Llanelli won 9-3 on a never-to-be forgotten afternoon which has taken its place in the lore of Welsh rugby.

The 50th anniversary of the match will be all the more poignant this year with the passing of flyhalf Phil Bennett, described by the club as "a player with stardust in his boots".

Only last weekend at Ffwrnes Theatre, former Llanelli players gathered to reminisce about the great day.

A cache of recently re-discovered black and white photographs taken on that murky day by photographer Alan Richards have been assembled into a commemorative book by his son Andrew to mark the occasion.

Some modern-day players have expressed astonishment that a top-level team such as the All Blacks should have played against club sides but in those days it was quite normal. In fact Llanelli had played against the 1970 South African Springboks and had very nearly beaten them.

The Llanelli team was coached by Carwyn James, a player who had twice been capped by Wales but revealed his true rugby genius as a coach.

To signify his opposition to apartheid, James prepared the Llanelli team for the match in 1970, but did not leave the dressing room for the contest itself.

The following year James was put in charge of the British Lions, then more formally known in television and newspapers as the "British Isles Rugby Union" team, for their tour of Australia and New Zealand.

The tour ran from May to August and included encounters with regional teams such as Wairarapa Bush and the Bay of Plenty as a build-up to four intense test matches.

Rugby union enforced a strict amateur code at the time so the players all had "day jobs", and to embark on a tour, it was necessary to have the backing of benevolent employers. Players were not paid but received a daily allowance.

Wales provided more players for the squad then any of the other home nations and legendary figures such as Barry John, Gareth Edwards and skipper John Dawes had been vital to a first Lions series victory in New Zealand.

The forwards included two men from Llanelli, Delme Thomas and Derek Quinnell.

Thomas later revealed in his autobiography that before the end of the tour James had confided that Llanelli had been included as one of the teams to play against the All Blacks when they made their next visit to the northern hemisphere in 1972.

The All Blacks were widely considered as the most formidable and charismatic team in world rugby.

The Rugby World Cup had not yet been introduced, so tours such as these were considered the pinnacle of international rugby and for New Zealand it presented an opportunity to exact revenge for what had taken place in 1971.

The schedule included no fewer than 32 matches played on a tour which lasted from October 1972 to February 1973.

The programme included matches against Cambridge University, the Combined Services, regional representative sides and three other Welsh club teams. It began with matches in Canada and the United States before arriving in the British Isles.

On a sunny afternoon in Gloucester they opened the British leg of the tour with a 39-12 victory over the Western Counties.

Watching in the crowd that day was a party from their next opponents, Llanelli.

Although the All Blacks were held in awe by most of the rugby world, Llanelli, known as the Scarlets for the colour of their jerseys, were encouraged to be optimistic by James.

The Llanelli Star newspaper carried the headline "Scarlet Power v Black Magic". It also published photographs of each member of the Llanelli team.

"Llanelli's hopes lie with these men, if they beat the All Blacks their names will be immortalised". The newspaper’s prediction turned out to be spot on.

Bennett, destined to play such a key role in the match, recalled that the build-up on the morning of the match was "something special going on".

A stand ticket for Stradey Park that day cost £1.25 ($1.41/€1.14) and the band of the Welsh Fusiliers accompanied traditional Welsh songs as the crowd reached fever pitch before the match.

The crowd included teachers and pupils from the Ystrad Tywi school in Carmarthen where Llanelli centre Roy Bergiers taught. It had been necessary for him to ask for the day off to play in the match.

In the early minutes of the match, Llanelli were awarded a penalty. Bennett was the kicker.

"It bounced back off the crossbar", reported David Frost in The Guardian.

New Zealand's Lin Colling attempted to clear but "the kick was charged down by the eager Bergiers spreadeagled on the bounding ball for the try," the report continued.

"That’s been one of the greatest moments of my life and I’ve got wonderful memories of it," centre Bergiers recalled for a BBC Wales documentary 40 years later.

"It was the most physical game I've ever played in," Llanelli flanker Gareth Jenkins admitted for the television cameras.

One player was knocked out in a melee, most likely by New Zealand prop forward Keith Murdoch, later sent home after an incident at Cardiff's Angel Hotel.

Yet for many, the events of October 31 have held a special resonance. 

"The All Blacks are beaten", began Esdale Maclean's report for the Llanelli Star, "the might of New Zealand, the cream of the rugby nation’s skill, their hopes, desires, dreams and reputations crumbled into disjointed pieces like the escaping threads of a dream during the waking moments,". A poetic description of a day fondly remembered by those who witnessed it.

Today, autographed programmes from the match are offered for sale at £5,000 ($5,750/€5,800).

The Welsh comedian Max Boyce told the story of what had happened that day in a song entitled simply 9-3, the scoreline of the match.

"Those who went to Stradey, will remember 'til they die,

"How New Zealand were defeated, and all the pubs ran dry.

"They'll ask to hear the story of that damp October day,

"When I went down to Stradey and I saw the Scarlets play."

New Zealand later beat Wales, England and Scotland before a draw with Ireland.

They  also played a high-profile match against the invitational Barbarians side and a test in France before finally returning home.

Tomorrow the All Blacks class of 2022 begin this year's autumn series of internationals in Tokyo against Japan.

Then they fly to Cardiff to face Wales next weekend.

It is a schedule which demonstrates the degree to which modern rugby, and for that matter international sport has become so much more intense.

Gone forever it seems is a long tour in which players might also savour something of their new surroundings and perhaps forge lifelong friendships.

The last time the anniversary of 1972 was celebrated a decade ago, the late sportswriter Frank Keating, an incurable romantic, lamented that "along with a rare handful of rugby's other dragon-slaying tilts, it remains a voluptuous decoration of sporting history's cherished pageant. Alas, it can never happen again."

Many will feel that something intangible but special has been lost from sport in the process.

Even the ground where it happened is no more.

Houses stand where once Bennett kicked for goal.