THERE are many miraculous aspects to the 1997 Lions tour of South Africa, not least the domestic strife from which the team was spawned. The 1996-97 season was the first season of professionalism in the British and Irish game, everybody was scrambling to find their feet and chaos reigned. The prospect, therefore, of toppling the reigning World Champions on their own soil seemed remote to some.
The omens weren’t good but one or two factors played out in the Lions’ favour. The Heineken European Cup had hit the ground running and provided an excellent high-quality battle ground in addition to the Five Nations to aid the selection process.
Above all else they had two canny operators and victors from 1974 in charge, namely manager Fran Cotton and coach Ian McGeechan. In addition assistant coach Jim Telfer was on the same hymn sheet and had his own, more painful, experiences of South Africa and was keen to set the record straight.
They picked the right squad for the job with just the one ‘bolter’ in John Bentley, more of which anon. And they made an inspired choice of captain in Martin Johnson even though the Leicester Tiger hadn’t yet captained his country.
Yes, they wanted a big beast of a man to front up their campaign in the land of giant forwards, a player in the mould of Willie John McBride, but as Cotton reveals there was another element to the decision-making process. Martin Johnson’s mum!
“It was Peter Wheeler who originally placed the thought in our minds about Martin, so I started contacting various people to educate myself a bit more on the man. We already knew he was a certain Test starter barring injury
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 28, 2020 من The Rugby Paper.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 28, 2020 من The Rugby Paper.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
England can find a little bit of cheer
SO HERE we are on the final day of England’s autumn international series with all of us hoping and expecting Steve Borthwick’s team to win today after three weeks of bitter disappointment.
Stop messing with Marcus - Campese
DAVID Campese believes England are going backwards under Steve Borthwick, who is ‘messing around’ with talisman Marcus Smith.
Being a Lion was the highlight of my career
I PLAYED 19 games and scored 219 points for the Lions, on the tours to South Africa in 1968 and New Zealand in 1971, but I never played in a Test and that was fair enough.
Cook's crew not fazed as they eye tilt at top half
THERE appear to be few signs of second season syndrome at Westcombe Park as captain Nick Cook reveals the group aren’t even contemplating the threat of relegation and are instead targeting a top-half finish.
Forwards pack a punch for the Reds
OLD Redcliffians produced a proud defensive effort to take a bonus-point win.
Tom 'Ailes' the achievements of inspirational skipper Riley
SEDGLEY Park No. 8 Tom Ailes says his team relish the competitive nature of National One and is confident the Tigers can rectify their rocky start to the season in weeks to come.
Strachan confident Ampthill will be firing again soon
FRASER Strachan is determined to put Ampthill’s leaky defensive showings behind them and gain some much needed confidence in the run up to Christmas.
It's a whole new ball game for Rigg
WILL Rigg’s ambition was to become a professional cricketer but it is the oval ball rather than The Oval that is his driver now.
Scarratt leads the way for Lightning
LOUGHBOROUGH won a wet and windy East Midlands Derby after having the bonus point in the bag by half-time.
Becconsall: We need to release pressure
WILL Becconsall says Exeter are not spooked by the threat of relegation as they look to turn around their Premiership campaign after starting with six straight defeats.
