Reason was vital in alphabet final

VICTORY at Twickenham in May 1983 still rates as one of the biggest days in the history of Bristol Rugby Club and prop star Austin Sheppard says it was 12 months in the making.

Sheppard, who played both loose-head and tight-head for England, believes Bristol’s name was on the John Player Cup in 1982 – but instead they tasted defeat at Liverpool to fall two stops short of Twickenham.

Sheppard believes that was the best Bristol side he played in and failure to lift the Cup worked as supreme motivation the following season. Such was their quality, he points out they should have retained their title in 1984 only to suffer a narrow defeat to Bath on their return to the final in South West London.

Sheppard said this week: “The biggest driver of all of us was that we should have won the Cup the year before when we played Liverpool. That was the best team we had, but Mike Slemen dropped a goal and Liverpool beat us 12-10 in the fourth round.

“We just couldn’t score and going out of the Cup then became the motivation to win it. And winning that John Player Cup became the highlight of the 100 odd years that the club has been in existence.

“We should have won it the following season but Stuart Barnes missed some kicks against Bath in the final and we lost 10-9.”

The luck of the draw wasn’t on Bristol’s side on their march to Twickenham in that 1982-83 season with each game away from home. They saw off Harrogate 33-15 after entering the competition in the third round, then defeated Bedford 20-10 and West Hartlepool 16-14 to book a place in the semifinals at the much fancied Coventry.

“We played every game away from the home and the reason that we won the cup was that we beat Coventry in the semifinal. Before that game John Reason in The Telegraph wrote that we were the worst team in the country and we couldn’t beat the skin off a rice pudding.

“Coventry were supposed to win the Cup that year in the eyes of many people, especially John Reason. So that was the team talk taken care of.

“We were the underdogs throughout that Cup run, despite having some very, very good players. The likes of Richard Harding, Mike Rafter and Stuart Barnes were proper players, and maybe people didn’t realise that at the time.”

The Midlands side were not a match for Bristol who ran out 23-3 winners to book a place in the final against Leicester.

In contrast, Leicester had enjoyed a comfortable run to the final overcoming High Wycombe 47-18, Wakefield 30-14, Harlequins 18-4, all at home.

It wasn’t until the semi-finals that Leicester were away from home against London Scottish who were easily seen off 30-9.

It was dubbed the ‘Alphabet Final’ on the account of both teams wearing letters instead of numbers on the backs of their shirts.

Bristol No.8 Bob Hesford picks up the story: “Mike Rafter came up with a way of us walking onto the pitch and spelling out ‘Up Bristol’ when we all stood together.

“Leicester’s numbers went the other way to ours, but we were the only two teams that I ever knew used lettering. Then when it all went professional the computers couldn’t take it, so they were forced to stop it.

“For a while they wore the letters on their shorts but I don’t think they even do that any more, it has died a death.”

Hesford remembers that the mood in the dressing room was lightened by a funny incident involving the Bristol first team secretary Alan Ramsey.

“We stayed at Maidenhead and travelled to the game on the day. We stopped somewhere for lunch and as we got close to the ground we saw how bad the traffic was. We thought that we were going to be late; of course there were no mobile phones, so we suggested our secretary Alan Ramsey went to a phone box on Kew Bridge.

“It was about 100 yards ahead of us so we thought he could phone up and get us a police escort or something, but at that moment the traffic cleared. So we carried on and later got a police escort but left Alan Ramsey behind. He had to run to the ground and wasn’t the fittest – he was a 50 a day man.

“So he arrived at the ground sweating and tried to persuade the stewards he was the secretary but they sent him away and he had to pay to get in.”

A titanic struggle saw Hesford scoring one of Bristol’s four tries as they ran out 28-22 winners, with John Carr scoring two and Simon Hogg the other. Barnes kicked three conversions and two penalties while Barry Evans and Ian Smith scored tries in reply, with Les Cusworth landing one conversion and four penalties.

The gloss was taken off the day by a serious injury to Leicester’s Ti Barnwell, who needed emergency brain surgery after a collision with Dave Palmer.

Hesford adds: “Leicester were hot favourites to win with the people that they had playing. It was a hot day and it was a sapping old final, a real ding dong affair. Dean Richards played No.8 for them, but I don’t think he saw much of the game on account of him being in my pocket!

