Peter Jackson: Tragic Nick helps pal Huw keep injury in perspective

Sometime on Wednesday morning Huw Bennett will bow his head and remember the day they buried his friend in a churchyard near the Thames.
The Welshman’s memory will take him back exactly ten years, to February 27, 2003, when the great and the good came to St. Michael’s Church in Bray to pay their last respects to Nick Duncombe. His death from meningitis at the age of 21 will forever endure as one of the tragedies of the game.
Bennett will recall how they met, improbably so for a boy from Ebbw Vale as members of the same England Schools team from the age of 15.    During their three years together, they became big pals, so much so that when they went their separate ways to pursue professional careers on opposite sides of Offa’s Dyke they made a pact.
Duncombe, according to those aware of his exceptional ability, was always going to play for England and sooner rather than later.  Bennett, grateful for the opportunities the English schools’ game gave him, was always going to make it in the red of  Wales or not at all.
The bargain they struck followed their last match in tandem for England U18s, against Wales at Chester in March 2000. England, with more than a little help from their Welsh hooker, won 31-15 but only after a 20-minute delay caused by a serious injury to Duncombe.
He had, in fact, broken his neck. By rights, his career ought to have ended there and then, not that Duncombe had any intention of taking it lying down, so to speak. It was during his rehabilitation that Bennett got in touch.
“Like the rest of the England players, Nick knew I was Welsh and that there was only one international team I wanted to play for,” Bennett said. “We’d been good friends for a few years and we ended that conversation by making a promise that if we ever played in the same Wales-England match, we’d always make a point of swapping jerseys. Unfortunately, that never came about.’
Duncombe made it into the Test arena within days of turning 20.   Despite a first-class experience then restricted to no more than four matches for Harlequins, he replaced an injured Kyran Bracken for the entire second half  during a thumping 29-3 win over Scotland at Murrayfield.
He then appeared for the last two minutes against Ireland but, by the time Wales conceded 50 points at Twickenham at the end of that Six Nations campaign in 2002, the new boy had been replaced on the bench by Matt Dawson’s return from injury. Duncombe died eleven months later.
Five years elapsed before Wales went back to HQ with Bennett in their team, a pre-World Cup match in baking heat which coach Gareth Jenkins badly misjudged by sending a virtual second XV whom England put to the sword to the tune of 62-5. Despite the roasting, Bennett did not forget his promise to Duncombe.
He posted his Wales jersey to Nick’s parents in Royal Berkshire, along with an explanatory note. “I had been very friendly with the whole family, I’d stayed at Nick’s house a few times and I thought it was the least I could do,” Bennett says. “I didn’t want to bring back old memories but I wanted them to know what I thought of Nick.
“Had he lived, I am sure he’d have played many, many more times for England. I was a year younger but we hit it off right away and became good friends.”
Bennett, as Welsh as his native Ebbw Vale, played for England Schoolboys after winning a scholarship to Bryanston in Dorset. He and Duncombe started at U16 level and were still together for that fateful, final match at Chester three years later.
“The match was a bit weird because you had all these people in Welsh accents, my relatives, cheering on a Welsh boy in a white shirt,” Bennett says. “I don’t suppose that made a lot of sense but everything went well for us until Nick broke his neck.
“I just remember him going for the try line and being hit by a big tackle,” Bennett says. “It was horrible to see him lying there. I visited him in hospital and he told me he might not play again. Recovering from that and playing again as though nothing much had happened showed you the kind of person Nick was.
“The possibilities as to what he could have achieved were limitless. Like everyone else, I was stunned and shocked when I heard the news that he’d died.  It was such a tragedy. There must have been five or six hundred at the funeral and so many renowned rugby players.  That told you how special he was…”
Bennett has suffered a setback in the fight to save his career and cure a heel injury which has prevented him from playing since the home win over Scotland this time last year. It leaves the World Cup hooker little option but to write the season off.
He joined Lyon at the end of last season on a two-year contract and has been undergoing radiotheraphy treatment. “I go to a centre where people are seriously ill,” he says. “I’m there as a rugby player. It puts everything into perspective and I can see that whenever I think of Nick.
“I’ve been blessed. I have three lovely children and I’ve played 51 times for Wales. Obviously, there are times when I get very frustrated but I don’t think of anything like retirement. I see myself as way too young for that…”
As for Nick Duncombe, a life-size bronze statue of him at The Stoop ensures that he will never be forgotten as long as Harlequins play the game.