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Learn all about the players, characters and teams that shaped rugby and inspired millions. From 19th century innovators to 21st century superstars, the latest book in the Illustrated History of Rugby series examines players who overcame the odds to beat everything from injury and illness to racism and sexism to excel and thrill followers of our great game. It also tells the stories of giant killing teams who shocked the world and took the scalps of heavily favoured opponents. From the Tonga team that beat Australia in the 1973 to the 'Miracle in Brighton' which saw Japan topple the mighty Springboks, James Stafford and Raluca Moldovan bring to life some of the most thrilling moments in rugby history.
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AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF
RUGBY REBELS,ROLE MODELSAND GIANT KILLERS
AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF
RUGBY REBELS,ROLE MODELSAND GIANT KILLERS
THE PLAYERS, PEOPLE, TEAMS AND IDEASTHAT CHANGED RUGBY FOREVER
JAMES STAFFORD
Illustrated by Raluca Moldovan
This edition first published in 2023 by
POLARIS PUBLISHING LTD
c/o Aberdein Considine
2nd Floor, Elder House
Multrees Walk
Edinburgh
EH1 3DX
www.polarispublishing.com
Text copyright © James Stafford, 2023
Illustrations copyright © Raluca Moldovan, 2023
ISBN: 9781915359094
eBook ISBN: 9781915359100
The right of James Stafford to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission of the publisher.
The views expressed in this book do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or policies of Polaris Publishing Ltd (Company No. SC401508) (Polaris), nor those of any persons, organisations or commercial partners connected with the same (Connected Persons). Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed by third parties are not those of Polaris or any Connected Persons but those of the third parties. For the avoidance of doubt, neither Polaris nor any Connected Persons assume any responsibility or duty of care whether contractual, delictual or on any other basis towards any person in respect of any such matter and accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by any such matter in this book.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library.
Designed and typeset by Polaris Publishing, Edinburgh
Printed in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
To my incredible mother, for always being there for me.
‘I think it’s worth all the suffering and hardship if one person’s life is changed from hearing about my story.’
Jillion Potter, US Rugby Olympian
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
IAN McKINLEY
MAGGIE ALPHONSI
GIANT KILLERS: JAPAN (2015)
DODDIE WEIR
SARA COX
FRANK HANCOCK
GIANT KILLERS: SWANSEA RFC
JAMES PETERS
SHANE WILLIAMS
GIANT KILLERS: USA (1991 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP WINNERS)
MIKE GIBSON
JILLION POTTER
GIANT KILLERS: FRANCE (1911)
ERROL TOBIAS
GIANT KILLERS: ROMANIA (1980S)
SQUIDGE RUGBY
NORIKO KISHIDA
GIANT KILLERS: URUGUAY (2019)
SIYA KOLISI
RONALD POULTON
GIANT KILLERS: TONGA (1973)
JONAH LOMU RUGBY
GIANT KILLERS: WALES WOMEN (2009)
KOJI TOKUMASU
GIANT KILLERS: FIJI (1952)
DAVE GALLAHER
MARK ELLA
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
INTRODUCTION
There’s an old cliché, almost as old as the sport itself, that says rugby is a game for people of all shapes and sizes. And it’s true. But it’s often overlooked that it’s also a sport for all types of personalities and backgrounds as well.
For too long the perception of rugby outside the rugby community – and even sometimes to its shame within it – is that it is a sport for men of a certain background, a distinct character and of a particular class. It’s an understandable charge and one that far too many reactionary grey committee members in old school ties have unfortunately done their best to uphold for most of the game’s long and storied history.
This book was written to help shine a light on the broad range of personalities and people that give the sport its greatness. It aims to tell of those who changed the game with their footwork and brains, rather than just their size and power; of those who walked out of lonely dressing rooms into the wide open exposed playing fields of the world, despite the roars and curses of those in the stands who hated them for their skin colour; of those who rose to the top as thousands of others were wishing (and hoping) them to fail because they were women, not men; of those who overcame cancer and broken necks to pull on their national shirt; and of those who saw a new way of playing or even watching a sport that no one had seen before them.
Many in these pages will be familiar faces to some readers, but I do not believe many will be familiar or aware of every face or team that features. This book looks to celebrate rugby in both the countries that are famed for it and the ones where often even the residents of that nation have little knowledge of the sport. After all, a story is no less interesting or human because it occurs away from the gaze of the lands that make up the Six Nations or Rugby Championship.
I hope that young and old will be inspired by the pages that follow. The stories you are about to read aren’t just entertaining or fascinating parts of rugby history, but offer plenty for people looking for motivation both in sport and in the game of life. Rugby is a game that can inspire people of all shapes, sizes, personalities and background.
IAN McKINLEY
‘You’d be in the middle of Twickenham and Vunipola was running at you and you might only see one leg and you’d go for that leg.’
Ian McKinley
The rugby player who overcame the loss of his eye to play Test rugby and helped open up the game to others who had been prevented from playing due to eye injuries or medical issues.
Main teams: UCD, Leinster, Viadana, Zebre Parma, Benetton, Barbarians, Ireland U20s, Italy
Position: Outside-half, centre
International caps: 9 (2017–19)
Points: 3 (1 penalty)
On 16 January, 2010, Ian McKinley was playing centre for University College Dublin (UCD) against Lansdowne in the All Ireland League Division Two. He was just out of his teens and part of the famed Leinster Academy system and had a promising future ahead of him as either a centre or outside-half, having already played a few games for the senior Leinster side. His world was to change completely within five minutes of kick-off.
