These days it is the eyes that do the twinkling rather than the toes, but the image of Gerald Davies in his dashing 1970s prime is so enduring that for some of us he will always remain a figure of eternal youth, a kind of rugby Peter Pan.

In which light, the realisation that the great man had turned 70 last Saturday must have stopped a few followers of the game in their tracks. Granted, this newly minted septuagenarian still looks sufficiently fit and lean that when George North dropped out of the Wales side the other day you half expected him to be called back in to reprise some of his wizardry on the wing, but this weekend he will be restricted to watching events at Murrayfield from his home near Pontypool rather than dazzling the Edinburgh crowd as he used to do on an infuriatingly regular basis.

Never more so than on that magical afternoon in February 1971 when Scotland and Wales dished up a feast of exciting rugby, six tries and a game that saw the lead change hands five times before Wales edged it at the death. Davies was the rapier finisher in a backline orchestrated by Gareth Edwards and Barry John, and he came into his own in the final minute when, with Scotland leading 18-14, he took a pass from JPR Williams just inside the Scottish 22 - or 25 as it was then - hit the throttle and ran an unstoppable arcing run to the right corner.

He laughs now that it is John Taylor's subsequent conversion - famously described as the greatest since St Paul - rather than his try that seems to be entrenched in the collective memory. But in a sense, what happened at Murrayfield was just a warm-up for Davies, for his finest hour would come in New Zealand a few months later when he contributed three tries to the Lions historic series triumph against the All Blacks, including two in the critical second Test in Christchurch.

If that was the measure of Davies the player, his deeper qualities as a human being were revealed three years later when took a stance against apartheid and refused a place on the Lions 1974 tour to South Africa, a noble and rare exception to rugby's prevailing (and conveniently self-serving) orthodoxy at the time that sport and politics should not be mixed. If that position, coupled with his flowing mane of hair, marked him out as a rugby radical of his day, he would counter the impression later as he transformed himself into one of the most respected administrators in the game, albeit without burdening himself with the baggage of pomposity that many acquire on that particular journey.

But nor has rugby's politicking ever diminished his relish for the game itself. Davies expressed that sentiment with impressive clarity and lyricism in his many years as a perceptive columnist with The Times, and it is just as evident in his conversation today. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of his international debut - he first turned out against Australia in Cardiff in December 1966 - and he is as much in love with, and excited by, rugby now as he was then.

Were it not for his accent you might think that his fist allegiance was to Scotland, for he is clearly a huge admirer of the kind of game the Scots have traditionally tried to play, and which coach Vern Cotter is trying to tap into again. "They had a good autumn period, didn't they?" he said enthusiastically. "I thought the Scots looked very encouraging in November and that they could take a lot of comfort from the way the team played. I think they are taking the right road.

"It was what we always expected from Scotland when I played. I think it might have something to do with the fact that sevens began in the Borders and that there was an element of that tradition in the 15-a-side game. Traditionally, Scotland play with plenty of movement and plenty of endeavour and adventure.

"I wouldn't call it mayhem and chaos. I think it's just about breaking up the game in a good way, getting away from the predictability of so much of rugby. I think you have to do that in the modern game. I think that's the way forward. We need to open up the game that way."

His Murrayfield try in 1971 set Wales up for the first of three Grand Slams they would achieve that decade. Yet for all that it was hardly the greatest era for Scottish rugby, games between the Welsh and the Scots tended to be rollicking, competitive affairs. Scotland won only twice in that period, but Davies recalls that Wales had to work hard to get the upper hand.

"They tended to be great games," he said. "I used to see in those days, and for long after I finished as well, that if someone from outer space wanted to see a game of rugby I would take them to the Wales - Scotland game.

"There was always plenty of movement. There may have been mistakes, but they were never boring. A Wales - England game could be pretty dull, with a couple of penalties either way, but the games against Scotland were always adventurous and exciting."

After Clive Woodward's calamitous Lions tour to New Zealand in 2005, Davies did a brilliant ambassadorial job as manager of the 2009 trip to South Africa, rescuing the tourists' reputation as one of the wonders of the rugby world. He then chaired the tour to Australia in 2013. Last year, he took on the chairmanship of the Guinness PRO12.

With that hat on, he was watched with a degree of concern as English and French teams have dominated this season's European Champions Cup - Leinster were the only PRO12 side to reach the last eight - but he is not reaching for the panic button yet. "I wouldn't go on this season alone," he explained. "In other seasons, there has been success in Europe.

"But I really do feel we cannot allow England and France to run away. I think there is something unique about the four [Celtic and Italian] nations playing under the same umbrella. I think it is very attractive, and I don't think we should allow England and France to move far ahead. We need to close that gap."

Yet all this Celtic solidarity can be put on hold on Sunday as Davies settles down to watch what happens at Murrayfield. Not that he seems to be anticipating a particularly happy afternoon, for on the evidence of last weekend's opening round of Six Nations games he reckons Scotland could be in good shape to register their first win against his countrymen since 2007.

"The way Wales played in the second half against England was very disappointing," he said. "I thought Scotland could take more confidence from their loss than Wales. I thought that Scotland played well and it was a good game in Paris.

"Wales did not play with width, but Scotland did. Wales seemed to be struggling and played in the middle part of the field. I think that if they are going to make an impression then they must try to find spaces wide out."

Easier said than done, of course. But then, finding those wide open spaces was never a task that seemed to trouble Davies too greatly.