Text-book Worsley, the tackle machine

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

What’s happening here?

It’s October 6, 2007 on a baking hot Saturday afternoon at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille where England are playing the old enemy Australia in the World Cup quarterfinal. Tackling machine Joe Worsley had come on as a replacement and lands yet another text-book tackle on Aussie hooker Stephen Moore as England start imposing a stranglehold on the game in the second half.

What’s the story behind the picture?

England’s campaign in 2007 initially seemed ill-starred even though they entered the tournament as champions. Following the departure of Sir Clive Woodward in 2004 Andy Robinson had endured a difficult and sometimes unlucky spell as head coach and was replaced in December 2006 by Brian Ashton. A middling Six Nations campaign followed.

The big plus was the return to England action of Jonny Wilkinson against Scotland, his first England appearance since the 2003 World Cup final but the lingering memories were of a painful 43-13 thumping against Ireland at Croke Park and a comprehensive 27-18 defeat against Wales in the final game.

England travelled to RWC2007 as an outside bet and did nothing to alter that impression in their pool when, after a scrappy win over the USA they were crushed 36-0 by South Africa at the Stade de France, one of the alltime nadir’s in English rugby.

They bounced back a little after that with a 44-22 win over Samoa – Worsley to the fore at openside flanker – and then finished off with a 36-20 win against Tonga. But if you scan the papers ahead of the Aussie quarterfinal you won’t find anybody predicting an England win.

In their previous two encounters England, on tour, had been thumped 34-3 by the Aussies in Sydney and 43-18 in the second Test in Melbourne. It all looked a bit grim. England rugby obituaries were being penned, the fall from grace from 2003 was about to be complete.

What happened next?

England had one of their great days, pouring on the power and dominating the forward battle. Preying on that lingering thought that Australia were always vulnerable in the front row, the England trio of Andrew Sheridan, Mark Regan and skipper Phil Vickery started the dismantling of the Aussie pack and the rest of the England forwards, including Worsley when he came on, followed suit.

Jonny kicked four penalties and perverse, as it may sound, there has rarely been a more comfortable 12-10 win in the history of the game. England were pretty much in total control. A week later they repeated the exercise against hosts France at the Stade de France which meant that five weeks after they were thrashed 36-0 by South Africa the two teams met again in the final.

Why is the picture iconic?

I’ve always found this image striking on a couple of levels. First it’s an absolutely perfect example of destructive low tackling, against a player who is himself ducking low, the type of tackle all the coaches are now teaching again. Or at least should be.

There was a reason why tackling low for the legs became the fashion for long decades. When done well, it is much safer for the ball carrier and tackler.

Rugby is intrinsically a highly physical, dangerous game. Low tackling was developed for a reason.

But it’s more than that. Worsley’s face is invisible, he is an anonymous silent assassin and tackling machine who expects no public recognition. An unidentified toiler at the coalface, always rolling up his sleeves putting in the hard yards. And he is executing this world class skill as a replacement. In a strange way this acts as a metaphor for his criminally unheralded career. Can any English player ever have won 78 Test caps to less acclaim and veneration?

Even contending for a place in the England back row was an achievement in those days of plenty. Worsley was often used as an uncomplaining replacement – 27 of his caps were off the bench – despite being a stellar talent in his own right that many nations would have killed for.

Worsley gave three of the greatest individual performances of their type I have witnessed. There were the two Heineken Cup finals that Wasps won – he also won four Premierships with his one and only club – while there was an away tie one year at Castres which Wasps had to win to progress out of the pool when he tackled himself into a stupor. He was still trembling like he’d been in a car crash 20 minutes later when we interviewed him.

Footnote. Worsley again came off the bench for England and made a big impact in the 2007 semi-final. With England leading 11-9, he stopped the dangerous Vincent Clerc with a lastditch ankle tap when the French wing looked clean away. He missed out on a starting spot in the final itself, making just a cameo appearance off the bench at the end. In 2009 he played a big hand in the Lions superb 28-9 win over the Boks at Ellis Park in the final Test.