North stars dimmed lights of mighty
Victory on a foul night in Otley changed the face of rugby in England, writes Daniel Schofield ‘Fran said he would knock their ’eds off ! I was calm then’
It is with typically inopportune timing that the Rugby Football Union brings an England international to Newcastle’s St James’ Park during a period when it is decidedly grim up north. Newcastle’s relegation leaves Sale Sharks as the sole northern representatives in the Premiership, while the once-mighty Yorkshire Carnegie only just survived a brush with administration this summer.
It was not always this way. Forty years ago in November, the North beat New Zealand 21-9. The mighty All Blacks were not just toppled but thrashed four tries to one at Otley’s Cross Green.
Even if it lacks the degree of mythology inspired by Munster’s slaying of the All Blacks in 1978, which has spawned plays, poetry and books, it was no less seismic a result, which Bill Beaumont says “changed the face of English rugby”; nor has the passage of time lessened its thrill to the participants.
“The memories of the game are as clear in my mind as though it were yesterday,” Des Seabrook, the coach, says.
Beaumont, the chairman of World Rugby, can still recite the teamsheet without a moment’s hesitation: O’brien; Carleton, Wright, Bond, Slemen; Old, Smith; White, Simpson, Cotton, Beaumont, Syddall, Uttley, Neary, Dixon.
Many of the team achieved
Africa together as North West Counties that summer. It was also a team laden with experience.
There were five England captains in the pack alone – Beaumont, Uttley, Fran Cotton, Tony Neary and Peter Dixon – while last year they had only just lost 9-6 to New Zealand at Birkenhead.
“That experience was vital,” Seabrook said. “There were a few lads who were sore about losing the previous year. Basically, I said to them, ‘You are lucky to get another chance against the All Blacks – you won’t get another.’”
Seabrook’s one concern centred around New Zealand’s spoiling tactics at the line-out in the days where martial law applied. “We wanted to throw long to Bill, because he was our safest option. But I was worried about the likes of Andy Haden pulling and tugging,” Seabrook said. “Fran turns to me and says, ‘Don’t worry about that, Des, I will give them due warning – and if they touch Bill I will knock their b----- ’eds off.’ I was calm after that.”
That confidence was shared throughout the North. Even if the 1979 tourists did not rank as the finest All Blacks team, they were still packed with talent, from Graham Mourie to Murray Mexted and Haden, and had beaten Scotland 20-6 the previous week. The North were undaunted. “My abiding memory is just the feeling of expecting to win, which is strange when you are facing the All Blacks,” Beaumont said. “But when I looked around at the amount of experience in that dressing room, I just felt supremely confident.”
Around 8,000 packed into Cross Green. Even branches on the adjacent trees were occupied on one of those foul nights that Yorkshire seems to specialise in producing.
Beaumont won the toss and opted to kick into a howling wind. “I thought, let’s play against it. And, for the first 20 minutes, if we concede one score, we would have done OK. Then, in the second half, we can kick it down the park and play for territory,” Beaumont said.
Their other tactic was to target Mourie, the openside flanker, through what hooker Andy Simpson describes as “rolling rucks”.
“He was their danger man, so we wanted to get him at the bottom of all the rucks and tie him up,” Simpson said. “That’s what the rolling rucks were for.” As Beaumont points out, it was not dissimilar to the modern pickand-go tactic favoured by teams such as Exeter Chiefs.
Despite playing off the back foot in the early stages, Alan Old kicked the North ahead with a penalty before Mike Slemen pounced on a knock-on by Stuart Wilson and set up Steve Smith for the opening try. With the wind at their backs in the second half, the North never looked back. Tony Bond, a battering ram of a centre, crossed twice within 10 minutes before Smith this time forced a mistake by Mark Donaldson for Old to score their fourth try. It was the All Blacks’ 13th ever touring defeat and their heaviest to that point.
“We really did marmalise them,” Uttley said. “That was very satisfying. A few years later, I met Murray Mexted and it was one of his early games for the All Blacks.
“He said, ‘That day, you boys gave us a real toasting. I never had such a baptism of fire.’ I took that as a great compliment coming from a player of that ability and reputation.”
Not everyone present ascribed such weight to the result. According to Simpson, Budge Rogers, the chairman of the England selectors, was cornered in the bar by a broad-set Yorkshireman who slapped the teamsheet in the middle of his chest before bellowing: ‘There’s the f---ing team, now pick it!” Needless to say, Rogers failed to heed that advice, ignoring three key performers in Uttley, Old and Dixon, who was so dejected at being overlooked that he retired. England subsequently lost 10-9 at Twickenham a week later, which still rankles with Seabrook. “That was quite disgraceful, really,” Seabrook said. “I have no sympathy