Lying on his back in a ruck, a stray boot from a member of his own team caught him in the face and seriously injured his left eye. McKinley was rushed to hospital with a burst eyeball.
Over the coming months, the unlucky Irishman spent a long and difficult time having complex and risky operations to try and save his eye. When he wasn’t in hospital, he had to religiously follow strict medical advice on how to best help his eye recover.
One major consequence of McKinley’s injury was that his depth perception was affected. During his early days in hospital, he broke a glass of water when he completely misjudged its distance when he tried to pick it up. He effectively had to learn to recalibrate the way he perceived the world around him and it was three months before his vision had improved enough that his injured eye was able to see how many fingers his doctor was holding up during his frequent examinations.
It was another month again before McKinley was allowed to begin doing some light training. Before then there had been a major concern that too much movement or physical exercise could damage his retina. It’s fair to assume most people would have retired from rugby after such a terrible injury, but by the start of the 2010/11 season, with his left eye now having around 50 per cent vision, he began pre-season training with Leinster.
The first comeback
His condition didn’t stop some opponents from trying to take advantage or putting his sight at risk. In one game for Dublin club St Mary’s, McKinley prevented a player from taking a quick penalty and a scuffle broke out. Another opponent came from behind and dug his finger into McKinley’s good right eye. If that wasn’t bad enough, the thug admitted that he knew McKinley had a severely damaged left eye and that was why he had done it.
In February 2011, McKinley was back playing for Leinster and even picked up a player of the match award and scored a try in a game against Benetton. By May he had done enough to be offered his first senior professional contract and had regained about 70 per cent vision in his injured eye. But then, disaster struck. Playing for Leinster A, McKinley had to leave the match as his vision began to rapidly deteriorate. It turned out he had developed a complicated cataract and needed surgery.
Worse news was to follow: not long after this incident, his retina became detached and he needed yet another emergency operation. It was not a success. Doctors told McKinley that the damage was too great and his eye could not be saved.
At the age of 21, McKinley announced his retirement from the sport. He had played six times for Leinster and been capped for the Ireland U20s, even captaining the latter in a game in the 2009 Junior World Championship. At such a young age his rugby dreams seemed to be over.
Yet, unbelievably, his elite career had actually barely even started. Not only would he lace his boots up again, he would be part of a campaign that would change rugby forever.
The second comeback
In 2013, McKinley got an unexpected offer that would alter the course of his life. He had begun coaching in Dublin after hanging up his boots and was also studying sports management at university. Out of the blue, he got a phone call asking if he would be interested in moving to Italy to become technical director of Leonorso Rugby Udine, overseeing teams in the under-6 to under-20s age range. He quickly accepted the challenge.
But while the move abroad and winning a job within the sport he loved initially helped McKinley, he eventually had to admit he had not coped well mentally with his enforced retirement from playing. Things got so bad, he broke down in front of his brother, Philip, and admitted he was in a bad place mentally as he still wanted to play rugby but was not able to.
Philip decided to help and contacted some people he knew to try and see if there was any way that his brother could play again through the use of special protective goggles. In his autobiography, Second Sight, Ian wrote that, within a week, Philip sent him an email which said: ‘I’ve been reflecting a great deal since last week, about our conversation about your ambition to play again. I keep coming back though to two things: Risk and Limitation.’
The email discussed the concept of trying to find a way to use modern technology to create special eye protection that would permit him to play again. It continued: ‘You are down and desperately frustrated at being unable to play. So, it’s a lose/lose situation from whatever way you look at it. However, if you were to return, you would reverse all that. You would be an inspiration to tens of thousands of young people, you would be able to deliver on the skills and development invested in you and you would no longer feel the frustration you do. It would become win/win … at the end of the day, it’s the love of mud, scraped knees and sticking to diets that you miss the most. So your desire and request are not selfish or egotistical, it is in fact good, heart-warming pure love for the sport, which any rugby fan or authority should respond most openly and positively towards.’
With Philip leading the charge, the pair began researching everything from eyewear technology to changes in international rugby laws and regulations to see if they could find a way. They also contacted the mechanical engineering department at UCD, Ian’s old university, and the technical department at World Rugby (then the International Rugby Board) to begin exploring how they could make working prototypes of protective goggles. As it happened, World Rugby was also in the very early stages of looking into whether it was possible to create goggles for rugby players who had a medical condition that meant they needed to protect their eyes.
It was to be the beginning of a long, difficult, inspiring and ultimately successful journey. By early 2014, World Rugby had agreed that a trial of goggles in rugby could take place and McKinley had a working prototype made from an incredibly strong polycarbonate material to try out. They weren’t perfect and there were plenty of issues to iron out, but it was a start. After successfully training with them at Leonorso, McKinley was selected to play in a match for the club against Oderzo. The teams played in division three of the Italian leagues and the standard and facilities were a world away from what he had previously known in Ireland. But none of that mattered. All that mattered was whether the goggles worked.
They did. Despite an early hiccup when his goggles came off in contact, the Leonorso debutant bagged 28 points in a 65–5 win. McKinley was able to feed back on the good and bad things he had experienced with the goggles and the technicians working on them could begin to refine things such as the way they fogged up or how insecure they were. It was later discovered that up to 10 degrees of vision on McKinley’s left side was obscured by the goggles and it would be a long time before this problem was rectified.
