My Life in Rugby: Eric Peters – Former Bath, Harlequins and Scotland No.8
Wales kicked long and Rob Wainwright fielded it on our 22; Gavin Hastings was next in line as the ball went from right to left and he passed it on to Doddie Weir, who drew Ieaun Evans in to give Kenny Logan a free run up the line. Kenny cut back inside only to find that a couple of supporting runners had been taken out off the ball. But when he was tackled he managed to pop a pass up to me just inside their 22 and I crossed the line to the left of the posts.
It was a great team score and continued our superb start to the 1995 Five Nations. We then beat Ireland, won in Paris for the first time in 26 years, before making it three from three against Wales. England narrowly denied us the Grand Slam but, all in all, it wasn’t a bad way for my international career to begin.
Later that year I played in three games at the World Cup. Having made it through to the knockout stages we changed our strategy when we played the All Blacks in the quarter-finals and tried to combat Lomu with a kicking game, but it didn’t work. I managed to score in both Tests against New Zealand on tour there the following year but I would have given both up for a win.
At this stage of my career I was playing for Bath, who I had joined from Cambridge University on the recommendation of Jack Rowell. Jack had coached me on an England Students tour and challenged me to break into a back-row that already had five internationals vying for three places.
At the time we probably had the best first and second team pack in the country which meant that the hardest session on the week was on Wednesday night. Whoever was left on the field was selected to play on the Saturday. It was a good learning curve – as was captaining Cambridge to victory in the 1992 Varsity Match, in front of a large crowd at Twickenham.
No-one wanted to be in the first Bath team to lose a cup final and that drove us all on. Thankfully, we managed to snatch victory against Leicester in the 1996 Pilkington Cup final when Steve Lander awarded us a penalty try.
We had some great battles with Leicester over that period. Unfortunately I shattered my knee cap in about eight places in a game against them at a time when I was playing the best rugby of my career. I’d captained Scotland and everything was going swimmingly until my knee cap collided with Tim Stimpson’s. It happened the week before the France game when we won the last Five Nations championship in 1999 and cost me the best part of two-and-a-half years.
During my rehabilitation I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. In some respects the fact I was injured was a good thing. I had a pain which I’d have normally attributed to a knock in training but as I hadn’t been doing any contact I knew it must be something else. I went to the doctor and they confirmed the worst but I can count my blessings they caught it early enough.
When I returned to fitness I joined Harlequins, who reached two cup finals while I was there. Sadly I didn’t play in either as I got a bang to my knee against Brive and was sidelined. I then joined Rotherham and we reached the Powergen Shield cup final. I caught the eye of the Scottish selectors and toured with them that summer but didn’t get capped and I knew that was my lot. I played one more season for Connacht and Galwegians before putting my attention into my ‘day job’ in real estate.
