Jonathan Davies recalls a very different 'warm-up' to the 1987 Rugby World Cup
England and Wales arrive at Twickenham on Sunday for the opening Rugby World Cup warm-up game having followed intensive training programmes dictated by cutting edge sports science that has taken the squads to an altitude camp in Switzerland and debilitating heat sessions in Italy. It is all in stark contrast to the build-up to the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 which saw Wales head to the Pembrokeshire seaside resort of Tenby and take part in a fun run.
Former league and union great Jonathan Davies was the Welsh outside half during that 1987 campaign in New Zealand and Australia that saw Wales beat England in the quarter-finals and finish third – still their best showing at the Rugby World Cup. The current Wales squad has been based at altitude in Switzerland and will head to Turkey for heat training while facing four warm-up international matches – two each against England and Ireland – to prepare for Japan.
In 1987, the only match preparation for Davies and the Welsh squad was a controversial Five Nations tournament which featured the infamous Battle of Cardiff against England. The Welsh won 19-12 with the Rugby Football Union taking disciplinary action taken against captain Richard Hill, Gareth Chilcott, Graham Dawe and Wade Dooley, who had broken fellow policeman Phil Davies’s cheekbone during the fighting.
Wales didn’t play any warm up games before heading down under and Davies said: “Before the tournament we went to Tenby for a couple of nights and some training on the beach and that was about it.
“We started a two-mile fun run but there wasn’t anything special in terms of training and just had a bit of fun before what we considered to be a bit of a mini-tour to New Zealand! We didn’t have any warm-up games – we were amateurs!”
During the tournament the injury-ravaged Wales Cup squad called up two 19-year-olds who were playing for Northern Suburbs in Sydney – current Wasps director of rugby Dai Young and ex-Lions and Wales flanker Richard Webster. They had remarkable starts to their test careers with Young making his test debut in the quarter-final win over England while Webster’s first Wales game was the third-place play-off victory against Australia.
“We had injuries in the front row; Stuart Evans got injured, John Rawlins flew in and pulled his hamstring the first training session and flew back so Dai go the call along with Richard Webster because they were good players and already in Australia: “ added Davies. “It was all very amateurish at the World Cup but we wanted to win it and to get to Brisbane we had to fly in from Invercargill.”
Before the 1987 quarter-final in Brisbane, England, unlike the Welsh, headed to the Hamilton Island resort where they enjoyed swimming, sunbathing, para-gliding and water-skiing. The quarter-final contest was a damp squib compared to that violent 80 minutes in Cardiff and a key moment highlighted the difference between the amateur game played in 1987 and the current professional one.
England lost prop Paul Rendall to injury and faced a scrum five metres from their line and second row Nigel Redman moved up to tighthead prop as England didn’t have time to get replacement Chilcott onto the pitch. Gary Pearce switched from tighthead to loose where Rendall played. Not surprisingly, Redman was marched back in the scrum, the ball squirted out and flanker Gareth Roberts scored a crucial first of three Welsh tries as they won 16-3, earning the dubious reward of a semi-final against eventual champions New Zealand. “What happened with the injury to Rendall would never happen these days and it was their fault – the should have waited to have the scrum:” explained Davies. “ We wanted to play open rugby but it was the worst game ever.”
That win led to 46-9 beating, lock Huw Richards was sent off while All Black legend Buck Shelford stayed on the pitch despite knocking out the Welsh player. Wales would redeem themselves with a remarkable touchline Paul Thorburn conversion earning a third-place finish with a 22-21 win over 14 man Australia in Rotorua.
It remains one of Davies’s favourite memories from his career and thanks to the calmer conditions, Wales were able to play their style of rugby. Does Davies envy the current players and their intensive preparations? “Back in 1987 you never envisaged what the World Cup would become with even warm-up games for the tournament selling out. The players are professionals on big salaries and the whole tournament has grown and I would love to experience that now. Yes, the preparation is different and good luck to all those lucky enough to be at the Cup.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments