Shanklins suffer twice at hands of All Blacks
The Shanklin family from Pembrokeshire knows exactly what it takes to go the distance with the All Blacks and almost win a unanimous decision. Father and son belong to the rarest of breeds, two of the pitifully few Welshmen to have gone close to beating New Zealand in a Test match since Clem Thomas’ cross-kick and Ken Jones’ swooping try did the trick shortly after the Queen’s coronation.
In compiling a losing run longer than any other at international level during the 68 years since, Wales have lost 31 out of 31, the majority by anything between 20 and 50 points. The narrowest margins can be counted on the fingers of one hand, by three points in 1972, one in 1978 and one again in 2004.
Successive generations of Shanklins played in the first and the last of those close calls, missing out the one in between remembered for the notorious Andy Haden-Frank Oliver diving stunt.
On December 2, 1972, Jim Shanklin, now in his early seventies back home in Tenby, lined up among a quartet from London Welsh, one of whom, JPR Williams, found himself denied a try for a supposed double-movement.
Had it been given, Phil Bennett would have had a conversion to tie the scores at 19-all going into the final minutes. Instead Bennett had to wait until the last kick for a shot at an equalising goal, his near miss leaving Wales to shoulder the hardest of hard-luck stories into a lively weekend which ended with Keith Murdoch being sent home for assaulting a security guard.
Some 30 years later, in November 2004, Tom Shanklin appeared in the same centre position against the same old foe in the same city only for family history to repeat itself. Shanklin, junior, could not have gone any closer: Wales 25, New Zealand 26.
The longer he thinks about it now, through an historical perspective, the more he is inclined to accept that the chance of a lifetime had gone. “At the time, you are happy to have got close,’’ says Shanklin, commercial director of The Genero Group, specialists in events and hospitality management. “You know there’ve been some appalling results in the past and those would have been lurking in the back of your mind.
“We got to within a point and we had shown everyone we could match them. We probably could have won. We were certainly in a great position to go for it.’’
Thanks largely to Shanklin delivering the opening try, Wales led 11-3 after 25 minutes, due reward for an onslaught which left the All Blacks holding on for dear life and their new captain, Richie McCaw, in danger of going down with the ship.
Entering the final quarter, Wales still had their noses in front at 22-19 until Joe Rokocoko’s blistering solo try made it 22-26. Gavin Henson’s penalty with four minutes to go trimmed the deficit
“I remember being absolutely frenetic, completely out on my feet.” - Tom Shanklin
to a point before time ran out.
The captain, Gareth Thomas, ignored instructions from the coaches to go for the corner. He then admitted to having been confused by the scoreboard clock, thinking it showed normal time as distinct from the game-clock, complete with stoppages.
“I don’t remember anything about that,’’ says Shanklin. “I just remember being absolutely frenetic, completely out on my feet. I never felt as tired as I was after that match.’’
As the only Welsh defender anywhere near Rokocoko, he recalls the decisive try only too well. “Sometimes you find yourself caught in a horrible position, against one of the world’s great wings. You’re up against a subeleven-second 100 metre man with massive power and agility. I could have tackled him but that’s not easy when you’ve got no space and no angle. In those circumstances, there is not much you can do.
“Back in 2004, we were a fairly young team. We were going to get better and we proved that the following year, winning the Grand Slam in some style. Had we played New Zealand at the end of that Six Nations, who knows we might have beaten them.
“On that weekend when we got to within a point, we thought: ‘If we don’t beat them next year, we’ll beat them the year after’. But our time came and went and it never happened.
“What makes the All Blacks great is their ability to turn really tight matches into wins. You hope you can surprise them in some shape or form and that you’ll be fortunate enough to catch them on a bad day.
“The trouble there is that they don’t have many bad days. Over the years we have tried to beat them so many ways, by territory, pressure and on other occasions when we’ve tried to cut loose.
“We’ve had good first-halves and good second-halves but never in the same match. You can bet they’ll be pretty upset losing to South Africa at the end of the Rugby Championship.
“With so many missing, Wales will have to play above and beyond to stay within range and come close. A red card would certainly help. As we saw during the Six Nations, it’s quite easy to get a red card these days through a mistimed tackle.
“Whatever team Wayne Pivac picks will be inexperienced and won’t have played together. You have to score tries against New Zealand. You need to manipulate defenders, use decoy runners and play with a pace they can’t cope with.You won’t beat them by kicking penalties.’’
No Welsh supporter in their right mind would bet another near miss on Saturday. What the Shanklins did against the same opponents in very different eras is not likely to be repeated any time soon.