When Llanelli star was told to buzz off by Wasps legend on a day to remember
IMAGINE playing 80 minutes of rugby with a piece of grit stuck in your boot, causing irritation at every turn.
There you have how Lawrence Dallaglio felt on the afternoon of January 15, 2000, when he came up against an unheralded Welsh flanker whose name he probably hadn’t even heard of before that season’s European competition.
Ian Boobyer never won a full international cap and didn’t spent too much time basking in the limelight.
But those who followed his career knew him as one of the most abrasive flankers in Welsh rugby who had absolutely zero respect for reputation and was capable of matching the best around on a good day.
By early evening on that winter day close on 19 years ago, Dallaglio would know more about Boobyer than he ever wanted to know, with the former Tondu RFC openside having frustrated the life out of the England international and Lions star in a memorable Heineken Cup encounter between Llanelli and Wasps at Stradey Park.
This is the story, then, of a famous Welsh European cup triumph – and we haven’t seen too many of those this season – inspired by a man who in many cases was what Welsh rugby used to be about: tough and uncompromising, but uncomplaining as well.
A TALE OF TWO BACK ROWERS
The two central characters in the plot in the Pool Three match all those years ago could not have been more different.
Lorenzo Bruno Nero Dallaglio was educated at King’s House School in Richmond and boarded at Ampleforth College before moving on to Kingston University. He had made his England debut in 1995 and played in all three Tests for the Lions in South Africa two years later.
He was to become one of English rugby’s most decorated players of all time, with an MBE and an OBE among the baubles that came his way.
Ian Boobyer had come through Brynteg Comprehensive School and played his early rugby with Tondu. With brothers Neil and Roddy, he had been part of a dazzling Tondu Youth side that didn’t lose a game in 1989-90, scoring 842 points and conceding only 136.
At a swish ceremony in London, they had been voted youth team of Great Britain.
Roddy and Neil were classy backs, while Ian was a No. 7 who made life a nightmare for opponents.
He had shown his quality when Tondu ran a top-quality Pontypridd side close in a Welsh Cup tie at Sardis Road in the early 1990s.
The village club kicked off and piled into the hosts from the start, rattling a side who did not have a reputation for being easily rattled. Around the ground rang a chant of “Ole, ole, ole, ole... Tondu, Tondu”.
Ian Boobyer played the house down that day, prompting Dennis John to draft him into the Wales Under-21 set-up. He was to later play for Neath, Maesteg, Llandovery, Llanelli, the Scarlets and Wales A, but a senior cap eluded him. He was to spend his career scrapping for ball at the bottom of rucks while others took the glory.
But if you wanted a dog in the fight, then he was the individual to summon.
THE DALLAGLIO COMMENT
Dallaglio probably thought nothing of it when he shouted across to Boobyer and Rupert Moon as the pair walked back after Llanelli had scored a late try in a losing cause against Wasps in London in round one of the 1999-2000 Heineken Cup.
Wasps were to win the game comfortably, by 22-13, and were a side with big ambitions and names to match, including Dallaglio, Joe Worsley, Gareth Rees, Phil Greening, Josh Lewsey, Simon Shaw, Fraser Waters, Andy Gomersall and the Samoan battering ram, Trevor Leota.
At the time, Wales’ struggles on the international stage probably didn’t heighten the regard their club rugby was held in.
Whatever, as Boobyer and Moon trekked back into the visitors’s half that day at Loftus Road they were still surprised to hear Dallaglio addressing them in terms that suggested Wasps were playing the Lamb & Flag that day rather than Llanelli RFC, a side whose history included a win over the All Blacks.
“He just had a go at us,” recalls Boobyer. “We’d scored a late try and Rupert Moon and myself were walking back when he shouted over: ‘Go back to Wales, little boys’.
“I thought to myself: ‘You cheeky git – wait till you come to Wales, mate’. “Dallagio might have forgotten his remark quickly. Boobyer didn’t.