Fly-half John Horton began his career with Sale before moving south to
join Bath in the late 1970s, a club who at that point had not risen to
the dominant position they would hold in the 1980s and 1990s. John's
England debut came in a 9-6 defeat by Wales in 1978 which saw Phil
Bennett win a kicking duel with Alastair Hignell. That year he also
played in the victories over Scotland and Ireland, as well as the 16-6
loss to New Zealand at the end of the year. Horton did not play again
until 1980 when he started in all four games of England's Grand Slam
season.
He enjoyed a memorable campaign which included two drop goals
either side of halftime against France in Paris to augment tries by Nick
Preston and John Carleton. England hung on to win the match 17-13 and
thus headed back to Twickenham knowing that if they beat the Welsh, a
Grand Slam was theirs for the taking. The match was preceded by enormous
hype and characterised by the level of bad feeling between the two
sides. After fifteen minutes of violent scuffles, Paul Ringer made no
effort to play the ball and made an appalling late challenge on Horton,
which led to the flanker's instant dismissal. Even down to 14 men, Wales
should have won, but Dusty Hare's late penalty made the game 9-8 to
England.
The Grand Slam was sealed with a 30-18 victory over Scotland at
Murrayfield which saw England score five tries, doubling their total
for the series. After that glorious season, John made only five more
appearances for England over the course of four years. The last of his
thirteen caps came in a 35-9 drubbing by the Springboks in Johannesburg
on England's ill advised tour of South Africa in 1984. (Jon Collins)
He played 380 games for Bath's first team, scored 90 tries and dropped 125 goals. |