonder that one of the jerseys worn by the tour captain, Dave Gallaher, was sold at auction for £180,000 in 2015.
Intriguingly, it was the jersey he wore in the one game the All Blacks lost. He swapped it with the Welsh skipper, whose family put it up for auction over a century later.
The mystery of the England 2003 World Cup rugby jersey
A fortnight after England beat Australia in the 2003 World Cup final, ESPN reported that the retail tycoon, Philip Green, had paid £500,000 for a signed England jersey from that final at a charity auction.
However, some mystery surrounds the shirt. The Rainbow Trust, which was the charity concerned, reported that the jersey had come from England lock-forward Ben Kay. Kay, however, says he wore two that day. One was swapped with an opponent, and the other was still in his possession.
No other England player has subsequently stepped forward to confirm it was one of theirs, so there is some doubt over the authenticity of the jersey Green acquired.
However, it remains the largest amount paid for any piece of rugby memorabilia.
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Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at individuals only.