Reversing the fortunes of the England rugby union team in the mid-1980s was never going to be an easy task. Winning only two matches in the Five Nations championship between 1983-85, urgent action was required to revive the English patient.
All things are relative, but England’s two narrow home wins against Wales and Ireland resulted in their best Five Nations campaign since 1982, and Green was determined to establish some building blocks for the future, with particular focus on the inaugural World Cup in 1987.
Training sessions from the summer of ’86 onwards concentrated greatly on fitness work, with Green employing former Scottish triple jumper and Olympic coach Tom McNab to whip the players into shape. With a core group of players training together it was hoped that familiarity would breed success.
England’s players were certainly singing from the same hymn sheet, with winger Rory Underwood, and new skipper Richard Hill keen to point out the benefits of the system. “We have been together so long that the same feeling has developed which you get in a club side before a cup match,” Hill stated.
“In the past we have not prepared as thoroughly as we have for this match,” Hill said, prior to England’s championship opener in Dublin. “We are really going to give it a go this season,” chairman of selectors Mike Davis added. England were definitely talking a good game.
Doubts remained, however. Hill had yet to complete a Five Nations match, and was now given the responsibility of captaining his country in what would be his third start at international level. And although Ireland had claimed the wooden spoon the season before, England’s abysmal away record – no championship win outside of Twickenham since 1982 – hardly instilled confidence.
Ireland may have followed up their 1985 Triple Crown with the wooden spoon, but coach Mick Doyle, ably assisted by Syd Millar putting his forwards through over 300 scrums, was confident going into the England match that his team would come out on top.
“Of course we are favourites,” Doyle proclaimed. “I expect to win…it will be regarded as a humiliation if we lose.” Buoyed by an impressive 60-0 triumph over an admittedly weak Romania in November, Irish expectations were high. With £14 tickets reportedly being sold for £100, the excitement surrounding the Lansdowne Road clash was building.
Weather had played a big part already in the 1987 Five Nations, and it would continue to do so in Dublin on February 7. The first set of fixtures – England v Scotland, and Wales v Ireland – had been called off due to heavy snow, both matches rearranged for April 4. England’s brave new world would have to start away from HQ.
Conditions on the day were terrible. Having scored ten tries in their flowing performance against Romania, Ireland were intending to inflict their running game on England, with half-backs Michael Bradley and Paul Dean feeding the strong centre partnership of Michael Kiernan and Brendan Mullin. But they were forced to change their plans.
David Hands, writing in the Times, highlighted the change in tactics: “The rain descended, the wind slanted down the pitch and, in a game which occasionally turned as spiteful as the weather, the Irish kicked the leather off the ball and chased like furies.”
Later, Green would complain that the conditions did not allow England to play their planned expansive game. But, as Tony Bodley was happy to highlight in the Mirror, surely the team should have had a strategy in place for all seasons. England’s 1987 was about to kick off in an appropriately shambolic way.
England, electing to give Ireland the wind at their backs for the first half, actually performed well at times in the opening exchanges. But two key moments would go a long way to sealing the fate of the visitors. Nigel Carr’s robust tackle on Marcus Rose left the full back groggy and vulnerable, and when Rob Andrew failed to find touch with a penalty shortly afterwards, the match took a decisive turn.
Rose, playing his first international since 1982, was unable to claim Hugo MacNeill’s spiralling kick, allowing Ireland to kick through and for Kiernan to score the opening try, and England’s full back immediately left the field of play. England had been 3-0 down before Kiernan’s try. When the same man slotted over the conversion, at 9-0 England were left with a mountain to climb.
The second half was not pretty. Hands did not hold back in his assessment, indicating that England “ended the game in disarray”, and their second half was “an abject catalogue of errors.” He was not alone in his condemnation of the England display.
Willie John McBride talked about “an inept England performance”, Ray McLoughlin felt the “Irish were as competent and decisive as the English were incompetent and indecisive.” Fergus Slattery waded in, questioning England’s commitment, sense of direction, and describing them as “pitiful to watch.”
In truth, only English forwards Peter Winterbottom and John Hall emerged with any credit, as second half tries from Phillip Matthews and Keith Crossan helped Ireland complete a 17-0 win. For the first time in 14 years, England had failed to trouble the scorers. “It is not easy to see where they are going to open their account,” Hands concluded.
England’s selectors shuffled their pack; debutant lock David Cusani was dropped, as was No 8 Paul Simpson, with neither playing for England again. Lock Nigel Redman also made way, as Wade Dooley, Steve Bainbridge, and Gary Rees were called up. But it did little good.
Indeed, things were about to get a whole lot worse before they got better. A home defeat against France was followed up by another away loss in Wales, although few were talking about the result, as the fallout from the Battle of Cardiff rumbled on.
Hill was suspended along with Dooley, Gareth Chilcott, and Graham Dawe, the latter out of the team just two matches after making his debut in Dublin. Mike Harrison was handed the captaincy, and England finally scored a try in the championship season on their way to a 21-12 win over Scotland.
After the Scotland match, there were plenty of optimistic noises emanating from the England camp regarding their chances at the World Cup. It transpired that the Calcutta Cup win was a mere anomaly in a terrible 1987. Losing to Wales at the quarter final stage, Green was axed as coach, with Davis stepping down as chairman of selectors.
Slowly the worm turned, with the appointments of Geoff Cooke and Roger Uttley as manager and coach respectively. Nevertheless, England still managed to use three more captains – Nigel Melville, John Orwin, and Richard Harding – before arriving at Will Carling.
It was little wonder that the 1988 wins over Ireland and Australia at Twickenham were celebrated with such gusto. After a terrible 1987, starting with the scoreless debacle in Dublin, English fans were long overdue some joy.
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