Despair as England hit rock bottom in Brisbane

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

What’s happening here?

It’s June 6, 1998, at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and Clive Woodward’s England have just been battered and humiliated as the Aussies marched to a 76-0 victory, England’s largest ever defeat in a Test match. Trying to suck it up are, from left to right, skipper for the night Tony Diprose, lock Garath Archer, prop Graham Rowntree, Bath back rower Ben Sturnham and – just visible in the background Richard Cockerill.

What’s the story behind the picture?

The Tour of Hell, a bonkers pan-continental extravaganza the RFU blazers had been planning for a while, certainly before new coach Clive Woodward took over in the autumn of 1997. Their idea was to line up a seven match tour which took in seven different venues and kicked off with a Test against the Aussies – clearly building their greatest ever side – to be followed by five games in New Zealand which included two Tests, an unofficial Test against New Zealand Maori and games against the New Zealand Academy and New Zealand A. By way of a finale England would then fly 17 hours to Cape Town and play world champions South Africa.

The tour was barkingly insane, the sort of nonsense dreamt up after a boozy lunch but then, just to add to the madness, a raft of senior England players most of whom had spent the summer of 1997 with the Lions before rolling straight into another full season clearly needed a summer of rest and recuperation.

So when Woodward named his 38 man squad – which seems five or six players light by today’s standards – there were 20 debutants included. ARU chief executive John O’Neil called it a disgrace and Woodward rather agreed but what could he do?

And there was still a little hope surely. England still travelled with a core of very decent players, current and future Lions tourists such as Tim

Stimpson, Matt Perry, Josh Lewsey, Austin Healy, Nick Beal, a Jonny Wilkinson just out of schools rugby, the youthful Lewis Moody, Danny Grewcock, Phil Vickery, Graham Rowntree and tour skipper Matt Dawson who was injured for this First Test.

What happened next?

It was carnage, boys against men. Following this 76-0 thrashing they lost 18-10 to New Zealand A and 50-32 to New Zealand Academy before a 6422 trouncing at Dunedin in the First Test against the All Blacks. Just a few days later they were stuffed 62-14 by New Zealand Maori followed by a 4010 reverse in the Second Test, at Eden Park. And finally they hauled themselves to the other side of the world and in the mud and rain of Cape Town went down 18-0 to the Boks which was actually a notable brave effort.

Why is the picture iconic?

This is rock bottom, ground zero, for English rugby and you can see the pain and despair. This is what a 76-0 shellacking looks like and the tour party was to experience many more moments like this over the next three weeks or so. Only the strong of mind – and there were a few – to flourish again in better times.

Vitally their anguish and despair was also felt by the RFU back home. Something had to change. England had been reluctant laggards in adapting to professionalism as if their hearts weren’t really in it and indeed many at Twickenham clearly still resented the IRB’s decision to declare the game Open less than three years earlier. Famously there wasn’t even an office or a telephone allocated for Woodward when he had clocked on the previous September.

Although doing well enough in the 1998 Five Nations – second behind Grand Slam winners France – they weren’t at the races compared with the big three in the southern hemisphere. Fitness levels were way off, basic skills also, while the idea of elaborate and well-rehearsed defensive systems was treated with suspicion. That was Rugby League territory old boy, a dangerous road to take. The players were being overused by the clubs and there was little or no liaison between club and country over injuries and rest periods. It was all an unholy mess.

Something had to be done and Woodward seized the moment. Never waste a crisis. Now was the time to press for better fitness and training facilities, for the hiring of specialist skills coaches; now was the time to negotiate rest time or a stand down period for Test players coming off busy blocks with the national team. Now was the time to demand the very best in terms of travel and hotels on tour to ease the strain a bit and to establish an elite base at Pennyhill Park.

On the Tour of Hell Woodward did indeed discover a handful of players who were made of the right stuff – Vickery, Wilkinson, Lewsey, Dawson and Moody all featured in the World Cup success of 2003 while Healy and Rowntree were important parts of the England story going forward and just missed out on RWC2003. There was an upside, in fact you could even argue the Tour of Hell was a necessary detour on the road to heaven.

Footnote: The England fightback got underway in the autumn at Twickenham with a 13-7 win over South Africa and a 12-11 defeat by Australia.