What was up with the All Blacks during their 1983 Autumn tour?

I was just looking at footage of England's victory over New Zealand at Twickenham in 1983, mainly to see who was in the team that day. I must have watched this game at the time, but I really can't remember much about it



The All Blacks had whitewashed a disappointing Lions side only a few months earlier so you wouldn't think a tour of England and Scotland would have presented too many problems. It actually looks like it was one of their least successful tours. They didn't win either Test - Scotland held them to a 25-25 draw - and also lost to the Midlands along the way.

Since there are quite a few forum members who are familiar with the game in New Zealand, I wonder if anyone has any insights into what went wrong on this tour.

The first thing which stands out is the tight schedule they had:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_New_Zealand_rugby_union_tour_of_Scotland_and_England

I seem to recall Stu Wilson refusing to use that as an excuse but all the divisional matches in England looked like they were quite competitive affairs, which would have tested squad depth.

Any idea why the All Blacks were very off-colour (by their standards)? It's not as if England and Scotland were in fine form in that period.

We usually play crap against England in years ending with 2 or 3.

I had forgotten that Nick Youngs had played in that game.

I imagine England were just the better team on the day.

GloriousEmpire wrote:I imagine England were just the better team on the day.

There's no question they were.

What's more interesting is that, listening to Gareth Edwards and Nigel Starmer-Smith in the commentary, it's clear there was widespread belief that England had their best chance in years to beat the All Blacks at Twickenham.

That belief wouldn't have stemmed from recent international results - England didn't win a match in the 1983 Five Nations, and few of our players did anything of note during the Lions Tour.

It would have only developed because the All Black touring side suddenly looked very beatable after struggling midweek and only managing a draw against Scotland (who had finished the Five Nations second last, ahead of England).

There were no Aucklanders in the team, I know its hard to believe but its true.

aucklandlaurie wrote:There were no Aucklanders in the team, I know its hard to believe but its true.

true...the hangover from the 70s lasted till 83 at least, a terrible 13 years...

From memory, which may easily be be faulty, the All Blacks had their first-choice backs and loosies available for that tour, but for various reasons, none of the main men from the front five came over. No Dalton, Knight, Haden, Whetton or Ashworth, who had helped to bulldoze the Lions a few months previously.

The ABs were duly done up front by England, for whom Colclough scored a try and a Bath flanker called Paul Simpson, making his debut, was probably man of the match. Think the NZ front five included Brian McGrattan, who was an old school mate of a couple of Kiwi chums of mine. I asked my friends about McGrattan a few years later and one of them said: "Grats...not that great a prop - and by far the thickest bloke in the school!"

Wouldn't have wanted to bet that England would have beaten a full-strength AB side that day. Scotland were a much better team than England at the time and should also have won against the ABs; you have to remember that it was about four months before the Scots won the Slam. England, by contrast, were in the middle of a run in which they won two 5 Nations games out of a possible twelve and were basically as bad as I've ever seen them.

captain carrantuohil wrote: "Grats...not that great a prop - and by far the thickest bloke in the school!"

Good to see our existing selection policies were in force even back then. 

I am old enough to remember that game. But in all honesty i cannot remember it. But having watched the way they used to scrum back then. Well surely it was a mutch safer way back then, than it is now.?

I asked the same question to a Kiwi friend of mine and he thinks Stu Wilson's captaincy might have been an issue.

Wilson was a highly respected player but liked to be friends with everyone. This line of thinking suggests that Wilson was unsuited to cracking the whip when the tour started to unwind, and the team didn't step up in intensity as the Tests loomed.

He also mentioned that the tour was arranged on the hurry-up because an original plan to go to Argentina had to be cancelled. I don't know if that affected the make-up of the tour party in any way.

The other odd aspect of this tour for me is that I completely forgot the Midlands beat the All Blacks.

Bill Beaumont was carried off on the crowd's shoulders when the North of England beat the All Blacks in 1979. Munster and Llanelli's wins are also remembered fondly but that Midlands win has left hardly a trace.

Going slightly away from the topic 1983, what's even stranger is that the All Black side which famously lost to Llanelli during the 1972-3 tour, actually went on to lose to two English regional sides. North Western Counties and Midland Counties (West) both got wins, Until then, the All Blacks had never lost to a non-test English team.

