I had manufactured an opportunity to go and play rugby in Durban during the off season. This was conceived on one of those bleak afternoons sitting at my desk in Wellingborough, working for Connell Wilson. Andre Joubert had given me his number from the Hong Kong Sevens, and I called and asked him whether there […]
You go to heaven if you want, I would rather stay here
This time the call to go on the trip was from Tim Rodber, our club captain. It was complete fortune that I had been invited to go on this trip. The original invite to play in the Easter Rugby Classic in Bermuda had been extended to Rob Andrew, the England and Wasps fly-half. The match […]
Unrivalled landscapes
1992 had been a great year, but 1993 was the most disciplined year that I have ever had. I returned to university and accepted that if I wanted to become a chartered surveyor then I had to put my degree first. Ironically, I also played some of my best rugby and discovered a side to […]
From Mumbles to a Maori
My relationship with the Barbarians was to continue for many years. There was a saying that if you were invited to play for the Barbarians and you turned it down then you would never get the chance to play for them again. A white invitation similar to one for a drinks reception would be posted […]
The Barbarian Football Club
The next England Students game was against France Students at Toulose University. As an impoverished student, the experiences of this weekend were remarkable. Imagine a weekend where you stay overnight in a top hotel in London, before flying to Toulouse to play a student international; you have a night out and then board a plane […]
Life after the bright lights
The next challenge in the rugby hurdle was to ensure I got picked to play against England in the World Cup warm-up match in September 1991. It is very odd to think that the full England side would have played England Students as a curtain raiser before the biggest tournament in the sport. The last […]
The travels of an impoverished student
The first trip that I went on was to Lisbon with an invitation side called the Saltires, whose roots, as the name would suggest, were in Scotland. In those days you would get a call out of the blue and board a plane, not even knowing the team you were going to play with. The […]
From the ultimate high to the ultimate low
Although I didn’t realise it at the time, this would be the last traditional Thorneycroft and Allen family Christmas. Christmas was a huge occasion for the Thorneycrofts and Allens, and it was never to be the same again. For twenty-one years I had been part of a close knit family where my parents, grandparents, uncles, […]
International jet setter
That summer I travelled to two new countries. I visited Namibia and Canada back-to-back with only two hours and a shower at Heathrow between flights. Before my departure to Namibia I was introduced to my mentor at The Saints, Tony Hewitt, who lived in Holcot. Rugby was amateur, but the club operated a mentoring system […]
Dutch courage
I cannot explain why I decided to leave Northampton Saints in the summer of 1989 and join Nottingham Rugby Club. It remains one of the worst personal decisions I have ever made and one of the best rugby decisions that I have ever made. I knew from the moment I walked into the changing rooms […]
