Rory Underwood: 1993, the Lions in New Zealand

In 1993, the 2nd Test of the Lions tour to New Zealand was a vital one for us, as we had lost the 1st Test to a dubious penalty in the final minute of the match, and therefore needed to win to keep the series alive. We started well into the wind at Wellington and turned around at half-time in the lead 7-9, due to a couple of penalties from Gavin Hastings and a drop goal from Rob Andrew. The crucial moment in the match, that saw us pull away from the All Blacks, came when a rare mistake by Sean Fitzpatrick saw him fumble a pass which fell at the feet of Dewi Morris. Dewi picked it up and swept down the blind side and fed Jerry Guscott, who in his inimitable style and class, timed his pass to perfection to draw John Kirwan and set me away down the left touchline.

As soon as I had hung onto Jerry's pass and tucked it under my left arm, I pinned my ears back and ran as if my life depended on it. At this point I was just crossing the half way line and remember seeing out of the corner of my eye the whole of our bench jumping up and down shouting – it sounded very much like “Run Rory, run!”. Once I felt clear of John Kirwan, I was conscious of John Timu covering across from full back and so concentrated on the try line willing it to arrive and remember thinking how important this try was for the match, and for the series. I knew that as soon as I could, I had to dive and score as soon as I could. When I thought the time was right, I launched myself into the air for the line however, trying to ‘dive long’ with only one arm, with the other holding the ball, didn’t do anything for the aesthetics of the dive. Whilst the scoring of  the try was the undoubtedly the most important part of this story, the pictures of my ‘dive’ that were seen in all the sports reports of the match, would not have scored highly for artistic impression.

The postscript to my sporting memory involves my England team mate, Brian Moore. Whilst Gavin Hastings was preparing for the conversion, the inevitable friendly congratulatory comments from the ranks of All Blacks supporters in the massive Millard Stand increased in volume and as we all walked back to the half way line to get ready for the restart, we were greeted by a salvo of beer cans and bottle. They all landed harmlessly beside us on the pitch however, one landed right beside Brian Moore with a clear thud, it was a full one! He proceeded to pick it up, crack it open, take a swig and toasted the crowd which drew a tumultuous roar from the whole of the Millard Stand. A few minutes later at a subsequent scrum, Sean Fitzpatrick was heard to exclaim incredulously, ”Who the hell’s been drinking beer?”

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