Conquerors of Bath were mugged by Quins

WATERLOO hit the headlines in the 1992-93 Pilkington Cup when they put Bath out of the competition in the third round. And they almost did it again when London glamour boys Harlequins needed to use bully boy tactics to deny them in the quarter-final.

Merseyside outfit Waterloo, who had lost to Gosforth in the 1977 John Player Cup final, were challenging for promotion from the Courage League Division Two.

Newcastle Gosforth again shattered their dreams and by costing Waterloo promotion to the top flight on points difference.

But it was their cup run that brought them onto the national stage when they drew Bath at home in the third round after seeing off Litchfield 39-8.

Bath had won the trophy seven times in the previous ten seasons and allowed Stuart Barnes and Ben Clarke to go and play for the Barbarians.

Waterloo loosehead prop and current club director Mark Beckett recalls how three Paul Grayson penalties dumped Bath out of the competition.

“We always thought we were the best team in the league and would have given most teams in Division One a run for their money,” he said.

“Bath hadn’t been beaten in the cup for three years, and you think ‘Oh well, we’ll give it as good go as we can.

“We weren’t going to take a backward step. I think Bath took us lightly, but they had 13 internationals on the pitch and an England B international.

“The only non-international was the fly-half Craig Raymond who had a shocker. It wasn’t a scratch side that they put out. It was a side that would win a Premiership match easily.

“And I don’t think Bath expected what they got. They thought they would come up, roll us over easily and then get on the bus back down south.

“Bath had chances to win it, but Jerry Guscott got caught trying to win the game with drop-goals. He had an overlap twice but instead tried to carve out a drop-goal and missed.”

Waterloo saw off Orrell 8-3 before pulling Harlequins out of the hat in the quarter-finals, and Beckett admits that he wasn’t prepared for what was about to unfold.

The London side won 21-14, but the victory was overshadowed by a row over studs and the violence that followed.

Beckett says: “They cheated and showed (referee) Stewart Piercy the wrong studs. It was probably the most violent match I played in, and there have been a few.

“Austin Healey literally had the shirt ripped off his back, and they were the old fashioned heavy shirts. That brought Piercy’s attention back to the boots.

“He lined them up, and there were six or seven of them who had the wrong studs. Most of them had a second pair of boots by the side of the pitch. Harlequins were looking to injure us. They knew we had a good feisty pack, and they came to sort us out. And the way they wanted to sort us out was by jumping all over us with illegal studs.

“They nearly had Steve Peters’ eye out. One of their players stamped on him once and missed but looked down a second time and put his heel studs through his cheek.

“Harlequins came intending to intimidate us and put their boots through us. They cheated us and cheated the referee.

“Brian Moore ran in and put a flying elbow in Steve Swindell’s face. It broke his sinus and shattered his cheekbone. People were writing to us, saying they would give evidence in court. It was a very violent encounter.

“Stewart Piercy lost his chance to referee internationals for a couple of years because of it.”

BACK ROW (LEFT TO RIGHT) Mike Briers:

Coach who also coached Cheshire schools and was a teacher at Wirral Grammar School.

Frank Clarke: First team manager worked as an electrician in the St Helens area.

Paul Ashcroft: Flanker, the son of former England and Lion Alan was a landscape gardener and a tree surgeon, then became a medical rep and is now a property developer.

Andy North: Centre who had a spell in coaching before returning to his native St Helens, for whom he played in Union and League, was a hod carrier, worked in sales and was then a lorry driver.

Paul Grayson: Fly-half part of England’s 2003 World Cup-winning squad has worked in coaching, broadcasting and property.

Murray Craig: Scotland A centre was a PE teacher in both England and Scotland and is now a Bicentennial Teaching Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

Stuart Beeley: Cheshire county No.8 is the headteacher of the Wellington School in Trafford and head coach of Warrington rugby club.

Nigel Wilkinson: Second row became a civil engineer and worked for Sefton Council as borough engineer until he retired.

Mark Beckett: Loosehead prop runs M D Beckett financial services in Liverpool and has been director of rugby of Waterloo Ladies.

Steve Swindells: Full-back scored 2,800 points, head of rugby at Manchester Grammar School and coached Manchester Rugby Club.

Paul Hackett: England colts hooker was a sports clothing rep and then became a sales director for a software company in Cheshire.

Steve Peters: Prop was an arboricultural consultant, has also worked for the RFU, then a college lecturer and sport infrastructure development manager at Warrington Borough Council.

Dave Ward: First team secretary joined the Post Office in Liverpool as a telegram boy and worked his way into management until retiring.

Ged Poynton: First team coordinator played for Waterloo and was stadium manager and head of operations for Liverpool FC for 26 years.

FRONT ROW

Steve Bracegirdle: Winger is based in his native Preston and has worked as a consulting engineer and is the director of a cleaning firm.

Austin Healey: England and Lions utility back came fourth in Strictly Come Dancing, worked in banking before becoming a broadcaster with BT Sport.

Christian Saverimutto: Ireland international scrum-half became a chartered surveyor and owns Savi Property in Hoylake. His brother Alastair played for Bath.

Peter Buckton: England B back row, whose father John played for England, was an RFU youth development officer then became a teacher at St Edward’s College, Liverpool.

Derek Murphy: Chairman of Football worked as a teacher and then deputy head of a school until leaving the area when he retired.

Nick Allott: Lancashire lock and captain worked as a systems analyst before he died of motor neurone disease in October 2004, aged 40.

Nigel Taylor: President worked as a chartered accountant, died in September 2010.

Dave Gaskell: No.8 from St Helens runs a plumbing and heating firm in the local area.

Ian Aitchison: Fly-half went into finance and became managing director of Close Brothers Business Finance. His daughter Holly is an England Sevens international.

Will Greenwood: England and Lions centre, 2003 World Cup winner, worked for Sky Sports and is now chief customer officer for Afiniti in London.

Mike Hayton: England student international hooker studied medicine and became a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and is one of the world’s leading hand surgeons.

Tony Handley: England U21 fly-half is based in Liverpool, worked in a pharmacy then went into medical sales and is now a rep for Roche.