Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

'My jersey was covered in blood' - The day the England Fun Bus started its record breaking journey

By Chris Jones
Jason Leonard (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS via Getty Images)

When Jason Leonard emerged from the underground changing room into the intimidating atmosphere of the Velez Sarsfield stadium in Buenos Aires in 1990 he had no idea it signalled the launch of a record breaking England career that would see him rise to the Presidency of the Rugby Football Union.

ADVERTISEMENT

On the 30th anniversary of his debut, Leonard admits the only thought in his mind that day was proving he deserved the No1 jersey against a fearsome Argentina pack in the first sporting fixture between the countries since the Falklands War.

The 21-year-old, who remains his country’s most capped player with 114 appearances, helped England to a 25-12 first test victory achieved with fellow debutants Dean Ryan (4 caps), now the Dragons director of rugby, Harlequins No10 David Pears (4 caps) and Orrell wing Nigel Heslop (10 caps), who a year later would be knocked out by punches from Serge Blanco and Eric Champ in a ferocious 1991 Rugby World Cup quarter-final in Paris.

Video Spacer

Episode Six of the Season, where BBC play the biggest game of in their schools history.

The game of the season hangs in the balance with the Premiership in reach but
a series of crucial errors leaves the home crowd stunned. Halfback Will Stevens spends quality time with his mother as the academic workload starts to increase. Round 7 takes the team to Toowoomba where their focus and attitude are put to the test, while one of the injured players prepares for shoulder surgery. As the season starts to reach its inevitable conclusion, the players prepare for their sternest test yet – an away game against Nudgee College – where BBC has not won since the 1980’s.

Video Spacer

Episode Six of the Season, where BBC play the biggest game of in their schools history.

The game of the season hangs in the balance with the Premiership in reach but
a series of crucial errors leaves the home crowd stunned. Halfback Will Stevens spends quality time with his mother as the academic workload starts to increase. Round 7 takes the team to Toowoomba where their focus and attitude are put to the test, while one of the injured players prepares for shoulder surgery. As the season starts to reach its inevitable conclusion, the players prepare for their sternest test yet – an away game against Nudgee College – where BBC has not won since the 1980’s.

All four new caps survived their baptism of fire in an England team missing eight players who were rested following the 1990 loss to Scotland at Murrayfield that cost the team a Grand Slam and the majority would return for the clash with Argentina three months later when 18-year-old Pumas hooker Federico Mendez was sent off for turning Paul Ackford’s legs to jelly with a massive punch at Twickenham.

Sandwiched between those two momentous matches was the first test in Buenos Aires and a victory that deserves recognition 30 years on not only for giving the rugby world “Fun Bus” Leonard, one of its greatest characters, but for the way England defied the odds to win on Argentinian soil with the eighth anniversary of the Falklands War swirling around them. Leonard, a member of England’s 2003 Word Cup winning team, said: “ To play just one match for England that’s the dream you grow up with and it turned out that the first three games of my test career were all against Argentina.”

This was an England team shorn of Dean Richards, Ackford, Mike Teague, Paul Rendall, Rory Underwood, Jerry Guscott, Simon Halliday and Rob Andrew. Captain Will Carling was still able to call upon the experience of No9 Richard Hill, Simon Hodgkinson’s kicking and up front the combative Jeff Probyn, Brian Moore, Peter Winterbottom, Mick Skinner and Police Constable Wade Dooley who took young Leonard under his wing.

Leonard, who started playing at Barking, was barely into his senior career with Saracens and was supposed to be the back-up to Moseley’s experienced loosehead Mark Linnett, but proved in the brutal second match of the tour with Tucuman he could handle the rough stuff.

ADVERTISEMENT

Tucuman, known as the Clockwork Orange, had fought battles with France and the New Zealand Maori and their fans welcomed Carling and his team by burning a Union Jack. After being barged at the first line out Dooley took control and told Leonard that at the next line out he would hit his opposite number on the way up and the youngster would thump him on the way down. “Tucuman has a big reputation of intimidation of touring teams but they were also one of the regions that had the biggest losses in the Falklands War,” explained Leonard. “That is why tempers were running high and the rugby was brutal in those days.”

Pears describes the Tucuman game as the most intimidating atmosphere he ever experienced and was amazed to see a bathroom tap land on the pitch next to him having been thrown by one of the locals as he prepared to kick a penalty which helped secure a morale boosting 19-14 win. “I had a kick charged down early in the Tucuman game and they scored and I thought “there goes my first cap”. But I kicked an important penalty and we won.”

