Which is the greatest sports team in history?

This week, the claims of five different teams in five different sports have been put forward by the sporting heroes who knew them best.

And we are asking for your vote on which deserves to be hailed as the greatest of all time.

We opened with the 1970 Brazil football team. Now legendary scrum-half Gareth Edwards recalls what made Wales' Grand Slam-winning rugby team of 1976 such an inspirational force.

Wales 1976
By Gareth Edwards

Like any great team, Wales were blessed with some world-class players coming through in the early 1970s.

At that time, the schools system was good for producing young players with the skills that could then be developed at senior level.

The club game in Wales was also very strong and there was good competition week in, week out.

The games were not always classics, but you played under intense pressure so they were good preparation for international rugby.

ACHIEVEMENTS - 1970s 3 Grand Slams (1971, 76 & 78) 5 Triple Crowns (1971, 76-79) 8 consecutive wins: 1970-72 1 defeat in 14 Tests: 1976-78

It was early days in the northern hemisphere in terms of coaching and preparation, but with a lot of natural ability, we thrived.

Coaches Clive Rowlands and John Dawes understood our background and what made the boys tick.

They didn't interfere too much and we played with a style which suited our temperament.

We came from very close-knit communities and there were a lot of players from London Welsh, so a lot of the guys knew each other very closely.

There was a great team spirit and success helps that, no question. There was a tremendous buzz and we all got caught up in it.

People say the present Welsh team is under pressure from losing so many games, but you also have that pressure when the expectation is so great.

It wasn't plain sailing but we were a happy squad and that was a distinct advantage.

1976 GRAND SLAM TEAM 15 JPR Williams 14 Gerald Davies 13 Ray Gravell 12 Steve Fenwick 11 JJ Williams 10 Phil Bennett 9 Gareth Edwards 1 Charlie Faulkner 2 Bobby Windsor 3 Graham Price 4 Allan Martin 5 Geoff Wheel 6 Tommy David 7 Trefor Evans 8 Mervyn Davies (c)

The main problem for opponents was that we had flair in every position. We had so many match-winners, they couldn't keep everybody quiet.

We had scoring power on the wings with JJ Williams and Gerald Davies, and there was a lot of flair and experience through the spine of the team from JPR at full-back through myself and Barry (John) or Phil at half-back, to Mervyn at number eight.

People remember the elusive running of Gerald and the guile of players like Phil Bennett, but we were very lucky to have exceptionally strong forwards and good ball winners like Geoff Wheel and Allan Martin.

Cardiff Arms Park was a real stronghold for us, but we didn't look forward to going to places like Twickenham or Murrayfield or Lansdowne Road.

We were a pretty difficult side to beat but there were one or two instances when we could have lost.

The match that typified our ability to soak up pressure was the 1978 match against Ireland in Dublin, when we were going for the 'triple Triple Crown'.

We rattled up a few early scores, which was unusual at Lansdowne Road, but then spent the next hour under the cosh as the Irish made a super comeback.

But the mental strength of the team was such that we took so much pressure and came back to score in the last couple of minutes to win 20-16.

From my position at scrum-half I could see the super-human effort of the forwards, as they started to turn possession over and get on the front foot.

In the cold light of day it seems matter of fact, but we were right up against it and ordinary sides would not have been able to come back from that.

We worked our way downfield and when the opportunity presented itself there was wonderful improvisation to get the ball along the line for JJ to score.

In the dressing-room afterwards the forwards couldn't move for an hour and we were all absolutely drained. We didn't even feel like going out that night.

Interview by Bryn Palmer. The paperback edition of Gareth Edwards' book 'Tackling Rugby - The Changing World of Rugby' - published by Headline - is available from 1 September