Life at Number 10 by Neil Jenkins & Paul Rees

Author:Neil Jenkins & Paul Rees
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Non-Fiction, Rugby, Autobiography, Sports & Recreation, Sports, Wales, Biography
ISBN: 9781780577562
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2012-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Wounded Knee

South Africa was like Wales in the 1970s. Success had bred arrogance, and we had no sooner arrived at our first hotel outside Durban than we were reading that the series was a formality. South Africa were going to win all three internationals; the Lions were nothing more than England with a pinch of Celtic seasoning. The Springboks had only once lost a series to the Lions, way back in 1974.

Ian McGeechan and Fran Cotton had played in all four Tests that year, while Jim Telfer, the assistant coach who had responsibility for the forwards, was on the 1968 tour of South Africa. We had a management which knew what it took to beat the Springboks and what struck me immediately, as a player who was used to being on the wrong end of several hidings with Wales, was how focused the three were. They were blessed with a cool but steely determination and they were a perfect blend.

Geech was a supreme tactician who had worked everything out in advance. He knew we were never going to match South Africa for size and everything in training was geared to moving their players around, popping the ball at the point of contact and supporting. It demanded supreme fitness and concentration and Geech was not one to holler and remonstrate. He was like a chess Grand Master, calculating every move, and he knew he had the pieces to win.

Jim was far more of an extrovert. His job was to stoke up the forwards, and he did not need any prompting. He never let them ease up and I felt the sharp end of his tongue when it came to practising restarts. It did not matter if the wind was howling or it was pelting down with rain: the ball had to land exactly where he wanted. ‘For ***** sake, Neil, put it on the button, where I say.’ If I heard that once, I heard his craggy Scottish voice say it a thousand times. He had a profound influence on our success. He did not so much play the bad cop to Geech’s good cop, but you knew as a player that if you messed up Jim would be on your case, and you need that.

You knew what the tour meant to them both. Jim had been the coach of the Lions in 1983 when they were whitewashed in New Zealand and the pain of that failure had not eased. This was his chance of putting that behind him, and whereas the 1983 squad had not been totally united, in 1997 every player put the needs of the team before his own aspirations.

Fran Cotton, the manager, made sure of that. Fran did not have a coaching role, nor did he ever attempt to interfere on the field. The players were treated like adults and we made sure we were not distracted by having to go here, there and everywhere in our spare time. The Wales tours I had been on

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