Sporting Bygones: Tears of his 1980 team-mates illustrated to Davies just what being a Lion means to players

When he reflects on his time with the Lions, one of the more striking memories for Gareth Davies is not the matches he played, not the injury that cut short his tour and neither is it the feeling of enormous pride he had when he took his seat on the plane bound for South Africa.
Gareth Davies pictured in his heydayGareth Davies pictured in his heyday
Gareth Davies pictured in his heyday

What he recalls most vividly is the feeling when, just two days after suffering a knee injury in the second Test in Bloemfontein, he left his team-mates to fight on against the Springboks without him.

“On the Monday morning as we were about to leave Bloemfontein, all the lads gathered in reception,” recalls Davies, who was one of a handful of players headed home early.

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“Half the guys were crying, and that is one of the things that has stuck with me.

“Because it showed how close we had all become as a team.”

Such a tight bond between a Welshman and English players, as well as Scots and Irish, had seemed unfathomable nearly two months earlier when the British and Irish Lions departed for their marathon two-month tour of South Africa in 1980.

“Earlier that year the Wales-England game was a big bloodbath,” continues Davies, a fly-half with Wales for seven years.

“It was famous because Paul Ringer got sent off and a lot of naughty things went off in that game.

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“That was the dirtiest game I ever played in. The whole atmosphere was bad.

“Normally things happen on the park that you forget about over a couple of beers afterwards, but even into the evening there was a feeling of animosity, and quite rightly because there were some nasty things that went on.

“So it was an interesting scenario when we met up for the Lions because Wales and England provided most players for the tour.

“But once we met in London everything was forgotten. Because at the end of the day, once you know you have to gel, there is also a feeling of mutual respect.

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“And on a personal note, this was a chance for me to play with Colin Patterson, Jim Renwick and Bill Beaumont – all big names who I didn’t play against that often.”

Beaumont was the Lions’ captain that year, taking charge of a team that wanted to put past differences behind them to ensure they clicked in the southern hemisphere.

A split dressing room can kill a Lions tour, just as it did in 2001 and again in ‘05, and is somethng Warren Gatland will be mindful to avoid as his team continue their tour to Australia this week.

Davies adds: “What they did on our trip was roomed us with guys from different countries, so you automatically make that effort. And that worked.

“You are mindful of the fact that you have to fit in.

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“I don’t suspect these guys get homesick any more, such is the amount of travelling nowadays. But for us it was unique and some people struggled being away from families and work etc.

“I was in a position where my employer paid me. Twenty-four games with a 10-day build-up I was due to be away for. I was away for seven or eight weeks before getting injured. When you get injured you don’t hang around.

“That journey back home was a long one, knowing the pinnacle of your career has been cut short.”

Davies, who played for Cardiff, had been in the Wales team for two years when he got the call to represent the Lions on tour.

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Making the Lions’ squad then was the pinnacle of a career, just as it is now for the 37 men charged with winning the 2013 renewal Down Under.

The 1980s representatives won all their midweek and warm-up games, but came up short in the first three Test matches with the Springboks, before winning their closing game in Pretoria.

“That whole tour we should have gone unbeaten, but we were riddled with injuries,” says Davies.

“Fran Cotton had a heart issue, Terry Holmes got injured, I got injured, our only openside flanker Stuart Lane got injured within 30 seconds of the tour. And that just summed it up.”

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The career high for Davies would also precipitate the beginning of the end of his life in rugby.

His right knee has never been the same since that second Test.

Even now, as Dean of the Carnegie Faculty at Leeds Metropolitan University and a board member at Leeds Carnegie, the scar still remains.

“I missed out on the ‘83 tour because of my knee,” adds Davies, who retired from playing in the late 1980s. “I could play but I couldn’t train and I’ve had about six operations on it since.

“Now I’m in my 50s it’s okay, for golf anyway. I can still get round Moortown...not very well, mind.”