South Africa Memories: Paul Hull and the 1994 tour

I’d been around the England squad for four years and had been on the outer 1991 World Cup squad, but it was a tough team to get into at that time. There weren’t that many international matches and you could literally reel off the starting XV, with the likes of Will Carling, Jerry Guscott, Rob Andrew and the Underwoods, Tony and Rory, in the backline. But when Geoff Cooke stepped down as manager and Jack Rowell took over, he wanted to play a slightly different brand of rugby – more of a running game – and that gave me and backs like Phil de Glanville an opportunity.
Being named in the squad for that tour was really exciting. I’ve always enjoyed playing away from home and I’d always thrived in intimidating environments. There were some unbelievably brutal games in South Africa but I loved it. They were hard grounds, good to run on, and because South Africans like to kick the ball a lot, I was always in the game.
The other big thing, of course, was that Nelson Mandela had just been elected as president and we were due to meet him at the first Test in Pretoria. Being black myself, I didn’t know what to expect in South Africa when we were going for a drink, walking on the beach or whatever, but I can honestly say I loved the country because everyone was so friendly.
Rugby is a massive leveller in that respect and everyone I came into contact with was superb. Yes, I got the odd comment from the stands when I was on the pitch playing, but generally speaking I really enjoyed my tour, plus I got my first cap and played well.
We played four warm-up matches prior to the first Test and they were fierce. I’d never experienced anything as brutal or physically demanding as that before. We only won one of those games so our backs were against the wall, but I remember Will Carling saying: “Don’t worry, come the Test match the boys will raise their game.” And we did.
We’d been acclimatising as a group while the South Africans hadn’t played a touring side for a while, so by the time we arrived in Pretoria we were ready to go. We hit them hard early on and scored something like 18 or 20 points unanswered in the first 25 minutes. Rob Andrew kicked everything and every bounce of the ball went our way that day.
It was a pretty inspiring occasion and the thing I remember most is lining up on the pitch for about 15 minutes before the game started. There were three national anthems – God Save The Queen and two South African ones – there were fly-pasts by helicopters and planes, and then we were presented to Nelson Mandela, which is ingrained in my memory bank.
It was an unbelievable environment to be in, and to win that first Test capped a wonderful day. The second Test was a lot more brutal and we lost that one 27-9, but to make my international debut in South Africa was very special. I was lucky it happened on a tour that meant so much for so many different reasons and I’ll treasure those memories.