World Cup horror show too gruesome to witness

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

- Brendan Gallagher

What’s happening here?

It’s Saturday, October 6, 1991 at the old Cardiff Arms Park and Wales, joint hosts of the World Cup, are playing the exuberant Western Samoans – the nation not being retitled as Samoa until 1997 – in their Pool. Veteran Wales lock and Llanelli skipper Phil May has been helped off the pitch in the first half after being the wrong end of a huge Samoa tackle and is now watching the final throes of the game in despair from the bench. Or rather he can’t watch it, Wales are on the cusp of losing 16-13 and it’s too much to bear.

What’s the story behind the picture?

Among other things the great irony of this picture and the calamitous day at the office it portrays is that Wales were one of the few big rugby nations to properly recognise and respect Western Samoa.

While the rest of the Five Nations baulked at touring the ‘minor’ nations which we now stigmatise with the Tier 2 label, Wales, to their great credit, headed off to the South Pacific in 1986 for a trailblazing tour in which they played Samoa in Western Samoa, Fiji in Suva and Tonga in Nuku A’lofa.