Tony UNDERWOOD

When England's record try scorer Rory Underwood went into short lived retirement in 1992, England were lucky enough

to have another Underwood waiting in the wings as a replacement. The brothers had slightly different characteristics;

Tony was probably the faster of the two, whilst Rory had greater strength to hold off tackles and was a better finisher.

Tony had first caught the eye when playing for the Barbarians against New Zealand in 1989 and also helped Oxford University

win the Varsity match in 1991. His international debut came against Canada the following year, and when Rory came out of his

brief retirement to face South Africa (the photo above shows Underwood jnr during the match), the two became the first

brothers to feature for England in the same game since Harold and Arthur Wheatley played in England's 6-3 win over Scotland way

back in 1937. Tony had the honour of scoring England's opening try, but was taken off injured in the second half as England

proceeded to a 33-16 victory, their first win against the Springboks since 1972. Come the 1993 Five Nations Championship, Underwood

was excluded in favour of the versatile Ian Hunter, but was recalled to face Scotland. England secured a famous victory with both

Underwood brothers scoring tries to send their watching family into jubilation in the stands. Unfortunately, England lost the final

match at Lansdowne Road 17-3, their first defeat by Ireland since 1987, and so missed out on the Championship to France.

However, Tony did have the consolation of being part of the side the beat the touring New Zealanders 15-9 the following autumn,

England's points coming courtesy of Jon Callard and Rob Andrew. In 1994 Tony was firmly established as his brother's wing partner

and played seven tests in total, including both matches of a memorable series against the Springboks which finished 1-1. Earlier in

the year, England had been unable to recapture the Five Nations title, their chances scuppered by a second consecutive

loss to Ireland. (Jon Collins)

In 1995 Tony Underwood was to taste Grand Slam glory for the only time, and he scored three tries in total, two of

which came in the second half of a 31-10 thrashing of France. Later in the year Tony scored a try in the group stages

of the World Cup against Italy, and then gave England an early lead against Australia in the quarter-final before

Rob Andrew's drop goal eventually sealed matters 25-22. Unfortunately, Underwood was then one of several players

to be virtually trampled underfoot by All Black sensation Jonah Lomu in the semi finals. England eventually lost 45-29,

though the Underwood brothers (and their mother!) showed their sense of humour/commercial awareness by recreating

incidents from the match with Lomu in an advert for Pizza Hut. Tony made just one appearance in the 1996 season,

against Argentina, his wing place having been taken by Jon Sleightholme, but played in all four matches of the 1997

campaign following the retirement of his brother.

England missed out on the Grand Slam, but he earned a call up for the

British Lions tour to New Zealand, thus keeping up an Underwood tradition dating back to 1989. Tony enjoyed his tour

immensely and played in the final test, though the Lions went down 33-16 in what was effectively a dead rubber.

When he arrived home Underwood found that he was not needed in the Woodward regime and missed all of the 1997

autumn internationals and subsequent Five Nations campaign. However, Tony was recalled for two final tests in 1998,

and rounded off his career with an immensely satisfying victory over the Spingboks at Twickenham. In retirement,

Tony followed in his brother's footsteps and became a pilot. He scored 13 tries in 27 appearances for England,

19 of which were in partnership with Rory. (Jon Collins)