Woodward’s way or the highway after Tour of Hell
BRENDAN GALLAGHER looks at how the infamous tour in 1998 helped turn England into world beaters
Can it really be 20 years ago that the Tour from Hell was underway in all its gory, ill-begotten, awfulness? The most ridiculous itinerary ever organised for a major touring side in the professional era, undertaken by what amounted to England’s Second XV– and in some positions Third XV – against one of the best Australian sides ever and a New Zealand team that had done their usual trick in the 90s of peaking a year out from the World Cup.
Oh, and just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse there was a 22 hour journey from Auckland to South Africa where the Springboks lay in wait in a sodden Cape Town awash after a winter storm!
It was complete muddleheaded madness and should always be called out as such, and yet the curious thing is that England players still talk of the tour very fondly. As Mark Twain once observed: “Go to heaven for the climate, go to hell for the company,” and a gallows sense of humour soon set in and ensured, against the odds, that a good time was had off the pitch.
Nor should it be forgotten that six of the humiliated party – Jonny Wilkson, Matt Dawson, Josh Lewsey, Phil Vickery, Lewis Moody and Danny Grewcock – were members of the World Cup winning squad in 2003 with the first five named all appearing in the final. Lessons were learned, ambitions raised and experienced gained.
Dawson was skippering the side for the first time and among his charges were two future England World Cup skippers in Vickery (2007) and Moody (2011)
The Tour of Hell – or midway through it – was also the moment that Clive Woodward decided England would do it his way or not at all going forward. That was always assuming he wasn’t sacked on his return.
Clearly the tour should never have happened although nobody at the RFU has ever really owned up to organising the shambolic affair which was already set in stone when Woodward took over from Jack Rowell in September 1997.
There were obviously pressures as rugby tried to get to grips with how to make the professional game pay. England had been to New Zealand only once since 1973 and, of course, England games were a guaranteed sell-out. You could almost have stomached that if those mighty Tests weren’t bookended with internationals against Australia in Brisbane on the way out and then South Africa in Cape Town on the way home.
And then to doubly compound the error three brutal quasi Tests were organised in New Zealand between the Tests. New Zealand A, the New Zealand Academy (basically Emerging New Zealand) and a pumped-up Maoris who around this period were fielding one of their strongest ever sides and, of their own accord, could probably have reached a World Cup quarter-final. That to all intents was five Tests and two other representative games in 28 days.
Taken in isolation the tour, under any circumstances, was completely unplayable but then factor in that many of England’s top players had been playing nonstop for nearly two years – which for many also included the 1997 Lion trips – and needed a break. Possibly some may have soldiered on but with the clubs up in arms with England and the RFU – nothing changes – the mood of the moment was to take a time-out.
I make it 17 of those who had appeared for England during a pretty decent 1998 Five Nations campaign – three wins out of four including a record victory over Wales – gave the tour a miss including pivotal figures like Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Mike Catt, Will Greenwood, Jeremy Guscott, Jason Leonard and Paul Grayson, who had just established himself as the first choice fly-half.
England’s squad of 36 ‘boasted’ just 72 caps between them with 20 of the tour party – ten forwards, ten backs – uncapped when they left these shores. When Dawson was summoned for lunch at the Compleat Angler in Marlow at the end of March he thought he was possibly going to be dropped rather than offered the captaincy.
Dawson was one of those who had been considering a summer off but, poisoned chalice or not, he was not going to turn down the chance of leading his country.
As Woodward recalled: “We went ahead with the tour in the full knowledge of what was to come. Boarding the plane for Brisbane I couldn’t help thinking this is what it must be like being a crash test dummy. Would you hop into a car knowing you would shortly hit a brick wall at 60mph. The sheer momentum of events meant we were all powerless to stop it.”
The first Test couldn’t have gone worse. Seven England players were making their debut – two off the bench – and ahead of the game it became clear Dawson was struggling with a knee injury originally incurred on a diving board while on holiday with Austin Healey and a few others in Lanzarote. Dawson was out so it was Tony Diprose who led England to the guillotine.
Laugh not but England could have been 13 points up after ten minutes. Wilkinson, making his first England start, missed two sitters he would have kicked with his eyes shut later in his career and Spencer Brown, the Royal Marines Musician from their Deal barracks, went very close indeed and should probably have scored after a promising England raid.