Leonard, Pears, Ryan and Heslop were selected for that first test and changed in an underground dressing room that required the players to walk up a spiral staircase to reach the hatch that was pulled opened to allow them onto the pitch which was surrounded by mesh fencing to keep the fans off the pitch. Pears remembers emerging from the dark and hitting the blinding sunlight and feeling as if he was “floating on clouds” but reality struck as soon as the whistle blew.

Leonard takes up the story: “After the spiral staircase you went out onto the pitch and the first thing that hit you was the noise and then the first image was a soldier armed with a machine gun with an Alsatian dog on a lead. I remember thinking “ who dresses like that for a game of rugby? It was a football stadium with wire in front of the fans so that no one could get on the pitch plus barbed wire at the top. Our National Anthem sounded like it was on a crackling record and halfway through someone took it off.

ADVERTISEMENT
Jason Leonard
Jason Leonard

“Just before the game I had looked around the changing room and I was alongside Probyn, Moore, Dooley, Skinner and Winterbottom and I was confident we were going to win. Wints just told me to concentrate on my job and they would look after everything else.

“I remember Union Jack flags being burnt in the crowd and as the game progressed oranges were thrown at us by fans and then as the game wore on we found an empty whiskey bottle had landed on the pitch followed by a pair of scissors which we handed to the referee. The largest object was a Victorian style bath tap which seemed to be about a foot long. Who the hell brings that to a match?

“At the first ruck I got punched and before I could react, Wade’s big fist crossed in front of my face and connected with the opposition player. Every single ruck was a brawl and my jersey was covered in blood because the guy I was propping against had a cut to his head.

“I had played with Dean Ryan in my first year at Saracens and with Pearsy for England U21s and so Nigel Heslop was the only one who was new to me. While tempers were running high on the pitch, off it Argentina was a wonderfully hospitable country to experience and I am still in touch to this day with Diego Cash who propped against me in the second test on that 1990 tour.”

Ryan was in the middle of maelstrom. He had joined the tour straight from a season in New Zealand and relished the physical challenge although he found the time spent in Tucuman trying for other reasons.
“The New Zealand Maoris rugby team had visited before us and a television had been thrown out of a hotel widow and so when we checked in none of the rooms had any televisions so we just sat in the corridor chatting,” said Ryan who would score a try on his test debut. The Dragons boss got the distinct impression all of the local players who had been upset during the early tour games had assembled in the national team and his readiness to fight back did not win him fans amongst the small contingent of Rugby Football Union grandees in the stands.

The late Barbarians president Micky Steele-Bodger, summarising on radio, witnessed a punch-up involving Ryan and said: “I hope this man never plays for England again.” It was a harsh verdict given what England were dealing with on the pitch and Ryan admitted: “I did hear about that comment and some of the senior players were pretty upset,” said Ryan. “That would explain why I never got to play for the Barbarians after that test!

Leonard
Dean Ryan (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

“Coming from the NPC in New Zealand I was fairly battle hardened and knew with Dean Richards not touring it was a big chance for me.”

Heslop is proud of having helped England win in Buenos Aires – where Simon Hodgkinson kicked 17 points – but admits playing in the 51-0 victory over the Pumas three months later at Twickenham felt like his first cap. “ It was the fact my Mum and Dad were in the crowd and playing at Twickenham had been my dream. I was in tears in the dressing room.” said Heslop. “ I was proud to have won on my debut in Argentina and went on tour thinking I was making up the numbers with Chris Oti and Tony Underwood in the squad. Running out for that first test was like entering a Roman Arena and I managed a try in the second but we lost 15-13 which was a real disappointment.”

While his fellow debutants had shorter test careers, Leonard went onto to become a rugby centurion and the ultimate “blazer” as RFU President despite having to undergo neck surgery in 1992 to save a career that lasted a remarkable 14 years. That first cap has a special place in his collection although he was told by flanker Winterbottom on the coach heading back to the team hotel to enjoy because it was probably the only one he would get.

The reason his career could have been cut short? “Well, you have to sing a song in front of everyone and the travelling RFU committee men were also on the coach,” added Leonard. “ I chose as very rude, blue ditty and belted it out and when I sat back down next to Wints he smiled and said “make the most of today because after that song you won’t be playing many times for England!”

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 4 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

29 Go to comments
A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

29 Go to comments
T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
FEATURE
FEATURE Juan Ignacio Brex: 'Italy made history, but it's not enough' Juan Ignacio Brex: 'Italy made history, but it's not enough'
Search