| Jeremy Guscott |
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| England |
| 1989-1999 |
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| Centre |
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| Wednesday, 7th July 1965. Bath |
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Saturday, 13th May 1989 v Romania (Bucharest) won 58-3
(Aged: 23) |
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| 15/10/1999 v Tonga (Twickenham) won 101-10 (W.Cup) |
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| 65 |
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| Photo/Foto: George Herringshaw |
Date: 4th November 1989 |
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| Nicknamed "The Prince of Centres", Bath's Jeremy Guscott enjoyed the respect of rugby followers across the world for his speed, determination and all round skill. Jeremy's main attributes were his superb rugby brain and the fact that he could do just about everything - tackle, score tries, drop goals and create opportunities for others. However, perhaps the single factor that set him apart was his superb acceleration which allowed him to exploit the narrowest of gaps and unlock a defence. This skill was not always needed in the forward orientated England teams of the early 1990s, but on the occasions when the national side decided to play rugby, he was quite lethal. After paying his dues for several years on the club circuit for Bath, the former building site labourer made his England debut in May 1989 against Romania. All the Guscott skills were on show in Bucharest and Jeremy helped himself to a hattrick in England's 58-3 victory. On the strength of his debut performance, Jeremy was then selected for the British Lions tour to Australia. The first test was lost by an almost embarrassing margin of 30-12, prompting a change of tactics and personnel, with the centre pairing of Mike Hall and Brendan Mullin replaced with Jeremy and Scott Hastings. These and other changes proved crucial, and the Lions won the second test 19-12 with Jeremy scoring what would prove his only Lions try. Amidst the backdrop of much complaining about the Lions so called roughhouse tactics, the third test was also won 19-17, a game memorable for David Campese's infamous cock up. After this superb start to his career, Jeremy's next outing was against Fiji at Twickenham (see photo above) where he had a hand in all five of Rory Underwood's tries as well as adding another to his own collection. The Fiji test saw him line up for the first time alongside skipper Will Carling, and the two proved to be an effective combination in the centres, eventually playing in a record breaking 45 matches together. (Jon Collins) |
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| This photograph is the copyright © of George Herringshaw & sporting-heroes.net |
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