Wood’s snarl wins first battle for Telfer’s pack

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

Iconic Rugby Pictures: PART 30

Fearless Lions roar into first scrum on Boks tour

June 21, 1997

What’s happening here?

It’s June 21, 1997 and very early in the first Test between South Africa and the Lions. It’s the much anticipated first scrum of the game and all eyes are on the two front rows. Trying to hold back the combatants is New Zealand referee Colin Hawke. In the red corner we have Tom Smith, Keith Wood and the wholly obscured Paul Wallace; in the green and gold we can see Adrian Garvey while wrapped under this left arm is hooker Naka Drotske. The mighty Os du Randt is an unseen presence on the loosehead. Let battle commence.

What’s the story behind this picture?

How long have you got? You could write a book on the events leading up to this moment of time but let me give you the brief edited highlights.

First there is the overall narrative. Playing the Boks in South Africa you have absolutely no chance unless you can match them up front and everything in the forwards starts at scrum-time. Anchored by Du Randt, the Boks had been comfortably the strongest scrummaging team in Test rugby since they won the World Cup in 1995.

Now let’s turn to the specific circumstances of this tour. In their first big provincial game the Lions pack and front row had come off second best against Western Province at Newlands even though they managed to win the game. There had to be a rapid rethink in personnel, style and attitude or else all would be lost.

So three days later came the famous Jim Telfer scrummaging session at training in Pretoria which we, the travelling Press corps, watched opened-mouthed barely a yard away. The 97 Lions under Sir Ian McGeechan and Telfer enjoyed a fantastic relationship with the media and we were privileged front row spectators to a now mythical chapter in Lions history. We could hear all the grunts, smell the sweat, feel the heat and hear the curses of pain and fatigue. Telfer wanted to broadcast the message loud and clear that things had to change and the Lions were on the case.

So we watched 43 scrums in 40 minutes against the unforgiving Rhino scrum machine that former England lock Nigel Horton had been driving all around South Africa for the Lions’ use. It pushed back at the Lions pack with 2.5 tonnes of pressure and, unlike a normal opposition scrum, there was no give, no manoeuvring to get into a more comfortable position, no momentary easing of the pressure.

Occasionally, to simulate match conditions, Telfer would order his charges to sprint 30 yards to where he had placed some tackle bags and then sprint back to the infernal machine. It was like a war zone when the session ended, combatants nearly passing out with fatigue but there was also a tangible feeling of euphoria.

Telfer occasionally swapped the players around but the observant soon realised that those doing the majority of the scrummaging was his new “first choice pack”. He was going for the squad’s two smallest, shortest props – Smith and Wallace – in an attempt to get the Boks scrummaging out of their comfort zone. Neither had been tipped to start the Test matches but stuff happens on tour and now they were centre stage.

“Wood is in another world, mentally he is back in Pretoria. He has no fear”

What happened next?

Although the Lions lost a few days later against Northern Transvaal the scrum started to noticeably improve and in the final two matches ahead of the first Test -Natal and the Emerging Springboks – it was totally dominant.

More than that, an unbreakable bond of trust and respect had been forged between Telfer and his forwards who had uncomplainingly been to hell and back for him in that Pretoria session. The canny Scot knew, however, that the biggest challenge of all lay ahead in the first Test. The Boks would be looking to destroy them at scrum-time but turn that on its head and the Lions might just prevail.

That of course is the background to Telfer’s incredible, blood curdling, inspirational Everest speech which he had delivered to this set of Lions forwards the evening before the game in a quiet corner of the team room at the Holiday Inn at Newlands.

Why is this picture Ionic?

Just look at Keith Wood’s snarling face bristling with confrontation and ambition. BRING IT ON. You feel like Telfer’s words are still ringing in his ears from the night before. It gives me goose bumps every time I look at it. Garvey, rather than concentrating wholly on his opposite number – Smith – has just glanced at Wood out of the corner of his eye and I rather suspect it put the fear of God in him. Wood is in another world, mentally he is back in Pretoria. He has no fear. Nothing will ever be harder than Pretoria. This was the crucial moment psychologically and mentally in the entire Test series and the Lions are winning it hands down.

Footnote: The Lions scrum held firm all game and the tourists’ superior fitness saw them home with two late tries. A week later against an even more pumped-up and physical Boks pack it was again rock solid and provided the foundation for the Lions’ amazing back-to-the-walls victory that clinched the series.