Mills granted the stamp of forgiveness by Kiwi Greengrass after 33 years

The victim, New Zealand prop John Greengrass, left the field in Swansea en route to hospital for 15 stitches in a gaping head wound and never played for his country again.

Hand of friendship: Greengrass (left) forgives Mills for his brutal action in 1975

The World Cup was also over for Jim Mills, the giant Wales forward who had just stamped on his opponent in full view of the French referee. Mills was given an early bath and a sixmonth suspension by the RFL.

The Kiwis went even further and banned Big Jim from playing in New Zealand for life, but the infamy of that day lived on in the TV images and morbid public interest that Greengrass has faced for almost 33 years.

The bitterness eventually subsided and when the 60-year-old came back to the UK for the first time earlier this month with wife Chris to visit their son and his family in London, he decided to contact his assailant.

The first thing Mills did was to hang up the phone. 'I thought it was an Aussie taking the mickey,' said Mills, now 63. 'We'd both had our legs pulled over it. It was a crackling line and I thought someone was giggling on the other end.'

It was only when Chris sent Mills a text from her New Zealand mobile that he realised it was not a hoax. He contacted Wales Rugby League president Mike Nicholas - another veteran of that World Cup - and they arranged for the couple to stay at the Forest Hills Hotel in Cheshire where Mills and Greengrass met this week.

'When I told Mike that John was coming, he said "I bet he's got a gun and he's going to shoot you!",' laughed Mills. 'I really appreciate it because that incident has niggled me all my rugby career. I didn't just upset John and New Zealand, I upset a lot of people.

'You couldn't get a worse incident and to have him come over here and offer the hand of friendship means a lot. It's made me feel a lot better.'

'Back home it's brought up all the time,' said Greengrass. 'They talk about the worst incidents in football and that's always shown.

'I was bitter for a couple of years but it's water under the bridge. Life's too short to hold grudges. I'd be very disappointed if I'd come all this way and hadn't met Jim.'

Former Widnes forward Mills does not dispute his hard man reputation, but insists he had never stamped until he packed the power of his 6ft 4in 18st frame into his right boot and sank it into Greengrass' skull as the Kiwi went over for a try in Wales' 23-22 win.

'I've only seen the incident once and I cringed,' said Mills. 'I can't explain it. Brainstorm, stupidity, moment of madness. The only thing I can think of is I blamed myself for him scoring.'

Now semi-retired and splitting his time between England and Spain, the former Widnes chairman and nightclub owner has mellowed with age.

'They've gone to stay at my friend's guest house in Conwy,' said Big Jim. 'As they left, I had tears in my eyes and so did John. I thought: "Bloody hell, if they could see us now".'