ESPN has an account of the North West Counties match:

http://www.espn.co.uk/england/rugby/story/171855.html

Moseley Rugby Club has a page on the Midland Counties (West) match:

http://www.moseleyrugby.co.uk/report_display12.php?menitem=140

Perhaps those English wins don't resonate as much because the teams don't really have an existence or fan base outside these matches. The fact the North's win in 1979 is remembered more seems something of an anomaly.

Rugby Fan wrote:
Perhaps those English wins don't resonate as much because the teams don't really have an existence or fan base outside these matches. The fact the North's win in 1979 is remembered more seems something of an anomaly.

In the main Divisional rugby has never really taken off in England - I remember attending a North v London match at the Met Police grounds. If us northern fans had left there would only have been the dog left watching.

As to the 1979 win, well I think that still resonates because:

a) The post match celebrations, which in part were largely caused by the massive chip on our shoulders that the blazers at RFU would rather select well spoken, jolly nice chaps from the Home Counties than any of us cap wearing, whippet owning tykes.
b) That win was seen as the catalyst for the 1980 GS.

All Teams have down periods the All Blacks after mastering the 3-4-1 scrum courtesy of
Dr.Danie Craven.Had a period of 20 years of great success 1950-70 losing only 11 tests and one series in that period.
By 1970 NH Coaching standards had overtaken the SH the AllBlacks game plan had changed
running backs,mobile Forwards especially loose ones were order of the day.
The Greats had gone,the grafters gone,result,series losses to Lions and Boks twice,a cataclysmic tour of Europe 1972-3.a loss to England etc.
The 1980`s up to 1983 was somewhat like the ABs during Graham Henry`s rotation period
great backs and loosies.but not so much in the Tight 5.
An AB side toured Australia and Fiji losing the series 2-1 and to Queensland,also played Australia and won 2-1 and 1-0.Unbeaten tours to America,Scotland.Wales a nd
a Tour to France and Rumania.Losing to a French selection side and drawing with another
but winning the Tests.[No small feat versus THAT Rumania side.
A Series win versus the Boks with the Waikato match being abandoned just before kick off.
Wins by Auckland,Canterbury,4-0 versus 1983 Lions.
The period produced great backs Rollerson,Fraser,Warwick Taylor,Stu Wilson,Dave Loveridge
Steve Pokere.Forwards Hobbs,Shaw,Mexted.Dalton.Knight,Ashworth,Haden etc.
THAT 1983 was a scratch side most of the established Tight Forwards missing and David Kirks first Tour.

There's a good gallery of photos taken at the 1983 match between the Midlands and the All Blacks:

http://www.colorsport.co.uk/galleries/rugby-union/the-midlands-defeat-the-all-blacks-in-1983

There's a very young Dean Richards in the team photo and an unsettling one where Les Cusworth seems to be holding a piece of paper in front of his todger.

The article says that seven of the Midlands team (Dodge, Hare, Woodward, Cusworth, Youngs, Wheeler and Pearce) featured in the England win.

Interesting footnote that Wheeler, who hadn't been selected for that year's Lions tour, managed to captain two sides to victory over the All Blacks a few months later.

Rugby Fan wrote:
Interesting footnote that Wheeler, who hadn't been selected for that year's Lions tour, managed to captain two sides to victory over the All Blacks a few months later.

Peter Wheeler had a lot of motivation for sure, as did Colin Deans who featured so prominently in the 84 GS. At least Wheeler could go on holiday in the Summer of 83, poor old Deans had to sit on the bench and watch probably the second worst player to captain the Lions.

The 83 win over the ABs was one of the rare times when the England selectors came close to picking the best team. Between the 1980 GS and the arrival of Geoff Cooke the team was changed regularly almost on a whim. Especially farcical was how important the Varsity match was for selection. As one of the few non-international televised matches Ihave to assume that the selectors saw very little live rugby.

I think they were actually 8 short in the first string side of the time. It was the amateur era and they'd recently been to the UK many had commitments. That's they way it goes. I suspect that for all his gifts Wilson probably wasn't great captain material.

blackcanelion wrote:I think they were actually 8 short in the first string side of the time. It was the amateur era and they'd recently been to the UK many had commitments. That's they way it goes. I suspect that for all his gifts Wilson probably wasn't great captain material.

