England hero Pullin dies at 79
JOHN PUllIN’s unique place in rugby folklore dates back to a windy day in Dublin where they gave him a standing ovation before the match and another for what he said about losing it. This very weekend 48 years ago, at the height of The Troubles which caused scotland and Wales to abandon their fixtures in Ireland the previous season, the fearless West Country farmer ignored security risks and led his team out. The Irish crowd’s acclamation at lansdowne Road delayed kick-off by several minutes. After finishing a poor second, Pullin famously told guests at the post-match dinner: ‘We may not be much good but at least we turn up.’ ‘I will never forget the reaction,’ Willie John McBride, the revered Irish lion, said years later. ‘Everyone stood up and roared their approval at that remark.’ Pullin, who died yesterday aged 79 after a long fight against illness, will be remembered for infinitely more than the Dublin bon mot. He led England to Test victories over south Africa (18-9 in Johannesburg), New Zealand (16-10 in Auckland) and Australia (20-3 at Twickenham), all in a period from June 1972 to November 1973. No England captain had done that before and none would do it again until Martin Johnson almost 30 years later. When the lions won a series in New Zealand for the first time in 1971, Pullin, who played for Bristol, was the sole Englishman to play all four Tests. And when Gareth Edwards finished off the ‘Try of the Century’ for the Barbarians against the All Blacks at Cardiff in 1973, Pullin’s were the only non-Welsh hands in its creation. And at the height of his 17-year career he was voted the best hooker in the world.