My Life in Rugby: Paul Dodge – former Lions, England and Leicester centre

When I first started playing for Leicester at the grand old age of 17 we were lucky to get 200-300 people watching, and at Welford Road that’s not many at all. But then we reached four cup finals in a row, losing the first in 1978 to Gloucester before winning the next three. Things really took off from there. All of a sudden we were playing in front of 5-6,000.
My 1st XV Tigers debut was a televised game away to Bedford, the then cup holders. I was partnered that day by Brian Hall who went on to captain Leicester for a few seasons. A couple of years later Clive Woodward came along. I think we complemented each other very well. Clive was a very unpredictable player who could win games on his own whereas I was probably the steady one in that midfield, holding things together between fly-half Les Cusworth and Clive. It was a good back line to play in as the coach Chalkie White encouraged us to express ourselves.
We won the inaugural Courage League title in the 1987/88 season. Bath were top dogs at the time but we’d been on a pre-season tour to Australia and really hit the ground running. Our only loss came away to Orrell. I remember we arrived at Edge Hall Road early and went onto the pitch to warm up for half an hour before kick-off. Nowadays that’s normal practice but back then our usual pre-match routine was to have a cup of tea in the changing room. We were hopeless. Suffice to say the experiment was not repeated for a while.
I’d retired from international rugby by then, at the age of 27, having won the last of my 32 England caps on the 1985 tour to New Zealand. Some people felt that I’d retired too early but I didn’t think I was playing to my best ability anymore.
My England debut came against Wales on a rainy day at Twickenham in 1978. I think I touched the ball once. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the occasion. It was Gareth Edwards’ 50th cap which is how I remember it. To play against that Welsh team, as a lad who grew up in the early Seventies when Wales were in their pomp, was just fantastic for me.
Two years later came the Grand Slam. I wasn’t selected for the first two games but came back in for the 9-8 win over Wales, which kept us on track for a first Grand Slam in 23 years. It was a beautiful, sunny day as we headed to Murrayfield for our final game. The pitch was immaculate, as it always was due to the undersoil heating, and we raced into a 19-3 half-time lead. Scotland came back at us hard and it was only in the last ten minutes, when John Carleton completed his hat-trick, that the game was safe.
I think for a lot of the very experienced players like Fran Cotton, Roger Uttley and Tony Neary it was the last chance for the team to fulfil their potential, and it all just seemed to click. It’s fair to say a good couple of nights was had by all, and I’ll never forget the train journey home with all the supporters.
Later that year I toured South Africa with the Lions as a late replacement for injured Welsh centre Dai Richards and I played in the final two Tests, the last of which was won in Pretoria. Further success against Southern Hemisphere opposition followed, against Australia in 1982 – the game made famous by the streaker Erica Roe – and then against New Zealand, at Twickenham the following year. Four or five of us had beaten the All Blacks ten days earlier while playing for the Midlands and that gave us confidence going into the international.
It was a tough game but we managed to hang on for a narrow victory after Maurice Colclough’s early try. It was great to beat them because they don’t lose many games so to have on your CV that you’ve beaten them not once but twice – all in the space of 10 days – is fantastic.
On retiring from playing, I’ve served Leicester as first a backs coach to the 1st XV, then youth team coach and now as club president.
It’s great to be able to ‘meet and greet’ old friends and enjoy the hospitality but given a choice I’d still rather be watching games from my usual vantage point high up in the gantry of the Goldsmiths Stand.
JON NEWCOMBE