I'm not sure the AB's were ever amateur in any sense of the word were they?

tigerleghorn wrote:

blackcanelion wrote:I think they were actually 8 short in the first string side of the time. It was the amateur era and they'd recently been to the UK many had commitments. That's they way it goes. I suspect that for all his gifts Wilson probably wasn't great captain material.

I'm not sure the AB's were ever amateur in any sense of the word were they?

I know. Kiwi rugby players have been "looked after" whilst living and playing in Europe playing rugby for over a hundred years.

Historically Springbok and All Blacks were run on Professional lines in the best sense.Coaches were standard at all levels from 1903.Schoolkids coached by AllBlack Fathers etc,BUT they
were never involved in Shamateurism.But by the late 1970`s sponsorship deals were in place
led by players like Andy Haden

Why do we have to assume that there's something 'up' with New Zealand when they lose Test matches?

Because it winds you up Cyril

But seriously it's staggering that you have to go back 30 years to find a poor AB your isn't it? And then astonishing that there are such evident mitigating factors

Ghostie, please stop trying to derail yet another thread with your wumming

Anyway, back on topic. I think it's one of the problems the NH face where we assume there has to be something wrong with New Zealand for our sides to have a chance to beat them.

This is a false premise and we really need to get around that. Some sides have (England in early 2000s, France on-and-off and England again last year).

Cyril wrote:Why do we have to assume that there's something 'up' with New Zealand when they lose Test matches?

It's not just that they lost one Test match, they were off form quite early on in the tour. It was surprising because Scotand and England weren't exactly shooting the lights out back then. Scotland did go on to claim a Grand Slam in the next Five Nations but that just points to the inconsistent standard of rugby in the North at the time. Ireland had been the best-placed Home Union side in the 1983 tournament, sent the biggest contingent on that year's Lions tour, and yet didn't win a match in in 1984 tournament.

What I'm beginning to realize is that, even allowing for their absentees, the All Black side of that era perhaps wasn't as accomplised as the whitewash of the Lions suggested. The "something up" might just be they weren't as good as I thought they were.

I don't tend to assume the world is off its axis when the All Blacks lose. France were clearly better when they beat them in New Zealand for the first time in 1979, and the same side which lost looked shaky again when they toured later that year. It was a near full-strength All Blacks team which lost to the North of England by the wide margin of 21-9. Sometimes New Zealand just don't have the players or tactics to win. They also lost the Bledisoe in 1979 and again Australia retained it the following year.

I'd like to look at some footage of that 1983 Lions tour again to see what form the All Blacks actually showed during the matches but I can't find any. I've seen a lot of clips of the '71, '74 and '77 tours and the ones from 1989 onwards are pretty well documented. However, it looks like 1983, and also the 1980 tour to South Africa, have disappeared into a black hole.

Hi My name is John Goodwin. I played on the wing that evening, I was 20yrs old. We did our homework, I acted as bait. They new I was relatively inexperienced and reckoned they would bombard me with box kicks from the base, which they duly did. We practiced all week and That was all that was expected of me. Peter wheeler if I recall, asked me to just, "catch the ******* ball and we'll be there for you". I made sure I wouldn't drop one because I was more afraid of Peter than the AB's. What I wasn't prepared for was the entire AB pack hitting me like a steamroller on steroids, but then the cavalry came: Deano, Vince Cannon, Gary Pearce etc and we held on.
Stu Wilson was opposite me on the wing, I remember thinking I've grown up marvelling at this guy, and now he's looking over at ME. Needless to say, I was fizzing with adrenalin, possibly because he fortunately chose that night to have the quietest game I ever saw him play. The hero of the night however, was one of the unsung, brilliant wings of his generation, Steve Holdstock, the try scorer. Ive played with and against some good wings: Johnny Eagle, Loads of Welsh boys (Phil 'Billy Whiz' Lewis) Rory, Simon Smith (lovely guy), Mike Slemen (Legend) John Carr (Lomu in disguise) Mark (The Don) Bailey, Simon (Tab) Hunter, Fred Woodman, some Aussies..........but Steve Holdstock, that guy was awesome, unstoppable from 15 meters even if he wasn't the fastest guy on the planet, and a great guy to boot, his Bro was a handful too!.
So, to sum up, it was one of those nights, when all the cogs turn smoothly, you follow the plan: win the ball, hold on to it, use it.
They say youth is wasted on the young (but not the young's, Nick was playing that night too) and as I enter my 50's I realise more and more what an achievement that cold evening was.
Thankyou to the management (for gambling on me), the boys, the AB's, but most of all, you people who turned up, believed in a raw 20yr old and shouted your lungs out for a team, who were written off before that first up and under...........I salute you. X
John Goodwin

