England Saints Talk to the Saints Faithful about the Rugby World Cup

It hadn’t been a great day – Northampton Saints may have beaten Borders but the Saints faithful knew it was one point lost rather than 4 points gained.  Yet spirits were brightened by four players, who gave us an uplifting hour, by sharing their experiences of the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Matt Dawson, Ben Cohen, Steve Thompson and Paul ‘Larry’ (“What is the second line?”) Grayson answered Saints supporters’ questions with remarkable eloquence and openness.  Sportsmen are not known for their public speaking ability but these four showed a remarkable grasp!

There was plenty said – some of it best left in the room and most particularly the answer to the question put to an embarrassed Daws – “Do you and Wilko have a code word…?”. The answer is yes and the people in that bar know the answer!

Ben Cohen was put on the spot regarding his lack of try scoring in the final– “How did you feel when Wilko’s pass went to Billy rather than you?” – his response whilst laughing  “well that was when the thought crossed my mind – ‘I am, I am going to score a try in the world cup final’ and then the b…… passed it left”.  Later on he was asked about Daws fluffed chip kick – “That was the second time in the match I thought I was going to score, I had a clear run to the line. I think you could all tell by lip reading the grief I gave Daws but I felt guilty about it by half-time”. His story then took a twist when two weeks later Daws declared that –‘”You know that pass wasn’t on, but it was a s… kick!”.

Andre Watson’s refereeing came in for some examination – Wally described it as the most frustrating time he’d ever had in an international scrum. England were so dominant yet they couldn’t make it count.  His first thought when Watson gave that penalty was that he had to run around the pitch for another 20 minutes! 

The move that led up to the Wilkinson drop-goal was entirely planned – even Wally’s throw-in (Wally jokingly asked the chap who suggested that it was just a bad throw, to step outside).  The plan was clear – to get Wilko as close as possible. They didn’t play for the penalty even though all four players thought there were plenty that could have been given.

Interestingly, there wasn’t players’ court for those that such as Ben Kay and the dropped ball – ‘We just went on a 20 hour bender” explained Larry, who went on to explain that his Mum is now really proud that her son has now appeared on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald – falling out of a police car!

There was plenty of discussion of the 2001 Lions Tour – unsurprisingly, Daws was first to give his assessment – he wasn’t complimentary and neither was Ben Cohen – ‘I hated every minute’.  Both Daws and Larry ruled themselves out of the 2005 trip and even Ben showed some reticence – it really is going to be important for him who is going to be the next coach (of both teams – he wants to take on a backline coached by Wayne Smith – not something the Saints supporters wanted to hear!).

Daws was asked whether he had stayed in touch with Austin Healey – he explained that he and Austin were old mates and he made a point of keeping in touch via text messages – “Winner”, “Medal”, “Loser”.

The final word has to go to Wally when asked which was better ‘Winning the world cup final or your girlfriend’s hand in marriage?” – “Easy!” he replied, “Winning the world cup!” – and then Larry pointed out the TV cameras and a look of horror appeared on the big man’s face – perhaps we know the real answer!

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