The Irishman was soon signed on a professional contract for the 2014/15 season by Rugby Viadana, another Italian club, but one which sat at the top table of the domestic game.
Mai Mular (Never give up)
The more McKinley played, the more attention was drawn to the goggles and the potential they had to help others. In a twist of fate, McKinley discovered that Florian Cazenave – a former French opponent of his from his days with Ireland U20s – had also suffered the loss of an eye and was not allowed to play in his native France. He too came to play in Italy and used goggles to protect his sight. The pair even met in a pre-season friendly.
In 2014 McKinley was invited to play for the prestigious Barbarians invitational side – becoming the first player to do so of course while wearing eye protection. By the 2015/16 season, McKinley had also begun playing for Rugby Zebre on permit, helping out when their top players were away on international duty. It was another significant sign of his progress and the first time goggles had been worn at this level of rugby.
For all the technological and technical improvements made to his eyewear though, McKinley still had to relearn how to do many of the things on the field that would have been second nature to him before his injury. As a left-footed kicker, for instance, he had to adapt the way his body was positioned when he kicked as he no longer had a clear view of the ball as it dropped onto his foot.
Rain of course was another problem for a player wearing equipment over his eyes, as were scratches and smudges. It meant it was important that a second or third pair were always on hand to replace a suddenly unusable set.
While his depth perception had improved since his initial sight loss, McKinley admits now that this issue was a particular problem in night games under floodlights. In one match, he even had to deal with an angry mosquito that had somehow worked its way inside his goggles. The creature made its presence known during play and he had to wait until a break in play to free the thing!
In spite of all this, McKinley continued to defy the odds and rise up the ranks.
Roadblocks at home
McKinley wasn’t just having to fight the medical odds though. He was also forced to fight for the right to play. In 2015, the unions of England, France and Ireland did not permit players to wear goggles and had not signed up to be part of the World Rugby trials. When he wasn’t training, playing or working with experts to improve his eyewear, McKinley was helping lead a strategic campaign to get these unions to change their minds; engaging with them personally and professionally and bringing to them the weight of expert advice and direct examples of his own personal experience.
Their refusal to allow goggles on the field meant that while the former Leinster star could wear his goggles when playing at home for his team against an Irish side, he was unable to play in the same fixture in the land of his birth. As his club was playing in the Pro12, which included four Irish teams, this was a major problem. It also meant he was unable to play in European competitions on English and French soil.
In his autobiography, McKinley gave powerful examples of what this ban meant for people with eye issues: ‘A number of Irish underage players suddenly began to be blocked or prevented from playing rugby … in August 2015, seven-year-old Ryan Totten was told he couldn’t play rugby anymore … In October, the same situation arose and his father launched a petition to lobby the IRFU on behalf of his son. In November, a referee prevented two players for Portarlington Under-13s in County Laois from playing at the start of a match.’
In late 2015, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) confirmed they would not allow McKinley to wear his goggles on Irish soil, meaning he could not play for Zebre in an away match against Connacht. This prompted him, with the support of his family and friends, to go public and launch the ‘Let Ian Play’ campaign. He focused on the following points:
- It was a breach of McKinley’s freedom of travel to provide services pursuant to EU law.
- It was a breach of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.
- The IRFU’s position breached his rights under the Irish Constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights law regarding disability.
McKinley also said the IRFU’s stance ‘contradicted the ‘Spirit of Rugby’ slogan that all unions aspire to achieve’.
The campaign caught the imagination of the sporting public and soon gained support across the world and generated massive amounts of media attention. Tens of thousands of people signed up to a petition supporting his cause and countless people wrote letters to the IRFU and politicians expressing support.
The refusal of the IRFU to allow McKinley to play also threatened his prospect of signing for Zebre as cover during the Six Nations when their top stars were away. If he couldn’t play in certain away games, it didn’t make economic sense for the club to bring him into their squad. The IRFU meanwhile stepped up their communications around why goggles were not permitted and wrote to every club in Ireland confirming why they would not allow players to wear them. They were then immediately embarrassed when the Association of Optometrists of Ireland made their support of McKinley’s goggles public.
During all this fuss, the IRFU had written to McKinley saying he could play without the goggles, which, of course, was a far riskier proposition. Quite frankly, it was nonsense.
Thankfully, by mid-December, after a personal presentation by McKinley to the board, the IRFU caved in to common sense and public pressure and agreed to join the global goggles trial. McKinley made sure that Ryan Totten, the young boy who had been prevented from playing in Ireland, got a pair to play in. Not long after this breakthrough, McKinley signed with Benetton Treviso.
Alongside his actions in his homeland, he also campaigned to encourage the national unions in England and France to sign up to the global goggle trials. While the English union decided to run with their own trials, rather than be part of the World Rugby one, they did give him permission to play in international competitions with the goggles when he was in England.
The French Federation (FFR) held out even longer than the RFU and the IRFU when it came to allowing McKinley and others to play in goggles. In fact, the FFR even ignored a letter from him on the subject. But it ultimately seemed to be the president of the FFR at the time, Pierre Camou, who had an issue with the trials and when he left office the incoming Bernard Laporte confirmed France would join up to the trial in his acceptance speech! This allowed McKinley’s U20 opponent Florian Cazenave to finally play in his homeland again too.