johngoodwin wrote:Hi My name is John Goodwin. I played on the wing that evening, I was 20yrs old. We did our homework, I acted as bait. They new I was relatively  inexperienced and reckoned they would bombard me with box kicks from the base, which they duly did. We practiced all week and That was all that was expected of me. Peter wheeler if I recall, asked me to just, "catch the ******* ball and we'll be there for you". I made sure I wouldn't drop one because I was more afraid of Peter than the AB's. What I wasn't prepared for was the entire AB pack hitting me like a steamroller on steroids, but then the cavalry came: Deano, Vince Cannon, Gary Pearce etc and we held on.
Stu Wilson was opposite me on the wing, I remember thinking I've grown up marvelling at this guy, and now he's looking over at ME. Needless to say, I was fizzing with adrenalin, possibly because he fortunately chose that night to have the quietest game I ever saw him play. The hero of the night however, was one of the unsung, brilliant wings of his generation, Steve Holdstock, the try scorer. Ive played with and against some good wings: Johnny Eagle, Loads of Welsh boys (Phil 'Billy Whiz' Lewis) Rory, Simon Smith (lovely guy), Mike Slemen (Legend) John Carr (Lomu in disguise) Mark (The Don) Bailey, Simon (Tab) Hunter, Fred Woodman, some Aussies..........but Steve Holdstock, that guy was awesome, unstoppable from 15 meters even if he wasn't the fastest guy on the planet, and a great guy to boot, his Bro was a handful too!.
So, to sum up, it was one of those nights, when all the cogs turn smoothly, you follow the plan: win the ball, hold on to it, use it.
They say youth is wasted on the young (but not the young's, Nick was playing that night too) and as I enter my 50's I realise more and more what an achievement that cold evening was.
Thankyou to the management (for gambling on me), the boys, the AB's, but most of all, you people who turned up, believed in a raw 20yr old and shouted your lungs out for a team, who were written off before that first up and under...........I salute you. X
John Goodwin

Cheers John, its interesting to get an insight from within the English camp, and some of your famous English team mates at the time. I remember those up and unders too it was the correct tactic, your centre never did work out how to engineer a try through the hands, I agree Mike Slemen was a legend.

But I gotta ask did you have any instructions as to what to do when the Haka was occuring? and Did you feel that it gave the ABs any advantage?

Anyway Its a bit of a pity that you didnt stick with rugby, and its sad how misfortune and the demons can bring some players careers to a tragic end, Did you regret that you didnt go on to mark some fantastic New Zealand wingers like JK for example?

johngoodwin wrote:Hi My name is John Goodwin. I played on the wing that evening, I was 20yrs old. We did our homework, I acted as bait. They new I was relatively  inexperienced and reckoned they would bombard me with box kicks from the base, which they duly did. We practiced all week and That was all that was expected of me. Peter wheeler if I recall, asked me to just, "catch the ******* ball and we'll be there for you". I made sure I wouldn't drop one because I was more afraid of Peter than the AB's. What I wasn't prepared for was the entire AB pack hitting me like a steamroller on steroids, but then the cavalry came: Deano, Vince Cannon, Gary Pearce etc and we held on.
Stu Wilson was opposite me on the wing, I remember thinking I've grown up marvelling at this guy, and now he's looking over at ME. Needless to say, I was fizzing with adrenalin, possibly because he fortunately chose that night to have the quietest game I ever saw him play. The hero of the night however, was one of the unsung, brilliant wings of his generation, Steve Holdstock, the try scorer. Ive played with and against some good wings: Johnny Eagle, Loads of Welsh boys (Phil 'Billy Whiz' Lewis) Rory, Simon Smith (lovely guy), Mike Slemen (Legend) John Carr (Lomu in disguise) Mark (The Don) Bailey, Simon (Tab) Hunter, Fred Woodman, some Aussies..........but Steve Holdstock, that guy was awesome, unstoppable from 15 meters even if he wasn't the fastest guy on the planet, and a great guy to boot, his Bro was a handful too!.
So, to sum up, it was one of those nights, when all the cogs turn smoothly, you follow the plan: win the ball, hold on to it, use it.
They say youth is wasted on the young (but not the young's, Nick was playing that night too) and as I enter my 50's I realise more and more what an achievement that cold evening was.
Thankyou to the management (for gambling on me), the boys, the AB's, but most of all, you people who turned up, believed in a raw 20yr old and shouted your lungs out for a team, who were written off before that first up and under...........I salute you. X
John Goodwin

