I made my first senior club appearance as a starter away vs Newcastle Falcons in 2001.
I was not scheduled to play that day, but a player pulled out sick on the morning of the game. Jim Mallinder, my DOR at the time, rang my hotel room phone and informed me that I was playing with the immortal words “cometh the hour, cometh the man!” and promptly hung up.
I was rooming with a very experienced Kevin Yates who informed me that this probably meant that I was playing.
I don’t remember much else of the day besides the initial kick off where a young fly half named Jonny Wilkinson hoisted the restart to a height that I had never seen before.
Thankfully it landed on the other side of the field…
Memory added on July 4, 2021
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