The extraordinary day Martin Johnson missed the bus to a Twickenham cup final
Martin Johnson, the 2003 World Cup-winning England captain, has always been depicted as the ultimate professional, someone who never tolerated sloppy standards in pursuit of rugby greatness whether at Leicester, his club, or higher up the ladder in representative rugby.
His penchant for high standards was epitomised when he skippered the Lions to their epic 1997 Test series success in South Africa just two years after the Springboks had memorably won the 1995 World Cup.
However, Johnson didn’t always fully lead by example judging by the story surrounding the 1993 English Pilkington Cup win by Leicester over Harlequins which took place three weeks before the Lions opened that year’s tour to New Zealand, a trip that Johnson was called up for as a replacement for Wade Dooley.
The now 50-year-old, who went on to play in two of that three-Test Lions series versus the All Blacks, very nearly missed out on his opportunity to impress on English cup final day which at the time was the pinnacle of the club calendar.
Recalling the showpiece decider that Leicester won 23-16 versus Harlequins in front of 54,000 at Twickenham, Ian Smith, the then Tigers coach and father of ex-player Matt, revealed how Johnson had missed the team bus departure from Leicester that Saturday morning and only just made it to the hotel in London as the squad were about to depart for Twickenham.
Tigers bite back in the Burgess versus the Fords row https://t.co/dXLd7zvkbP
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“They boys really, really did rise to the challenge although it didn’t get off too well,” said Smith in an interview with Leicester Tigers TV about the final. “We never used to travel down the night before. We used to travel on the coach on matchday, go to a hotel near to Twickenham and Heathrow and then get a police escort in.
“We got on the coach, we left the ground and then I’m informed by the team secretary, Tudor Thomas, that we had left a player behind, Martin Johnson. (There were) No mobile phones and thank God for Mr Johnson Snr, David Johnson, who drove his son down. I’m sat at the hotel and said: ‘We can’t wait any longer.’
“But luckily they arrived just as we are leaving to get to the ground. It was particularly important that he was there because he made an even bigger contribution than usual, managing to roll over for a try in the second half which effectively sealed the result.”
Current Leicester director of rugby Geordan Murphy also reflected on that final from 27 years ago which he watched on TV in Ireland, adding that travel to a match as a player in the old amateur era was often a problem.
“Martin Johnson recently recanted his story on how the famous try that took place from the tap penalty happened. Just to hear him talking about it with passion, that was one of the things that stuck with me.
“Actually, he got a little glass tankard on the back of winning the ’93 Pilkington Cup which his son broke about for weeks ago, so he wasn’t very happy about that. That’s why he started telling this story.
“It’s amazing what happened in those days. There is stories of other players: Jamie Hamilton, who went on to play a lot of rugby as a nine for Leicester, got his debut on the wing at Bath when one of the Underwood boys got stuck in traffic and couldn’t get out.
“Obviously we didn’t have an extensive squad (at the time), so he ended up playing on the wing and went on to play a lot for Tigers. Slightly different these days, but in the 90s it was very much just make your own way there and the amateur era was still in full swing.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Results probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, 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.
56 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 comments