“We didn’t know how bad the injury to Tim Barnwell was, he just went off, and we thought he had a bit of a headache. Nobody imagined the severity of the injury when he was helped off the pitch.

“It was only afterwards that we found out how serious it was and everybody was devastated.

BACK ROW

David Tyler: An England trialist who served Bristol in many capacities over 30 years. He then worked for Premier Rugby and the RFU before his death in April 2003, aged 56. Mike Lewis: The club physio started his own practice from his home in Bristol and ran it until he retired. David Sorrell: England Under 23 full-back who lives in Wotton Under Edge, Gloucestershire and worked for a plastics company. Is now business development director at SIG Commercial Drainage. Huw Duggan: Full-back and winger who later moved to Coventry. He coached Kenilwort and worked as an insurance underwriter who then went on to become a recruitment consultant from his base in Hinckley, Leicestershire. Phil Cue: An England Under 23 international who could play at fly-half and full-back. Has spent the last 25 years working with his brother-in-law, Austin Sheppard, as an undertaker in Bristol. Mark Tomlin: A prop who was a business unit manager in the construction industry and has worked for the SIG Group for the last 16 years. Is currently group sales and marketing director. Bob Hesford: England No.8 who won ten Test caps. Trained as a PE teacher and then became a maths teacher at an assessment centre and secure unit in Bristol. His father and brother played professional football. Nigel Pomphrey: The England Under 23 lock became a director of Bristol and has a wide range of business interests that include garage equipment and property development. Alf Troughton: The lock

Dean Richards played No.8 for them but didn’t see much of the ball on account of being in my pocket” - Bob Hesford

worked as a registrar radiologist at Bristol Royal Infirmary and later became medical director for Great Western Hospitals. Is now a Consultant Radiologist in Wiltshire. John Doubleday: The England Under 23 prop has spent his working life as a livestock farmer in Chippenham, Wiltshire. Has sat on disciplinary panels for both the Rugby Football Union and European Club Rugby. Peter Stiff: England B international second row as well as flanker who worked in the print trade for many years until becoming a carer for his elderly parents. He does corporate hospitality for Bristol on match days. Kevin Bogira: The hooker who went on to play for Clifton was an engineer and is now working as the group fleet manager for Avon and Bristol Transport in Avonmouth, Bristol. Dave Palmer: Hooker has worked for Rolls Royce in

Derby and Bristol since joining the company as a quality control inspector. Now a quality control manager in Bristol. Austin Sheppard: England prop who won two Test caps. Has been working as a funeral director in Bristol since 1970 and was still playing hockey for Westbury and United Banks aged 65. Alan Ramsey: The first team secretary worked for house builder George Wimpey. Bob Reeves: A maths and PE teacher and then a lecturer in Physical Education at University of Bristol. He has been RFU President.

FRONT ROW

Richard Harding: Scrum-half with 12 England caps and captained his country in Fiji – he also won a Cambridge blue. He is a chartered surveyor and opened up Richard Harding Estate Agents in Clifton, Bristol. Stuart Barnes: England and British Lions fly-half worked for

the Bristol and West Building Society before becoming a journalist and broadcaster. He currently works for the Sunday Times and Sky Sports. Alan Morley: England winger who won seven caps, scored 384 tries in 519 games for Bristol and served as a director. Has been a property developer and is now running his own financial consultancy. Mike Rafter: England No.8 who won 17 Test caps after having schoolboy football trials with Bristol City. Trained as a PE teacher and from 1991 until April 2017 has been a director with sports and leisure clothing firm Monsoon Ruggur. John Carr: England student wing who became a teacher in Bristol and is now teaching maths and coaches rugby at Bristol Grammar School. He is also a youth coach at Keynsham Rugby Club. Peter Polledri: England Under 23 blindside flanker who for the last 35 years has run his own

sandwich shop in Broadmead, Bristol. His son Jake, who is an Italian Under 20 international, joined Gloucester earlier this summer. Ralph Knibbs: Centre who twice turned down touring with England. Was a human resources director for Rolls Royce in Derby, and since July 2011 has been head of human resources & welfare for UK Athletics. Lawrence Yandell: A scrumhalf who went into the education system and became a mathematics teacher at Westfield Academy in Yeovil. Now lives in Sturminster Newton, Dorset. Simon Hogg: England Under 23 full-back who also played centre. Became maths and games teacher at Taunton School, he has also been master in charge of cricket and rugby.