Richard Hill: Wales v. England, 1987 Five Nations

For those who do not understand the rivalry between England and Wales back in the 80s and particularly between Bath Rugby and the Welsh clubs across the border, you will not understand therefore why there was NO WAY that I wanted my son to be born in Cardiff!!

I therefore told my wife that she would have to stay at home and watch the International on the TV instead of taking the trip along the M4 and across the Severn Bridge into Wales. I did not want to take the chance that the excitement of the game would bring on the birth of my son a day early.

So Karen stayed at home. The match was the usual blood bath with fights from the first minute to the last. Bob Norster the Wales lock, aimed an elbow at a line-out at one of our forwards but hit his own man instead and then Wade Dooley charged 20m to punch Phil Davies square in the face. A standard England v Wales match.

I was captain on the day and the RFU held me responsible for the violence. The day after the game I received a phone call from the RFU to tell me that I was to be stripped of the captaincy for having incited the England team to violence. You can imagine the huge disappointment and the hammer blow I suffered after this phone call.

However all was not bad in the end !!……………I soon recovered my good spirits when my wife gave birth to Joshua on Sunday 17th March, a few hours after that awful phone call. Joshua was born an Englishman in Bath!!

Add a comment