John PULLIN

1966 v Wales (Twickenham) L 11-6 (FN)

1968 v Scotland (Murrayfield) W 8-6 (FN)

1969 v South Africa (Twickenham) W 11-8

1970 v France (Colombes) L 35-13 (FN)

1971 v Presidents XV (Twickenham) L 28-11

1973 v New Zealand (Twickenham) L 9-0
1973 v Wales (Cardiff) L 25-9 (FN)

1973 v Ireland (Dublin) L 18-9 (FN)

1973 v Australia (Twickenham) W 20-3

1974 v Wales (Twickenham) W 16-12 (FN)

BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN PULLIN's  INTERNATIONAL RUGBY CAREER FOR ENGLAND.

Bristol born hooker John Pullin won 42 caps for England between 1966 and 1975 and carved out a distinguished career for himself at a time when the national side was at one of its lowest ebbs. The west country farmer made up for his relative lack of size with enormous strength and a dedication to perfecting the craft of scrummaging and forward play. Indeed, John was one of the most technically proficient hookers of his time and often won the ball against the head in a scrum. He made his debut in an 11-6 defeat by Wales in 1966, but then had to wait a further two years for his next cap, also in a game against Wales. This time England managed to draw 11-11, but having scored two tries to build an 11-3 lead they should probably have won the match. Pullin went on to play in all of England's remaining games that season, and was also called up for the British Lions tour to South Africa. After sitting out the 20-25 defeat in the first test, John stepped into the breech for the second and the Lions managed to draw 6-6. Pullin also played in the third and fourth tests which were both lost by narrow margins, but some reckon that John was put at a disadvantage in the scrum due to poor home refereeing.

Back home, England enjoyed a good start to the 1969 Five Nations, losing by just 17-15 to Ireland in Dublin and then beating France and Scotland. However, they were hammered 30-9 in the last game by a Welsh side who were on their way to the Triple Crown and the Championship. Later in the year John had the consolation of being part of the side that beat South Africa 11-8 at Twickenham and marked the occasion with what proved to be his only international try. John played in all four matches of the 1970 Five Nations, but it was a poor season for England and ended in a 35-13 beating by France in Paris. 1971 was the RFU Centenary and England again struggled to be competitive, their only points coming from a draw with France and a win over Ireland. During the Centenary celebrations, England lost 26-6 to Scotland and 28-11 to a Presidents XV comprising the best players from France and the Southern Hemisphere. John was much happier that year playing for the British Lions and featured in all four matches of an historic 2-1 series victory. After the first two tests had been shared, the Lions won the third 13-3 and tied the final game 14-14 thanks to a try by John's England teammate Peter Dixon. (Jon Collins)

The 1972 season saw England's performances take a further nosedive and they lost all four matches to secure the wooden spoon. The defeat by Scotland was also England's seventh consecutive loss, equalling the national side's worst ever run. Worryingly, England only managed to score a paltry 36 points in that particular campaign and went over for just a single try. Consolation was to come in the form of a short tour to South Africa that summer for which John was made captain. Underrated England defied the odds to win five of their six warm up matches and then took the test in Johannesburg 18-9 thanks to four penalties by the late Sam Doble and a try by Alan Morley. The forwards were superb and restricted the Springboks to just the occasional kick at goal, and by the end of the game most of the 77, 400 crowd had been silenced. The result was one of the biggest shocks in world rugby and the first of three victories against Southern Hemisphere opposition in eighteen months under Pullin's captaincy, an accomplishment that would be equalled by Will Carling between 1988 and 1993. Before England could complete their Southern Hemisphere Grand Slam, they would lose to one of the big three, going down 10-0 to the All Blacks at Twickenham. Shortly afterwards, John was part of the Barbarians side that beat New Zealand 23-11 in Cardiff and was involved in the move that led to Gareth Edward's dramatic opening try. England then won two out of four matches to earn a five way share of the Five Nations Championship.

During the series England lost 18-9 to Ireland in Dublin, but the team were given a standing ovation for their decision to play the match at all (Scotland and Wales had refused to travel to the Irish capital in 1972 due to the political turmoil). At the post match banquet John made a remark that went down in rugby folklore by saying of his team "We may not have been very good, but at least we turned up." Later in the year England tore up the form book by using classic ten man rugby to beat New Zealand 16-10 in Auckland, before completing Pullin's personal Grand Slam with a 20-3 victory over Australia at Twickenham. Unfortunately, England were unable to convert these one off successes into a challenge for the Championship and endured yet another poor season in 1974. One bright moment was their final day 16-12 defeat of Wales which saw England denied a pushover try and the Welsh have a JJ Williams score chalked off. When asked about the controversial Williams effort, John remarked with tongue in cheek: "I suppose you'd all like to know if it was a try or not. Well, I can tell you with all honesty that it certainly was.... a pushover try for us!". That match was Pullin's 13th and last as captain, having amassed a record of 6 wins, 6 losses and a draw. Despite losing the captaincy, he carried on playing until 1976, but was dropped after a defeat by France and replaced by Peter Wheeler. (Jon Collins)