In the spring of 2019, five years after the trial had begun, World Rugby officially permitted the use of the goggles pioneered by McKinley. His courage and persistence had helped change the accessibility of rugby union and inspired people around the world in all sports. He played a part in opening the door to thousands who otherwise would never have been able to play.
Italy calling
If McKinley overcoming his injury to play rugby again and then helping to develop and legalise the use of goggles in rugby wasn’t inspiring enough, there was more to come. In 2017, six years after his injury, he was selected to win his first cap for his adopted country. McKinley came off the bench in the 60th minute to kick a penalty and help steer Italy to a 19–10 win over Fiji in Catania.
In his book, McKinley wrote proudly of celebrating afterwards with his family:
‘Everything that we had all fought for as a family was for this day and it felt so, so satisfying. I wasn’t just happy for myself but for my whole family. This monumental achievement was due to everyone’s contribution. What I was particularly grateful for, and always will be, was that they all pulled together with their resources as best they could for me.’
McKinley won nine caps in all, including three against Ireland. He remains forever grateful for the opportunity Italy offered him: ‘Adopting me represented the fighting attitude in Italian rugby. They did everything in their power to help facilitate me as a player and that also trickles down to the clubs that I played for, whether it was Leonorso, Viadana, Zebre or Benetton. During the prolonged campaign to have the goggles approved, the Federation even provided me with special insurance for one of the games. They didn’t need to do that, but they wanted to help me and that is why I am so attached to them.’
McKinley’s bravery and persistence has helped make rugby a more inclusive and better sport.
MAGGIE ALPHONSI
‘We are measured on the impact we have on others.’
Maggie Alphonsi
Maggie Alphonsi overcame a tough childhood and being born with a club foot to win a World Cup and become one of England’s greatest players.
Main teams: Saracens, England
Position: Flanker, centre
International caps: 74 (2003–14)
Points: 140 (28 tries)
Honours: 2014 World Cup winner; Six Nations (six Grand Slams, seven titles); captain of Saracens for 2015 league and cup double; International Rugby Board Player of the Year (2006); Sunday Times’ Sportswoman of the Year (2010); first female player to win the Pat Marshall Award voted for by the Rugby Union Writers’ Club; MBE.
When Maggie Alphonsi was a young toddler growing up in Lewisham, south London, few would have seen a future in elite sport for her. She had been born with a club foot (a condition in which an infant’s foot is twisted or turned inward) and had to undergo many operations growing up to try and improve the foot. While she ultimately overcame the problem to succeed in rugby, it would cause her many severe complications throughout her career.
Alphonsi grew up in a single-parent family on a council estate where life could be very tough and social conditions unforgiving. Yet she overcame these early challenges to become a Hall of Fame rugby player and one of the greatest stars in the history of the England team. Looking back on her career in 2019, she reflected on just how critical her mother had been to her later success on and off the field: ‘Opportunities were low. My mum was a single parent and an amazing woman, she had two jobs so I could have a life.’
Her mother ‘drummed’ into her that if she wanted to succeed, she had to put in the hard work. But despite these sensible words, Alphonsi didn’t immediately put the wisdom into action. She admits that in her early school years she was far from an ideal student and preferred socialising to studying. Getting a telling-off from her teachers was almost a daily event at one point and it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that she would end up getting expelled. Then, aged 13, an incident took place that would change her life and, ultimately, help change the future of England rugby.
One of her female teachers came to school one day sporting a black eye. Curious, Alphonsi asked how it had happened. The teacher said she had received it playing rugby for Wales. The holder of the shiner was none other than Liza Burgess, former Wales captain and Hall of Fame player; she was one of the most important players in the foundation of the women’s game in the UK and is still a key administrator today. Burgess suggested to a sceptical Alphonsi that she should give rugby a try; arguing that it could be a way to channel her energy. Writing in the Telegraph in 2019, Alphonsi laid out her initial reaction to the idea:
‘At first I thought she was mad. I had grown up in a single-parent family on a football-obsessed council estate in Edmonton. I had been born with a club foot and walked with a limp. I was a girl. I was black. There simply weren’t many people like me who played rugby, or any top-level sport at all.
‘Liza didn’t care about my excuses. She told me to get the W6 bus to Saracens, my local club, and ask to play. For a few weeks I ignored her advice. I didn’t want to go on my own to play a sport I didn’t know or understand with people who I thought would judge me. Instead, I played my guitar and got into more trouble until there were really very few options left. So, I made what to me seemed a very brave choice. I got the bus to Saracens and asked if I could take part in training. I discovered I was actually quite good, and that neither my gender nor ethnic origin mattered. For the first time in my life I felt completely free. I had made a choice that transformed my life.’
The beginning
Alphonsi may have hesitated about dipping her toes into rugby’s waters, but she was soon in at the deep end and swimming like a natural. During her very first session with Saracens she immediately knew she had found a sport that fitted her personality and strengths. The girl from Edmonton loved the contact and aggression, particularly the tackling.
The honours quickly piled up, including her being selected to captain the under-16 Great Britain touch rugby team on a tour to Australia. While she excelled in the non-contact version of the sport, her heart and body loved nothing more than tackling. She relished defending not only in matches, but in training too, where she would happily be the main tackler in defensive drills where players were forced to ‘run the gauntlet’.
