1998 Heineken Cup hero Jon Callard: It's time for the 'has-beens' to stand down

On Sunday May 3rd, Bath return to the scene of one of their greatest triumphs when they take on Union Bordeaux-Begles in the semi-finals of Champions Cup at Stade Atlantique Bordeaux Métropole.

They’re back in Bordeaux, albeit at a different stadium, for a fixture that will evoke memories of 1998, when they became the first English champions of Europe with a 19-18 win over Brive, and celebrated their achievement in McDonalds because the famed post-match French hospitality had fallen short, like the opposition.

By the time Bath emerged from the bowels of Stade Lescure in their tailored new blue suits from Timberland anticipating a banquet, all they found was a few curled-up canapés and some cans of Heineken, courtesy of the tournament’s sponsors.

If anyone deserved to dine out in style that night, it was their match-winning hero Jon Callard, scorer of all of Bath’s points, including the only try of the match, the conversion and four penalty goals. Instead, he and the rest of the squad and management queued up with starstruck supporters on the outskirts of town in a bid to get a Big Mac and fries inside them.

Bath had certainly worked up an appetite, having been behind in the final for almost the entire match, living off scraps of possession. And then, after Callard’s fifth kick had bisected the poles and edged them in front with time virtually up, they had to withstand a series of scrums near their own tryline and survive a couple of missed shots at goal from Christophe Lamaison and Lisandro Arbizu before they could celebrate.

Even making the team sheet for the final was an achievement in itself for Callard, as the clock on his decade-long playing service to the club had virtually wound down. The former Newport player, who’d won the last of his five England caps three years earlier, was making the transition into what has proved to be a successful coaching career.

Callard had initially fallen out of favour during Clive Woodward’s brief spell at the club and then fallen behind emerging talent Matt Perry as the favoured no.15, or 16 as was the case with Bath until professionalism led to them adopting the same shirt numbering system as everyone else.

Knowing what a meticulous planner he is, Johann van Graan will no doubt have had a pretty fixed idea on what his matchday 23 will look like for a Champions Cup semi-final, even before Bath booked their place in the last four with the thrill-a-minute, 43-41 win over Northampton. But it was a different story back in 1998, as Callard reveals.

“I wasn’t due to play, Matt Perry was. I’d been in and out of the side for a couple of years, I was persona non gratia under Clive Woodward, whenever that period was, but then we were beaten by Richmond in the Cup and Mike Catt had had a bad day with his goalkicking, and they realised we needed to go into the final with a kicker.

“We had a hastily arranged selection committee the next day. Andy Nicol, myself, Andy Robinson and John Allen, the team secretary. John Allen goes, ‘I’ll start. This is my side’. And then Robo goes, ‘Yep, this is my side’, and then Andy Nicol goes, ‘Right, this is my side’. It was three-zip, with all three picking me at full-back, so I had no choice but to pick myself. I missed my first kick of goal, it was about 40 on the angle, fairly straightforward, and I could just hear everybody thinking, ‘What the hell is in the side for’?”

Another unplanned aspect of Bath’s 1998 win was the move that led to the only try, finished by Callard, as the hour mark approached. It was the game-changing moment, as Brive had tried and failed on no fewer than seven occasions to push the Bath pack over their line just before Jerry Guscott drew two defenders and passed to Callard five metres out and he slid over the line.

“Everybody thought, ‘Wow, what a fantastic, well-worked move’. Well, that’s the first time we’d ever run that. Dan Lyle span out (of the scrum), Andy found a bit of space in it, and I then I see that Jerry has got it about three yards from the line. He could have gone himself, but he tipped that onto me and I just had the easy job of putting it down.

“Getting passes from Jerry were as rare as hen’s teeth so I was as surprised as anyone. Jerry used to say to me that if I wanted a pass I’d have to start running in front of him, because I wouldn’t be able to catch him up. It was true because he was so quick.

“We tried to recreate it in training after the final, and we couldn’t do it. It was just down to the ability of individuals to react to that moment in time, to play what you see, play what you feel. For me, that was the special thing about that Bath team – the ability to adapt to the different circumstances.

“I’d pretty much hung up my boots by then and was starting out in coaching. Fate is a funny thing.”

Callard scored just over 2,000 points for Bath at an average of roughly 200 per season, winning multiple Cups and League titles along the way. And he enjoyed some notable highs in his brief time as England’s full-back, too: principally the long distance match-winning kick in the 1994 Calcutta Cup match and beating the All Blacks on debut.

In 30-odd years of coaching, Callard enjoyed a fine double act with Phil Davies at Leeds, after things had turned sour at Bath, which led to the Yorkshire club winning the Powergen Cup and playing Heineken Cup rugby. As an employee of the RFU for 12 years, Callard worked with the senior men’s team and helped bring through some generational talents in his role as coach of the England U20s.

But surely, above all else, that day, January 31st, 1998, is his career highlight?

“People say to me, ‘What’s your greatest moment in rugby?’ But I don’t think there’s a moment where I think, ‘Wow, that’s it, I’m never going to better that’. Because why would you go to work every day if you’ve had it?

“Yeah, I’ve had great moments and more than many people would have, don’t get me wrong, and that (1998 is right up there). I don’t dismiss that lightly. No, I’m very appreciated for that. But for me, personally, that big moment, I am still keen, at the tender age of 60, to find out what it will be.”

Since leaving the RFU, Callard has had spells back at Leeds and Bath, as a kicking consultant working under van Graan, and is now head coach at North Wales outfit RGC. The commute back and forth to Colwyn Bay from his home in Harrogate is tough but the coaching fire still burns brightly.

“We finished fifth and made the play-offs, which is amazing achievement. I’m so proud of what we’ve done, and how we play. We’ve got a reputation for playing rugby.

“I think there’s been seven ‘Tries of the Month’, and we’ve won four of those up to date, and I think we’ll win the next one this month, without putting the mockers on it.

“Somebody said to me, ‘What’s that, 30 years you’ve been coaching? And, you’re still in it, you’ve still got so much passion and you still love it as much’. Yeah, I do. I’ve been blessed.”

Callard’s first-hand experience of coaching at Bath under van Graan, and his long history with the club, gives him a good feel as to whether the current team can emulate the heroes of ’98 and win in Bordeaux.

Back then, Bath were up against the reigning champions and very much the underdogs and the same applies this time around. However, Callard feels the strength of the Bath bench, and the ability to stay in the fight and be resilient, qualities that the all-conquering team of the ’90s had in abundance, will see them through to the final.

“I just feel they’re gonna do it. I know they’re going do it.

“If there’s any English side that’s capable of winning the Champions Cup, it’s Bath. The squad is littered with stars, they’ve got game breakers across the field, and they’ve also got the collective will to win for each other.

“It doesn’t matter where they go in terms of scoreboard; it doesn’t put any pressure on the team. They don’t panic, Johann keeps his powder dry on the bench, and like a good horse, they’ve got the staying power to nip it at the end.

“Credit to Johann, he’s managed them beautifully in terms of keeping them fresh and keeping them on their toes, so to speak. So, he’s hopefully got a really fit squad that he can go into this game and chuck the kitchen sink at it.

“I feel that that club wants this one more than anything. I think this is the one that the players want,” adds Callard.

“I think they’re going to go there and say, like the Bath of old, ‘we’re in for a battle’.

“The French will present opportunities with the way they play the ball; they’ve got a lot of ball movement. And if they could disrupt that ball movement and capitalise on that, I think they could have a good day.

“And then, hopefully, ’98 will be taken over by ’26. It’ll be great. They’ll be wheeling out Finn Russell every year to speak instead of has-beens like me!”