Bath fullback Jon Callard may have only won five caps won across three seasons,
but his England career was extremely eventful all the same. The public school games
master made his debut in England's one off test against New Zealand in 1993 at
Twickenham following the retirement of Jon Webb, and kicked 12 points to ensure
a memorable 15-9 victory. Callard's next match was against Scotland at Murrayfield
and he was again the hero by scoring five penalties, including the match winner in
the dying stages.
However, Jon soon learned that adulation can be fleeting and he was dropped after
missing four pots at goal against Ireland as England went down 13-12. In the summer
of 1994 Jon travelled to South Africa as part of England's tour party, but was excluded
in favour of Paul Hull in the two tests. However, his photograph made all the back pages
when he was badly raked by Eastern Province's Elandre van der Bergh in Port Elizabeth.
The match also saw the sending off of Tim Rodber and generally made the 1975
"Battle of Ballymore" look like a vicar's tea party. Jon would return to South Africa
the following year for the World Cup but only made one appearance against Western Samoa
in the group stages.
However, Callard made it a match to remember by scoring 21 of England's 44 point
hall against a side they were tipped to lose to. With Mike Catt now fully established
as England's fullback, Jon played no further part in the tournament and would turn out
only one more time for his country, against South Africa in the autumn. However, Jon
continued to play for Bath and scored all his club's points in their 19-18 victory over Brive
in the 1998 European Cup Final, including 4 penalties, a try and a conversion.
Callard scored an impressive 69 points in his 5 test matches at an average of 13.8 per game.
(Jon Collins)