John - a pleasure to read your views as it was looking at some old footage. As above, also liked seeing the old style approach to scrummaging, see 1.08 on the video, changed days from the 3.5 minutes faffing about to get a completed scrum or penalty nowadays.

Hi Aucklandlaurie first of all, wow that was quick!
Cant believe you mentioned JK because that was the tour he made his beginning to an awesome career. I was injured in the second game of the tour after scoring a try in the first and heading for a test cap. First match was against North Auckland (north harbour now?) Then in the Auckland game, we passed each other in the tunnel, had a look, and realised we were being compared with each other cos not only similar in size, but facially too! Uncanny! Afterwards we chatted, had some good banter, but never played against each other cos i went on gardening leave for the rest of the tour (ended up visiting art galleries!) while he went stellar. Great guy, did you see documentary about sport and depression? Amazing. So, the Haka. No instructions, we all just thought it was part of the occasion, but also throwing down the gauntlet, I just fed off it because at that age you're afraid of nothing, well I was anyway, (ignorant probably!). I feel sad when people disrespect the Haka, its a genuine challenge, something we don't do and so we should just stand back, show respect, then focus on tearing into them, with control. I resumed Karate years later and you learn about humility and respect but also to meet the force with guile. I used to regret things occasionally, then something happened family wise (near fatality to son) which made me realise we only have the moment to live in. Anyways, after flirting with Wigan (league - hush hush at the time) I toddled off to art school and the rest is, well, the past.
How about you Laurie? what do you do? I loved NZ btw, swore I'd go back one day.

Hi, the next person! I'm new to social media, I couldn't see your name, you mentioned old footage, so if this is you, yes about the scrummage, but you must understand I was a winger, so I only knew about 4 or 5 of the rules of rugby and ignored 3 or 4 of them. The only footage I have is a dvd transcribed from a vt of the JPS cup final against gloucester. I played for the other team, a club called Moseley from Birmingham. I have to say, it is one of the most boring games of rugby I have ever seen, illuminated only by the shy genius of a a fly half called Mike Perry, who I have since got back in touch with. He was to be the Johnny W of his day until illness struck and priorities changed. Are you a fan of any club in particular?
Cheers
JG

Cheers John, its good to have you on board, it contributes immensely to discussion to have a few of contributors who have played the game at a serious level. your half right about North harbour it was the northern clubs in the Auckland competition. no doubt you would know one of their founding players Frano from when you played with the "Cherry an' whites".

Everything is good with me I'm still holding together New Zealands biggest company, and am getting ready for this big weekend in Rugby what with the Super xv starting in a little over 24 hours (Blues are going to roger the Waikato chiefs) and of course the Las Vegas sevens, there will hardly be time for anything of a Valentines day nature.

Next time you get to Auckland look me up, (You know how) and we'll catch up with JK, he still drinks Champers and Lemonade, something he picked up when he was doing a gig in Italy.

Cheers. Laurie.

OMG this is amazing. My life went in such a different direction with art school, in those days there were prejudices with many things, if you were at art school and playing rugby, you were somehow 'weird' or well......I hadn't had much of an education so I was like a sponge when I went to uni at 24, gave up playing at 25, perfectly fit, just walked away. No regrets though and never fell out of love with rugby, it literally saved me, I was playing premiership (think it was called something else then!) at 17, still at school (just) my Dad had died the year before, which leaves a big hole and the only happiness I could find was running out on to that turf, wherever it was. So rugby picked me up, glued me back together and then let me go, like a surrogate parent really! Met some wonderful people in those 8 yrs too. Lovely wife and two kids (son played for 6 years but prefers Kayaking now!). Albert Camus said the sum of a person's life is the choices he/she makes. Simple, but not when you're making them eh?!
So, if I can ever get over, I'll look you up for sure, and if you ever see JK please pass on my regards, he may remember me, but no matter if not.
Glad you are so enthusiastic about the game, I will be learning from you! I never even knew of the Vegas 7's ! I used to love the short form too.
J

PS not sure about the Cherry n Whites, if you mean Gloucester over here, I was in the other team in that cup final I mentioned. However on the other point, you must mean the brilliant Frano Botica, whose son plays now? My club mate no. 9 was Simon Robson whose son plays for Gloucester now.
Do you remember the coach John Hart? I'm sure he paid me a compliment after that first tour game in'85, but maybe I dreamed it!

