The goal finished by Angel di Maria to put Argentina two up at the World Cup final back in December was one such, and it will surely take its place in the pantheon.

Alongside it is a try scored 50 years ago this weekend in a rugby union match played in Cardiff.

The occasion was a match between the Barbarians and the New Zealand All Blacks.

The Barbarians were an invitational side which had been founded in 1890.

They did not have a permanent home ground or headquarters, but 75 years ago in 1948, they had been invited to play the Australian Wallabies.

It became traditional for them to play against the touring team in the grand finale of any major tour.

The New Zealand "All Blacks" which toured the British Isles in 1972-73 had not been universally popular. Prop forward Keith Murdoch had even been sent home in high dudgeon after an incident at a hotel in Cardiff.

In the course of the tour, the tourists had beaten Scotland, Wales and England before a draw with Ireland.

They had been defeated by the North West XV and the Midland representative teams and had also lost to one club side, Llanelli in South Wales.

That victory was masterminded by the renowned Welsh coach Carwyn James.

He had also been in charge two years earlier when the All Blacks had suffered the ultimate affront, defeat on home soil by the British Isles Rugby Union Team, better known as the Lions.

When the Barbarians fifteen to play New Zealand was first chosen, it included 13 members of that victorious team.

"They may be forgiven for believing they have been asked to finish their tour of the British Isles by playing an extra international," wrote Peter West in The Times on the morning of the match.

"They have stacked it against us by selecting 13 Lions so we are forced to think of this as an international rather than a Barbarians team," All Blacks captain Ian Kirkpatrick reflected.

The match was to be played in Cardiff and the Barbarians were to be led by John Dawes, captain of the Lions in 1971.

"Although it is nearly 18 months since we last played together, I think we can recapture the understanding we had in New Zealand," he predicted.

A ground ticket cost £0.30 ($0.37/€0.34) and even a seat in the stand was priced only at £2 ($2.46/€2.28)

Even allowing for the effects of inflation, it must still represent one of the greatest sporting bargains of all time.

The Barbarians prided themselves on an informal approach and often trained in public parks. The players even wore their own club socks in conjunction with the famous black and white hooped club jersey.

 James was invited to give a team talk before the match.

Also by tradition, the Barbarians always chose one uncapped non international player.

On this occasion it was Bob Wilkinson of Cambridge University.

On the morning of the match he was joined by another uncapped player, Tom David of Llanelli, who was a late call up as a replacement for Mervyn Davies who had gone down with flu.

The commentator was Cliff Morgan, a distinguished player himself in the 1950s with both Wales and the British Lions.

Within a few moments of the start, Morgan was describing a sequence of play which still has the power to exhilarate every time it is watched again.

In his team talk James was said to have simply told the brilliant Welsh and Barbarians fly half Phil Bennett, "Play your natural game." 

Two sidesteps by Bennett began the most famous move in the match with less than two minutes on the clock.

Eventually Edwards surged forward and dived headlong over the line to score.

"Edwards crossed for a try created from a fantastic movement of over eighty yards in which eight players handled," wrote Vivian Jenkins in the Sunday Times newspaper.

" This is Gareth Edwards , A dramatic start, what a score! ...Oh that fellow Edwards!" was how Morgan described the play for television viewers as his Welsh countryman dived over.

Strange as it may seem, no photograph captured the very instant the try was scored, though last year Welsh artist Elin Sian Blake painted "The Greatest try" to commemorate the scorer's 75th birthday.

As with the 2022 FIFA World Cup final, the drama of the match was not confined to that one single moment of genius.

There were further riches to display throughout the remaining 80 minutes.

Fergus Slattery of Ireland scored a second try for the Barbarians and then John Bevan raced inside for a third.

The Barbarians had a 17-0 advantage at the interval.

No-one was surprised when the New Zealanders began the second half with a new intensity.

Joe Karam kicked a penalty, the first points on the board for the tourists.

Then Grant Batty scored two tries, the second after a clever chip ahead.

The gap narrowed to 17-11 which meant another try followed by a conversion would bring the All Blacks level.

In fact the final decisive try was scored by the Barbarians and it was somehow appropriate that the scorer should be John Williams, always known by his full initials JPR.

Williams was a medical doctor who sported sideburns and long hair which seemed to embody the spirit of the seventies.

The match finished 23-11 to the Barbarians. 

Their fans brandished model sheep in celebration.

When it was over, the spectators raced onto the field to acclaim the players, a tribute rarely seen these days as the authorities are so concerned with health and safety.

"It was a tremendously enjoyable game to play with both sides playing quality not carefree rugby," Dawes said.

"The All Black contribution was excellent and their pressure at the start of the second half needed the sternest defence."

New Zealand captain Kirkpatrick was gracious in defeat.

"It was an incredible game and the first time we have played a team on tour prepared to stand back and give our three quarters a chance to run," Kirkpatrick reflected as the Welsh crowd joined in with the traditional New Zealand song of farewell "Now is the hour."

"In the first half, the Barbarians, led by John Dawes brought rugby on to a new plane by their irresistible handling," was the verdict of the Rothmans Rugby Yearbook, which was fast becoming the most important annual record of the sport.

"As a model for the modern game, the match represented the acme of achievement illustrating the heights that could be reached in playing rugby," Nigel Starmer Smith wrote in his official history of the Barbarians.

"The match set such a high standard of excellence that it will forever be a yardstick by which games of rugby football will be judged."

It is perhaps why some of the surviving players are gathering once again in Newport this weekend to recall old times, exactly half a century later.