After turning 18, she was chosen to be part of the England academy, before being selected to win her first cap for England A. As well as winning international honours, Alphonsi was succeeding in the domestic game too, being named player of the year for Saracens in the 2001/02 season.
After turning 19, Alphonsi was hopeful of retaining her place in the England A set-up for a summer tour to South Africa. Instead, she was named to be part of the senior squad that was travelling to Canada with coach and former Australian international Geoff Richards.
Her first cap in an England shirt was in the centre, not at seven and she marked her debut with a critical try as the Red Roses won 10–5. But the high was followed by a low as a serious ankle injury ruled her out of the Six Nations in 2004.
Yet her performances had brought her to national attention and a year after her debut The Times was running features highlighting Alphonsi’s rising star: ‘Maggie Alphonsi has proved, if you are good enough, you are old enough.’
Graham Smith, who coached with England from 2003 to 2015, said that the first time he saw Alphonsi play she was in the centre. While he was immediately impressed, he thought she had all the attributes that would make her a flanker.
‘I was struck by her awareness of where the ball was at all times and her ferocity in defence, tackle and in competing for the turnover,’ explained Smith when asked for this book to reflect on her career. ‘I had an instinct that she was a seven, not a 12. And to make that transition, she had to drop out of the elite England squad of 44 players so she could learn about her new position. She had the will and the desire to do it. We spent hours working on the change and she worked incredibly hard on everything from turnover techniques to positional play. She also toiled away in the gym to build up her strength.’
What struck Smith and the other coaches who worked with Alphonsi, was her willingness to be coached and to learn. That, and her iron will and commitment to be the best she could possibly be. Gary Street, who was head coach of England and with the national side from 2007 to 2014, tells of how when he first met Maggie when she was aged 14, she was already asking what she needed to do to play for the national side.
‘She became a great player at seven,’ says Smith. ‘With her ferocity in the tackle situation, she could punch above her weight in contact. It made oppositions aware of her and they saw her as a threat when they had the ball. Her exceptional fitness, which saw her nicknamed the “Machine”, allowed her to maintain her pace and power for 80 minutes in a way few other players were capable of.’
Not only did Alphonsi adapt to being an openside flanker, she excelled. Smith reflected on her ability to do similar things to players like Richie McCaw, saying: ‘Maggie could do things so quickly that the referee would miss the first action. She had this ability and she was hard to put to ground and could stay so low and look like she was on her feet. People would struggle to put her down. In the tackle and jackal situation, players like Richie McCaw, David Pocock and George Smith were always accused of cheating. Were they? Arguably, yes. But that’s what great back rowers do. Maggie had that ability to get her hands on the ball and be a real pain for opponents.
‘Another thing that marks out great players like Maggie is how coachable they are. They listen and learn and then there comes a point they are almost coaching themselves and you are just putting questions to them about why they did things and how they can get better. And they will contact you with thoughts and ideas on how to improve.’
It was as a seven that Alphonsi would see out the rest of her career for England and she soon became one of the first names on the team sheet, playing in both the 2006 and 2010 World Cup finals. Sadly for the ‘Machine’, she was on the losing side in both finals. Her performances in the latter tournament really helped establish her as one of the most high-profile names in rugby. Yet it wasn’t enough. She wanted to win a World Cup above all.
In 2010 the Sunday Times crowned her Sportswoman of the Year and within two years her impact on the sport was recognised with an MBE.
Amid all this success, it is worth remembering that Alphonsi was always having to overcome issues related to her club foot. The condition put certain strains on her body that made her have to train a certain way and increased her propensity to suffer injury; her hamstrings in particular were unreliable and she also had to endure related knee and back pain.
While Alphonsi was building her early rugby career she was always either studying or working full-time. She studied sports and exercise science at De Montfort University, earned a masters in sports and exercise from Roehampton and also attained a BTEC National Diploma in leisure studies from Hertford Regional College.
Alphonsi also had to work multiple jobs to support her dream. Unlike her full-time male peers, the flanker needed to make sure she could cover everything from her training gear to her medical expenses and travel costs. She eventually benefited from the UK’s National Lottery funding scheme for athletes, but she always had to ensure she made the most of what were relatively limited financial resources.
As an international she was part of an incredible seven successive Six Nations titles with England, helping her nation to Grand Slams in six of those championships.
Third time’s the charm
The 2014 World Cup was Alphonsi’s last chance at global glory. It had been 20 years since England had last lifted the coveted cup, having lost in the finals three times on the trot (2002, 2006, 2010). Aged 30, and having been part of two of those runner-up campaigns, Alphonsi knew 2014 was her final shot at winning the big one.
The year hadn’t gone exactly as the Red Roses had planned. A below-par display away to France in the opening game of the Six Nations ultimately cost them the title. England won their other four games, but France claimed the Grand Slam. With the World Cup itself taking place on French soil, this wasn’t the greatest of omens. Many in the press and rugby community wondered if it signalled England would once again fall short.
In spite of the setback, England were not worried. Alphonsi, in an interview with ESPN, spoke of how well head coach Gary Street and assistants Simon Middleton and Graham Smith had meticulously planned and prepared the team throughout the year so that they peaked physically and mentally by the time the World Cup came along.
‘They covered every detail,’ she explained. ‘They empowered the players to take a lead and they challenged us all to get better each day.’
