Brian Ashton: 1974, Orrell v. Harlequins, John Player Cup

One rugby memory stands alone and it is from my playing days. 

February 9 1974 was an important day in the history of Orrell Rugby Union. The club had made remarkable strides in recent lead-up years to finally qualify for the England Rugby John Player Cup competition. In the second round, on the date above, we were drawn to play the famous and eclectic Harlequins at home. Eclectic in colours and design of shirt, Harlequins also had an All Black (Earl Kirton) at fly half and a Fijian test winger (P. B. Tikoisuva).

In the North West it had rained for a week. I arrived at the club at 11am to stand in the club house looking at a lake covering the pitch. I turned to our captain and coach, the late Des Seabrook, and ventured to say that it was disappointing that the game would probably be cancelled. He rounded on me and replied, “Do you think Harlequins fancy a game of rugby on this?” I immediately grasped his unsaid meaning.

The team retired to the Robin Hood pub for pre-match eggs on toast before returning to the club to prepare for the game. Volunteers had been spiking the pitch in the intervening couple of hours and transformed it from a lake to a sea of mud. Harlequins players were tentatively tiptoeing over it showing no signs of wanting to play. This prompted Des to say “Get changed and let's warm up in the in goal area."

Playing at 9 I asked Des if he wanted to play in any particular way. “Just like we always do," was the reply. As the team was populated by many who had played schools rugby league, this meant keep the ball alive and moving. We won 25-7 (scoring 3 tries) and the result reverberated around the rugby world. The lay-by on the M6, a media comment re. Orrell when the draw was made, had become famous.

In the clubhouse post-match the Harlequins players were more than gracious and we had a great couple of hours before they returned to London. However one of their committee was overheard to comment that if the game had been played at Twickenham (where the club played some of its home fixtures) on a proper surface, the result would have been quite different. Des Seabrook was passing and chipped in: “Yep, we would have stuffed you by 50 points!”

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