How two Tigers brought bite back to Edinburgh and Newcastle and the many subplots to their Champions Cup tussle
In his infamous book published almost 20 years ago, Richard Cockerill tells a story about the day he brought an almighty pasting upon himself. The moment he poked the great bear that was Dean Richards and roused the fury of his giant Leicester Tigers team-mate.
“We were playing ‘touch’ in training. I’d turned to chase Matt Poole and as I did so I felt someone grab my shirt and pull me back,” Cockerill wrote.
“Without a second thought I swung my arm back and smashed whoever did it right in the chops. Of course, that person had to be Deano, didn’t it?
“He rubbed his jaw for a moment then he grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and started laying into me.
“He was punching me and I was trying to avoid his fists because he’s not exactly the weakest of men. A few blows were traded but I can assure you the vast majority landed on one place – the top of my head. You mix it with Deano at your peril.”
Deano: the indomitable, unflinching juggernaut at the heart of the toughest pack around. Deano: the totem who set the standards and schooled upstarts like Cockerill in what it meant to be a Tiger. Deano: the two-time Lion, the massive number eight that could, as the storied Bill McLaren once surmised, only be uprooted with military assistance.
That book is notorious because of what Cockerill wrote in it about the England set-up of the time and what he felt about the way Sir Clive Woodward ran the operation. But the reverence for Richards and his role in Cockerill’s formative rugby years is blaring.
“In the Deano era, you always wondered how you were going to win if he didn’t play,” the fearsome little hooker said.
Cockerill and Richards are middle-aged men now and the game is vastly different to the one they were playing two decades ago. Still, their paths intertwine. Richards coached Cockerill during his final years at Tigers. After retiring, Cockerill became Leicester forwards coach and locked horns with Richards, who was then in charge of Harlequins. They met seven times when Cockerill took the top job at Welford Road and Richards returned from his “Bloodgate” ban to revamp Newcastle Falcons. Cockerill won six of them.
They face each other again on Friday, as Richards leads his Falcons north to do battle with Cockerill’s Edinburgh in the first match of an enormous Champions Cup double-header.
These two aren’t Tigers anymore; their clubs don’t have that intimidating bedrock of hard-won glory, nor the aura their belligerence and at times violence of yesteryear commanded. They’re embarking on different projects.
Cockerill is a season-and-a-half into his and has done a fine job in revitalising beleaguered Edinburgh. Richards has been at Newcastle for six years now, steadily building a core of local talent and taking them from the second tier in 2012 to a Premiership semi-final last season.
There has been a Scottish vein running through the club since the dawn of professionalism, when Doddie Weir and Gary Armstrong shared a car south from the borders to take their first steps as paid athletes and helped Falcons win the Premiership in 1998. Alan Tait and George Graham were part of that side and Stuart Grimes joined it soon after.
It was at Newcastle that Phil Godman learned his trade under the ultimate fly-half mentor, Jonny Wilkinson. Tim Visser and Tim Swinson came through the ranks before forging successful careers with Edinburgh, Glasgow and Scotland caps.
Craig Hamilton, Rory Lawson, Euan Murray, Mike Blair, Scott Lawson, Ally Hogg – the list goes on. Even now, the Scots influence remains.
It is a shame not to see John Hardie set loose against his old team-mates and the employers who let him go in the summer. Hardie’s travails are well-documented but worth retelling. The flanker was suspended by Scottish Rugby a year ago for what the governing body called “gross misconduct”. The story goes that his use of cocaine was the reason for the ban. Scottish Rugby never confirmed that but did nothing to dissuade the notion.
Hardie is a wonderful flanker, an old-school fetcher and a thunderous tackler. Injury concerns hampered his quest for a new club but Falcons were happy to take him in October. Already that move looks a smart one for all concerned – not least Gregor Townsend and his World Cup preparations. Hardie made 18 tackles and missed none in Newcastle’s pulsating win over Northampton Saints, snatched six minutes after the clock went red.