From Brian Moore's "What Goes on Tour Stays on Tour"

...His eccentricity was matched by that of the Moseley winger John Goodwin, a being who was on a different planet to most of the human race. As an example of the way his mind worked, he used to think nothing of lying under
people's beds in their hotel room for hours just so that he could jump out from underneath as soon as they walked in, and scare the living daylights out of them.

Thanks for coming on the forum to share some memories, John. A photo from the Midlands game:

Dear Rugby Fan

LOL !! as the blessed young 'uns say now........Brian Moore's first book. That guy is a legend. We bonded on an earlier tour to the 'reds under the bed' one, (I cringe about that to this day because what i don't recall being in the book, is that one of the rooms I did it in, it wasn't a player, just a guy on holiday from another town! luckily he got the giggles as i was trying to explain myself "its a quaint english custom blah de blah"). Anyway i was horribly drunk and he took me under his wing, Italy I think, with the under 21s or under 20 somethings. We chatted a bit, I was still only 18, not sure how old Brian is, but I was struggling to overcome the death of my father still and Brian somehow empathised in such a way, well if you have read his later books you will understand. I think of him often. Now I come to think of it, we bumped into the late Bobby Robson and the England under 21's footie squad, staying in the same town, quite surreal for me, I'd always been a footballer until I stupidly passed my 11 plus and had 6 yrs of purgatory at a Grammar. I have to say, he was an absolute Gent, asking us stuff about rugby, genuinely interested.........unlike a very famous ex pro who had been one of my heroes along with George Best, and was extremely rude to me when I was introduced to him. Ah well, meeting heroes and all that.
i have loads of memories of hilarious moments, so i'll filter a few in as and when, bearing in mind confidentiality and careers, families, litigation etc!
Thanks for supplying the photo too. When I come across these things which seem to come from another life, the connections are amazing, someone else who saw a game or remembered a conversation. I was once in the centre of the forest of dean, in an arboretum, at a bit of a loss because a visitor centre I had planned to take some school kids to, was shut. So there we are alone with the kids who came from very challenging backgrounds, in awe at the forest, it put me in mind of the scene from the Dennis Potter (he's a 'Forester') series "The singing Detective" when he's up in the tree tops. So a guy comes along with his dog, sends the kids bonkers, I calm the dog and kids with this chap, we get talking, he's from Cinderford, loves rugby, complains about my ex club Moseley pinching their hooker. I trot out the Potter story and he says "Oh Dennis, yeah, I went out with his daughter for years!" Rugby! amazing!
Cheers
J

Was a toddling Wayne Barnes abusing them form the touchline or was it something they ate?

Gwlad wrote:Was a toddling Wayne Barnes abusing them form the touchline or was it something they ate?

They just weren't a very good side and were out played. Half the 1st choice side opted out of the tour (Hewson, Loveridge, Ashworth, Dalton, Knight, Haden and Whetton), including the entire tight 5. The side was further weakened by the loss of Taylor in the Scotland game(?). I wouldn't say the replacements were all that great either. So despite a clean sweep of the Lions it wasn't necessarily going to be straight forward.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/that-1980s-sports-blog/2014/nov/06/england-win-new-zealand-all-blacks-twickenham-1983

There's the guardians take on it.

It was not a match for the faint-hearted. Gary Pearce played for almost the whole match with a broken nose; John Scott needed eight stitches in a head wound; debutant Simpson ended up with a gashed forehead; and New Zealand prop Scott Crichton had to leave the field after damaging a rib. The worst incident, however, would involve a reckless tackle by New Zealand winger Bernie Fraser, which wiped out John Carleton and saw the England man play no further part in the match. Nick Stringer came on for his second cap, with Fraser lucky to stay on the pitch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyiPumPBHVQ&t=21m38s


Lucky is not the word.

An unfortunate collision, nothing more nothing less.