Alas, that was the end of the game as a competitive contest. In the next 70 minutes Australia ran in ten tries as England suffered and excruciating 76-0 defeat, still the biggest defeat in their history.
The following morning Woodward had to decide between the carrot and the stick and the England coach chose the former, sending the squad – or those of them who surfaced – down to the beach for the day. Assistant coach John Mitchell meanwhile made it quite clear that he would have ordered a beasting session, although to what end is not really clear.
On New Zealand soil there was a brief flicker of hope in midweek against a very strong New Zealand A – including Jonah Lomu on the comeback trail – and a brave performance from a pack with a distinct Gloucester tinge ensured that England lost only 18-10. That feel-good factor soon dissipated when the New Zealand Academy team – full of future stars – crushed the tourists 50-32 in Invercargill.
It got even uglier in the first Test in Dunedin although again the pack gave a very decent account of themselves despite having Danny Grewcok sent off on the half hour. The evidence against the lock seemed inconclusive, the only obvious red card all day was when Michael Jones appeared to stamp on Graham Rontree’s face. As tends to happen in New Zealand, this was totally ignored by officialdom both at the time and retrospectively.
There was no doubting, however, that the All Blacks back division, inspired by Christian Cullen, were different class as they ran in nine tries with England scoring three in reply. There was a gulf between the teams even if the 64-22 scoreline was harsh.
Dawson upset the blazers at the post match function by insisting that another second row forward should have been sent off. Then that shrinking violet Richard Cockerill manged to get involved in an unseemly latenight fight that night with Kiwi hooker Norm Hewett.
Woodward, meanwhile, had to depart home straight after the match having received the news of his father’s death that morning before the game. He recalls that long trip home for the funeral and then the return flight to New Zealand for the second Test as a key moment in his approach to the England job.
“Flying back after the funeral I looked at my situation as my father would and knew he would be asking was I really doing this job properly. Losing my father put things in perspective. In many ways it was time to take the gloves off and stop pussyfooting around with the dozens of people who were playing with the politics of
English rugby. It was now having such a dramatic effect on the potential performance of the team that something had to be done”
England were in free-fall and the Maori in Rotorua are probably the last team you want to meet in such circumstance – 62-14 was the damage and if you are looking for a nadir this was it. The only way now was up.
As somebody once said – probably Chruchill – “If you are going through hell keep going”, and England kept plugging on. What option did they have?
The second Test was much better. Despite the 40-10 scoreline the England pack again went well and the team were in contention for an hour before they hit the wall and leaked four tries in the final quarter. It was a hellish New Zealand team with the likes of Carlos Spencer, Tonga’s Isatolo Maka and Fijian Sevens ace Joeli Vidiri coming off the bench and they ruthlessly rammed home the advantage against a team that were out on their feet, but there was honour in defeat.
Woodward had re-joined the tour party just in time for the Test but there was no point in unpacking before he was back in the air again for the marathon journey to a gloomy and wet Cape Town which was not living up to its tourist board image.
Against that background England found themselves billeted in the Holiday Inn Newlands – at best a three star establishment around this time, possibly less in mid-winter – and with South Africa housed in luxury across the city. Woodward, at the end of a testing trip in so many ways, finally snapped. England always ensured the best accommodation for incoming tourist teams, why was his side being treated so shabbily? Come Thursday he’d had enough and unilaterally took the decision to book the entire squad into the five star Mount Nelson Hotel – known as the Pink Palace – checking them out of the Holiday Inn early the following morning at the team meeting which erupted in cheers. It felt like the only victory of the tour. Whatsmore he used his own credit card to make the booking. England still lost 18-0 in the clawing mud but again it was a pretty brave effort given the zombie like condition of the squad. It was another long flight home and a seriously jetlagged Woodward was in no mood for small chat when he was met by the RFU’s technical director Don Rutherford at Heathrow early on the Monday morning insisting he accompany him to Twickenham for an urgent meeting re this hotel business. Woodward declined. When you have been to hell and back the priority was a reunion with his family, a nice cup of tea and ten hours’ sleep.