Falcons are embroiled in an almighty relegation scrap, the ferocity of which the Premiership has not known for years, but they have the grit to get clear of it and Hardie is exactly the sort of bloke who can help them do so.
The Kiwi is not registered for European action and so we will not see a mouth-watering joust with Scottish open-side rival Hamish Watson, but his resurgence is most encouraging.
Instead, we get another compelling Scottish duel. We know all about Gary Graham, his England call-up a year ago that felt like a political missile from Eddie Jones, marking Townsend’s card with Scottish Rugby looking harder than ever for eligible talent south of the border. And we know about his return to the country of his birth and Scotland’s autumn Test squad last month.
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The flanker’s tale is fascinating one. Graham is a gritty council estate lad who has had to scrap for everything he has earned in rugby and taken plenty kicks along the way.
He was born in Stirling, a town in the shadow of the Wallace Monument. His father, the aforementioned George Graham, is about as vociferous a Scot as the claymore-wielding freedom fighter himself.
Graham Junior grew up in Carlisle. He won Scotland age-grade recognition, but he couldn’t get a spot in an academy. So he trained as an electrician and played club rugby at Gala in the Scottish borders. Three years ago, Jersey Reds offered him a deal to join them in the Championship. It was a measly offer but it meant becoming a professional rugby player, so Graham took it and struggled to make ends meet. It wasn’t until 2017 that Richards spied his talents and gave him a crack at the big-time.
When Jones sent for him, he was hardly going to slam down the phone. Not with what he’d been through. Not after only a handful of Premiership outings. Not with international rugby beckoning and an eye-watering match fee on offer for England’s Test players.
Graham gave an interview around that time that created all sorts of headlines. He spoke about how desperate he was to play in the Calcutta Cup, to “make 1,000 tackles and shove it in their face”.
Those comments, he says, were blown out of all proportion, but no-one has denied they were made. You can only imagine the hideous slaughtering he got when he fetched up at Murrayfield, ready to pledge himself to thistle over rose.
Graham is an unflinching character and he might reckon he has a point to prove to some sceptics at Murrayfield. He lines up opposite Watson and another Scotland contender in Jamie Ritchie, both of whom return after stupendous autumn shifts.
Cockerill has his heavyweights back and how he needs them. Little can be read into Edinburgh’s recent form so ravaged have they been by injury, Test duty and the need to give heavily worked players a rest.
They lost at Dragons and in the most savage of circumstances, sent a scratch team to Munster last week that were duly steamrolled. Cockerill spoke about having his hands tied but heading to Musgrave Park off a five-day turnaround missing more than a dozen internationals was more like having his entire body trussed up.
He has his Scotland contingent again now and he has his biggest and most important player in Bill Mata, the sensational Fijian who is the top ball-carrier in the Pro14 and Champions Cup, back in the van.
Both Newcastle and Edinburgh need to start motoring again domestically but in Europe, each has a precious carrot.
The two unfancied sides in Pool 5 currently occupy the top two slots. Falcons became only the second team to beat Toulon at home in the Champions Cup then floored Montpellier with an 89th-minute try. They’re getting pretty good at these late salvos.
Edinburgh are two points behind them after a narrow loss in Montpellier and dishing out a Murrayfield pummelling to Toulon.
Newcastle have that tussle for Premiership survival to consider and a ton of injured firepower, particularly in the front-row where their tight-head stocks are stretched to breaking point. But this is far too juicy an opportunity for them to take their eye off the ball.
Montpellier are still well in the mix. Win at Toulon, and Vern Cotter’s side will fancy their chances of topping the lot, while likely ensuring their troubled French opponents abandon the competition and play with even less heart than in their anaemic showings so far.
And so back we come to Cockers and Deano. Just like that training paddock slugfest all those years ago, the big beasts go at it again. A quarter-final may be the prize for the last Tiger standing.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments