A breakdancing cage and the Worcester player who 'just fell apart'
Former England international Pat Sanderson has recalled some of the social fun that helped Worcester to beat the odds in their first-ever Premiership season. Promoted to the top flight after winning the 2003/04 Championship with a perfect 26/26 record after three successive years of heartbreakingly finishing second, the Warriors dramatically defeated Northampton on the final day in April 2005 to send Harlequins packing to the second tier.
It was an incredible feat for the Premiership newcomers to stay up and what immensely helped were the light-hearted moments during the course of the season which ensured the team bonds were immensely tight come the final day when their status was on the line.
Sanderson, Tony Windo and Matt Powell have now all contributed to Rugby Stories, the polished BT Sport podcast presented by Craig Doyle, which recalls the drama of that first Premiership season nearly 20 years ago, and England back-rower Sanderson told a hilarious story at the expense of his scrum-half pal Powell.
The now 45-year-old Sanderson, who won 16 Test caps with England, had known Powell from their time together at Harlequins and after the Welsh half-back had joined Worcester in the summer of 2003 to head up their latest promotion drive, Sanderson arrived at Sixways a year later to help the Premiership newcomers survive their maiden top-flight campaign.
Of great assistance to that survival was Sanderson enlisting Powell’s breakdancing skills to alleviate the tension with the Worcester relegation battle going down to the wire. “We had some really hard men in the pack whose job was effectively to give us dominance in the game, but you need your light moments,” he explained.
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“Matt was a brilliant, brilliant scrum-half… He was exactly what we needed on the field and off the field. He was grateful and he loved being the centre of attention. One of his big tricks was breakdancing every Saturday night. It got quite boring, truth be told. He had like three moves, like a fly thing and caterpillar roll which he got half good at.
“So, we were all on a night out, Matt was breakdancing and he had really gone to town that week. He had taken his top off, got his muscle vest on, got a headband on… It turned out it was the Gloucestershire breakdancing championship downstairs in the same pub, so we carried him down the stairs and we threw him into the middle of what can only be described as a cage with a bunch of breakdancers.
“All of a sudden, all this confidence left him. It’s like it’s the first time we gave ever seen it [Powell not confident in breakdancing]. He loved being the centre of attention and all of a sudden when actually presented with a serious challenge, he just fell apart. Every time he tried to get out of the circle, someone would throw him back in.
“One of the 40 brothers [the Worcester players] were throwing him back in and it culminated in this brilliant breakdancer basically doing a one-handed hip thrusting headstand in his face, and then taking a bobble hat off, pretend to wipe his bottom and flicking it in his face. The whole place just erupted and he never really breakdanced after that.”
As regards the drama of the final day shootout versus Northampton, the intrigue was added to by Shane Drahm playing in his final match for the Saints before joining Worcester for the 2005/06 season. Windo recalled trying to get in out-half Drahm’s ear, but it was to no avail as the Northampton kicker still did everything he could to relegate the Warriors.
“We were very aware that Shane was joining us the following year. I did sort of walk up to him at one point when he was preparing for a kick and said, ‘You need to remember where you are going to be next year, mate’.
“A wry smile came across his face but to his credit, he still slotted the goal. It must have been an incredibly difficult position for Shane to be in at the time. To be in a position to put his next employer in a lower league must be incredible, but that probably showed us as a group when he joined that he was the right person to join us because he didn’t shirk his responsibilities for a club.
“He was at the time committed to where he was and he was going to do everything he could to try and get Northampton the result on that day, which is exactly what you want from somebody when they pull on the Worcester shirt.”
- For the in-depth Worcester Warriors story, check out BT Sport’s new podcast series, Rugby Stories, part of its BT Sport Pods line-up of podcasts. Every Monday, Rugby Stories, presented by Craig Doyle, will spotlight and celebrate English club rugby history. Btsport.com/pods
Comments on RugbyPass
It was a pleasure to watch those guys playing with such confidence. That trio can all be infuriating for different reasons and I can see why Jones might have decided against them. No way to justify leaving Ikitau out though. Jorgensen and him were both scheduled to return at the same time. Only one of them plays for Randwick and has a dad who is great mates with the national coach though.
53 Go to commentsBrayden Iose and Peter Lakai are very exciting Super Rugby players but are too short and too light to ever be a Test 8 vs South Africa, France, Ireland, and England, Lakai could potentially be a Test player at 7 if he is allowed to focus on 7 for Hurricanes.
5 Go to commentsPencils “Thomas du Toit” into possible 2027 Bok squad.
1 Go to commentsDon’t see why Harrison makes the bench. Jones can play at 10 if needed, and there is a good case for starting her there to begin with if testing combinations. That would leave room for Sing on the bench
1 Go to commentsWhat a load of old bull!
1 Go to commentsOf the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.
29 Go to commentsIrish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
5 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
5 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to comments