The group also spent more time in training camp than they had ever done before any previous tournament. The players and management were going to do everything possible to reach their goal. Yet Alphonsi almost didn’t get to compete in the 2014 World Cup. She had undergone major knee surgery before the tournament and some feared she wouldn’t even make it or wouldn’t be able to reach the standard she was known for.
As it turned out, she made it and arrived in great physical shape. And on 1 August, England, wearing unfamiliar red and white hoops, kicked off their World Cup bid in ferocious form, swatting Samoa aside 65–3 in a ten-try battering. Next up, Spain were swiftly swept aside 45–5, despite lots of the big guns, including Alphonsi, being rested.
The next and final pool contest was against Canada and was a different beast entirely. The result had major implications for what happened next in the tournament. The North Americans had also efficiently dispatched both Samoa and Spain, but hadn’t racked up quite as many points (winning 31–5 against Spain and 42–7 over Samoa). Whichever side won would win the pool and, in theory, get an easier draw in the semi-final.
As it turned out, England were arguably somewhat fortunate in a 13–13 draw. Canada scored two tries to England’s one in an incredibly tight encounter. The Red Roses’ outside centre Emily Scarratt kicked all three of her place kicks (two penalties and a conversion) to help stave off defeat. With ten minutes remaining, Canada powered over from a driving maul and felt they had scored. The referee didn’t have a good enough view to award the try and the television match official was not consulted. It was a lucky escape.
England didn’t let Canada get another sniff and the match finished in a draw, meaning England won the group on points difference. As a result, England faced Ireland in the semi-finals and Canada had to square up to the hosts and reigning Grand Slam champions, France.
Ireland had seen off the challenge of New Zealand in the groups and had run England close in the Six Nations earlier in the year, going down 17–10 at Twickenham after putting up a strong fight. As expected, the Irish came out all guns blazing and even opened the scoring through a powerful try from a driving maul after 15 minutes. For the first quarter of the match, everything seemed to be going right for the team in green and, briefly, it seemed possible Ireland were going to follow up their shock win over the Black Ferns with another major scalp.
It wasn’t to be. By half time England were 18–7 up, with Scarratt again to the fore both with boot and in open play. Ireland were clinically put to the sword as normal service was resumed and, with Alphonsi key as always in the forward battles for the Red Roses, another final was secured. Reflecting on her team’s 40–7 triumph Alphonsi said England had ‘clicked… nothing could go wrong and we all felt in the zone’.
Their next opponents, it turned out, were not to be tournament hosts and Grand Slam champions France, but the team that had frustrated England in their pool: Canada. The North Americans had squeaked home 18–16 to set up an intriguing final.
Alphonsi knew this was her last chance to get her hand on a world title. She has spoken since of how the previous two final losses had driven her to succeed in the 2014 World Cup. Indeed, England had 11 survivors from the 2010 final in their match-day squad, all of them determined to lay some ghosts to rest and claim their nation’s first women’s World Cup since 1994.
On 14 August, 2014, England and Canada met at the Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris to fight for the World Cup. England were considered favourites, but Canada were not to be dismissed lightly. Not only had they held England to a draw in the pool stages, they had also twice defeated England in the 2013 Nations Cup in the USA. While that Red Roses side was an experimental one, it did mean Canada knew what it felt like to beat them and held no fear of the famous white shirt.
Alphonsi got herself in the mood ahead of the game by blasting out Linkin’ Park music. England, led by captain and fly-half Katy McLean, started the stronger of the two sides and led 6–0 after 25 minutes thanks to two penalties from Scarratt.
Alphonsi of course played her part in putting England on course for glory. A well-coordinated team attack, originally launched from within their own half, saw England stretching Canada back and forth across the pitch. With the Canadian defence in trouble, England put width on the ball from an offensive manoeuvre launched just over 30 metres out. Alphonsi positioned herself in midfield and ran a support line to second row Tamara Taylor, who beat her first opponent with a dummy, and then passed on to Alphonsi as she took contact. The flanker took the ball just inside the Canadian 22, drew in the opposing full-back, Julianne Zussman, and at speed, and with perfect timing, delivered a beautiful pass to full-back Danielle Waterman who sped over from 15 metres out to give the Red Roses a commanding lead.
England went into the interval 11–3 up. Canada pulled it back in the second-half with two further penalties to make things interesting, but a late try from scoring machine Scarratt (who bagged 16 points in all) sealed a 21–9 victory. Alphonsi and co finally had their hands on the trophy they had worked so hard for.
‘To become a world champion was all I had ever wanted,’ said Alphonsi, ‘and it is all I had been talking about for 11 years. To finally do it was a dream come true. We had finally achieved the thing that I had set out to accomplish and I was truly happy.’
After global glory
Alphonsi retired from Test rugby after the World Cup, to focus on playing with Saracens. Now a World Cup winner, she felt it was the perfect time to call time on her England career. After announcing the decision, she revealed that one of the things she would miss the most from the international arena was singing the national anthem and having the crowd singing it back.
The Machine also signed off her club career in style. Her final game for the Saracens saw her claim a try as she helped her team seal a Premiership title with a 30–0 over Wasps.
With her victory flags planted firmly on the playing fields of her life, Alphonsi set about building new goals and reaching new heights off the field. Just as Alphonsi was a trailblazer on the rugby field, she became one off it too. The combination of her rugby experience, sporting intelligence and profile within the women’s game opened up opportunities for her in front of the camera as a rugby pundit. But unlike other ex-players in the women’s game who had only worked within the women’s game, the former flanker broke down doors of opportunity with her microphone too.
During the 2015 men’s Rugby World Cup, she became the first female pundit to cover a men’s Test match in an international tournament. Her success in the role inspired others and helped shift attitudes to female pundits in rugby union and within a few years it became increasingly common to have more women in the commentary box, at pitch side and in the studio.
Hanging up her boots didn’t put her sporting ambitions to rest either. Even before she had retired, she was in training to represent Great Britain at the Rio Olympics in 2016 in the shot put. Remarkably, the head coach of Great Britain’s Paralympic team had – on account of Alphonsi’s club foot – looked to see if she could be classified to compete in the Paralympics. She addressed this in an interview in 2015, saying: ‘My right foot is turned all the way in, but I’ve trained so well on it I probably wouldn’t be classified as a paralympic athlete any more.’
In her youth, Alphonsi had represented her borough at discus and shot put and when the chance to compete in the Olympics came up, she said: ‘Why not? Why not give it a go?’
Ultimately Alphonsi didn’t make Rio, but the fact she came within touching distance told you everything you needed to know about her will and athletic ability.
Graham Smith is not remotely surprised by Alphonsi’s success off the field, saying: ‘If you look at what she’s doing after rugby, you can see she puts the same into that as she does on the field and that’s why she is a success.’
Alongside her broadcasting career, Alphonsi has served as a national member of the RFU Council and has a successful career as a motivational speaker and brand ambassador. Her insight and expertise have earned her a place on elite World Rugby voting panels, helping to choose winners of awards such as World Rugby Team of the Year, Coach of the Year and Player of the Year.
Alphonsi is hugely (and rightly) proud of what she has achieved in life and also grateful for what her chosen sport has given her. ‘Rugby has allowed me to be the person that I am today and it’s given me so many memories that I can look back and say I was proud to be a part of that. And now I hope that through this sport I will go on to inspire others and go on to change the lives of many other people.’
GIANT KILLERS
JAPAN (2015)
‘Japan can only play one way, we’ve got a little team, so we have to move the ball around and cause problems.’
Eddie Jones, Japan coach for the 2015 Rugby World Cup
The story of the ‘Miracle in Brighton’ and the greatest upset in rugby history.
South Africa 32 Japan 34
(Brighton Community Stadium, Brighton)
19 September, 2015 – Pool B, Rugby World Cup
It’s possible to make the case that the defeat of South Africa by Japan isn’t just the greatest upset in Rugby World Cup history, or even the greatest in rugby history, but that it is the greatest in the history of any single match in team sports.
It wasn’t just what Japan achieved that glorious day in Brighton in 2015, it was the manner of how they achieved it. They combined planning and preparation with strategy and tactics. They threw in courage and confidence, with analysis and cool-headed thinking. They brought incredible physical conditioning with extraordinary technical skills. Most of all, when the chance for a famous draw was a simple kick away in the dying seconds, they put it all on the line and risked agonising defeat for the glory of victory. And they did all this against one of the greatest rugby nations of all time.
It was all so dramatic that as soon as the final whistle was blown, people began saying they should make a movie about it. And, well, they did. It was that incredible.
A humble history of defeat
Rugby in Japan can trace its roots back as far as 1866 when the game was played in ports, but these contests were between foreign sailors and workers, rather than locals. In his wonderful A Game For Hooligans: The History of Rugby Union, Huw Richards tells of how in 1899, two Cambridge graduates, Ginnosuke Tanaka and Edward Clarke introduced rugby into Keio University.
Thirty-three years later, in 1932, Japan played their first official Test match, beating Canada 9–8. It was a long while before Japan began to play the major nations and it was the 1973 tour of England, Wales and France that finally brought the Brave Blossoms to the attention of European fans.
It was in this period Japan began to form a reputation for technical expertise, speed and tactical innovation – while lacking the physical punch needed to take them to the next level. Japan won just two of their nine games against Test, regional and club opposition, with wins against Western Counties (Wales) and a French Regional XV. Caps were not awarded in the contests against Wales (a 62–14 loss) and France (a 30–18 defeat). The team were popular with fans, but treated somewhat as a novelty and even inspired songs that were intended to show affection but were packed with crude racial stereotypes.
Yet, there was no getting away from the fact that traditionally the Japanese international team was often physically overmatched by the established nations. The positive side of this was it led to the creation of a rugby culture that welcomed innovation and was fanatical about perfecting technical skills. Japanese sides had to make every piece of possession count against the top teams, and any edge they could find had to be exploited. Clever back moves, the use of speed and width in attack and an unorthodox approach to set-piece play were deployed to try and counter the power of their larger rivals. But courage and street smarts will only get you so far. It’s not by chance that rugby is a sport with relatively few genuine upsets. The mantra ‘a good big ’un will always beat a good little ’un’ could have been coined for rugby. The attrition of a full 80 minutes was usually too much for Japan in the big Tests.
Failing on the world stage
Nothing illustrates just how amazing the win over the Springboks in the 2015 World Cup was more than a glance at the history of Japan in the global jamboree. The Brave Blossoms have taken part in every single edition of the tournament, allowing us to easily put into context just how much they beat expectations in Brighton. Here is their World Cup record ahead of the 2015 edition.
1987:Played three, lost three.
- Japan 18 USA 21
- Japan 7 England 60
- Japan 23 Australia 42
1991:Played three, won one, lost two.
- Japan 9 Scotland 47
- Japan 16 Ireland 32
- Japan 52 Zimbabwe 8
1995:Played three, lost three.
- Japan 10 Wales 57
- Japan 28 Ireland 50
- Japan 17 New Zealand 145
1999: Played three, lost three.
- Japan 9 Samoa 43
- Japan 15 Wales 64
- Japan 12 Argentina 33
2003: Played four, lost four.
- Japan 11 Scotland 32
- Japan 29 France 51
- Japan 13 Fiji 41
- Japan 26 United States 39
2007: Played four, drew one, lost three.
- Japan 3 Australia 91
- Japan 31 Fiji 35
- Japan 18 Wales 72
- Japan 12 Canada 12
2011: Played four, drew one, lost three.
- Japan 21 France 47
- Japan 7 New Zealand 83
- Japan 18 Tonga 31
- Japan 23 Canada 23
Played: 24
Won: 1
Drawn: 2
Lost: 21
Points for: 428
Points against: 1,159
The single win that breaks up the dismal Japanese World Cup record between 1987 and 2011 came against lowly Zimbabwe, a side that have only ever made it to two World Cups. Both of the draws came against Canada, a side that is sadly a pale imitation of what it used to be. The barely comprehensible 145–17 defeat to New Zealand in 1995 is made worse by the fact it was essentially a second-string All Black XV. In contrast, South Africa, Japan’s 2015 opponents, had won two of the five tournaments they had appeared in (they were not invited to the 1987 and 1991 editions due to apartheid, see here). As New Zealand at that point had won two tournaments from seven attempts, it meant percentage wise, the Boks were the most successful World Cup team ever.
The rant that changed Japan
In 2012, the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) made a move that would change the future of the national team forever and take the nation to the top table of the global game. Australian Eddie Jones was named as head coach after former All Black John Kirwan resigned from the position. Jones was the perfect fit to turn around the fortunes of the Japanese. Not only did the former New South Wales hooker come with an excellent coaching pedigree (including the Brumbies, Australia and Saracens), his mother was a Japanese American, meaning he had strong national and cultural ties with the nation. He had coached at Tokai University, Suntory Sungoliath and had been an assistant coach with Japan in 1996.
Jones understood the challenges faced by Japan on the rugby field, as well as the potential waiting to be unlocked. And to get his team to play to their best, he was not prepared to make any compromises or take any prisoners.
In the professional era, Japan had increasingly brought in overseas players who would later qualify on residency grounds for the national side. Jones looked to limit this. He also wanted Japan to stop trying to ape the style of other nations. Kirwan and his predecessors had, he felt, tried too hard to imitate others, rather than being their own team. Quite rightly, Jones believes that teams that copy others are always behind the curve. Even if they ever manage to master the strategy and tactics they seek to emulate, the top teams will have by then moved on again. It was a flawed approach. Better to be true to yourselves and forge your own identity.
Jones openly stated that Japan should sit among the top ten sides in the world. They were sat in the 16th spot when he set this goal. He has also admitted in recent years that he used to consider Japan a ‘joke’ rugby team, claiming their average score against Tier One nations was an 85–0 loss.
The former Wallaby coach also hated the team nickname of ‘The Brave Blossoms’. He believed it was ‘absurd’ and felt it patronised them by encouraging a mentality of ‘you go out there boys and try your best and as long you do that and score a few points at the end of the game everyone will be happy’.
Jones’s reign got off to a shaky start in 2012. In his first Pacific Nations Cup, Japan lost all their games against Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Later that year, Jones was part of an extraordinary press conference that showed the world just how ruthless he could be in his desire to win. After a poor loss to the French Barbarians, Jones was facing the press pack with his captain Toshiaki Hirose. At one point, after Jones fumed about the poor performance and had apologised for the display, Hirose let out a nervous smile as he prepared to speak. His coach responded with fury, glaring at his skipper, before going on to deliver one of the most epic rants in rugby folklore: ‘It’s not funny. It’s not funny. That’s the problem with Japanese rugby, seriously. We’re not serious about winning. If we want to win, we’ve got to go out and physically smash people. And we didn’t do it. We knew how the French Barbarians were gonna play.
‘I think I should probably leave. In reality, some players today will never play for Japan again unless they change. That’s the reality … there are players that didn’t want to make tackles. They are never going to play for Japan again. Unless they change. You know, we’ve got to grow up … What are we going to do with Japanese rugby? Do we want to grow up? We’ve only got three years to the World Cup.
‘Do you want me to resign now [in response to a press question]? I’m happy to. I take full responsibility for the defeat and the performance. So who would you select? I pick six New Zealanders in there and we win the game. Do you want me to do that? So, before when Kirwan was coach everyone complained about the number of foreigners. Now we are trying to develop Japanese players and you are complaining about it. Which way do you want it? I’ve got to find players that want to fight.’
Jones was asked about why Japan had performed better in the second half of the loss. He responded: ‘Historically all [the] big games Japan has played, they get beaten in the first half and then try in the second half. We need to change the mindset of the players. The French players are grabbing us and stopping us defending and we are letting them do it. We’ve just got to want to win more.’