Firsts & Lasts: Neil Back
Neil Back was the consummate open-side flanker.
A magnificent 7 whose all-round skills saw him win just about everything: Premierships, Heineken Cups, a British & Irish Lions Test Series and a Rugby World Cup.
One of the pioneers of modern open-side play, Back possessed raw power and speed, was prodigious at the back of a maul, audacious at the breakdown, a fearless tackler and great link player. He earned 66 England caps, scored 16 tries and is the only forward in a white shirt to score a drop goal in a Test match.
All of this came first from a passion for rugby and then relentless dedication. His mantra remains “Never fail through lack of effort, it’s OK to fail but it’s not OK to fail through lack of effort.”
Born in Coventry, he excelled at all sports and played rugby at the Woodlands School, Earlsdon and Barker's Butts rugby clubs, then for England at Schools, Colts, U21 and Saxons levels.
After two years at Nottingham RFC, he enjoyed 15 years at Leicester Tigers alongside fellow World Cup heroes Martin Johnson, Lewis Moody, Martin Corry, Ben Kay, Dorian West and Julian White.
His early career, when despite storming performances for the Tigers, the 5ft 10in flanker continued to be overlooked by England managers, saw Back needing all his self-belief and determination to overcome the challenges. It is well chronicled in his autobiography ‘Size Doesn’t Matter’.
One challenge was self-inflicted, costing him a lengthy absence from the game. In the 1996 Pilkington Cup final defeat to Bath, he pushed out at referee Steve Lander. There followed a six month ban.
Resolve and mental strength
“It was one of those big obstacles in life which require resolve, mental strength. As with everything you need help and advice. I’d already gone to Loughborough’s Director of Sport Rex Hazeldine when I was working harder but not getting picked for England. He introduced me to a strength and conditioning, nutrition and psychological programme, four years before the sport went pro,” says Back.
“I could have easily jacked it in but I was determined to turn this negative into a positive. The first month of my suspension, I got engaged to Ali and we bought our first house. Over the remaining five months I conducted around 30 school coaching sessions to give something back to the game that I had let down. As I couldn’t go to the club, I decided to invest in myself, hired a personal trainer/nutritionist and trained six days a week, twice a day.”
On his return, Back was called up to the 1997 British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa and made an impact as a replacement in the victorious second Test. He then became a regular in the England back row alongside Lawrence Dallaglio and Richard Hill.
His 80% win success rate was phenomenal, he competed in three Rugby World Cups, deciding to retire as the World Cup winning side began to break up. After coaching with Leicester Tigers, Leeds Carnegie, Rugby Lions and Edinburgh Rugby, in 2013 he returned to the financial sector where he worked before professional rugby. He is now a consultant at Bullerwell & Co Ltd, and also TPS Visual Communications Ltd’s head of construction branding division, as well as founding Back2Fitness, alongside media, public speaking and ambassadorial roles. He captained England to four Test victories, the first a famous Cook Cup victory over Australia, the last on the occasion of his 50th cap in Rome.
First 10/11/2001 - England 21-15 Australia
“Being made captain was a great honour but I’m of the view that everyone in a team is equally important to its success. I was part of the leadership group and it was a very proud moment when Clive (Woodward) asked me to wear the armband in the build -up during that Test week.
“I knew Jonno (Martin Johnson) wasn’t available and this was a huge game. All the players knew that if we weren’t in the right place it could quickly get embarrassing, so captaining was an easier task, particularly because of the leadership in the team and for the fact that there was huge competition in every position. Every player was fundamental and had to be on their A game. We knew, even 20 years ago, that the bench could win us games.
“It seemed to me that this was a pretty easy role, the tougher task is often when you are expected to win and win well. I felt more pressure on myself the following week against Romania when I had to make sure that we all turned up, that we were switched on and there was zero complacency. We did and it finished 134-0. It was the nil that mattered most to me as I was our leader of defence too. I remember my biggest disappointment in 2003 being conceding a try hidden amongst 13 points to Uruguay, even though we scored 111 points.
“But this was a match for the Cook Cup in the Home of England Rugby and we were building a squad that was on fire that year. When Clive took over, we agreed that we had to consistently beat the best teams in the world, and Australia was one of them, to achieve our ultimate goal of becoming ranked number one and world champions.
“Players got three free tickets in those days and Ali invited her sister Linda and mutual friend Emma. They came down towards the stadium and were approached by a ticket tout offering thousands for their tickets. She joked they collectively thought about a big night out in London and, if I wasn’t captain, they may have missed our epic victory!
Secret signal for family
“My view of a captain’s team talk is to be succinct, say a few words about pride, honour and a few key tactical points but after that it just becomes white noise and any impact is lost. I always tried to be one of the first out of the Twickenham tunnel because I just wanted to get out onto the pitch but leading the team out was a proud moment and pretty special. I always looked for family, the people who had made it all possible, and I would send them a secret signal, brush my eyebrow. I look for it now as players wipe their brow or touch their ear and think I know what that’s about.
“I had my gum shield in for the anthems, which made singing difficult. The gum shield covered the fact that I lost my front teeth when I was pretty young playing footie, a centre back had them firmly planted in his forehead and from that day on I wore two shiny front teeth on a denture plate. During the anthems you can’t drift away, you’re focusing on what’s about to happen, getting mentally ready and in the zone.
“We’d scored a hell of a lot of tries that season and that’s lovely but it’s about winning and if the opposition are fouling, giving away penalties, you can build a score to win the game that way. Jonny (Wilkinson) kicked five penalties and two drop goals that day and, despite two second half Wallaby tries, we kept hold of the ball, dominated possession and territory and importantly the scoreboard.
“Ben Kay was making his debut, Jason Robinson had a good game at 15 and we had a storming pack. l knew that to beat Australia the whole team would need to play well and everyone did. It’s always about winning and you look around your team mates, you just have to make that knowing eye contact that says a thousand words. Winning games doesn’t come easy, there’s a lot of unseen dedication and sacrifice.
“I almost floated up the steps to get the Cook Cup but I shared Jonno’s philosophy that as a captain it’s not about you lifting the silverware. When we won the first of our European Cup back-to-back trophies, he asked Darren Garforth and me to lift the trophy aloft to the adulation of the supporters and teammates and at the Rugby World Cup itself he even asked my four-year-old Olivia if she wanted to lift the Webb Ellis Cup!”
Last 6/04/2002 - Italy 9-45 England
“Previous to this game, I had captained England at Twickenham in the record win over Wales 50 – 10 while Johnno was suspended. Going into the Italy game I thought he’d definitely be back in charge but Clive said ‘I want you to keep the captaincy.’
“There was media speculation around who’d captain us to the World Cup but none of us had any doubt about who the England captain was, we all knew it was Jonno. Both he and Clive were strong characters, so there might have been a bit of mind games going on to focus players, including our captain.
“I’d never expected to captain the side, it was about being in the team, but it was a big honour to be captain for my 50th cap. We had four England captains on the bench that day, which illustrated our strength in depth, and we were expected to win and win convincingly. We’d lost to France in Round 3 and lost out on yet another Grand Slam but beaten everyone else by a good margin.
“Five players scored tries: Will Greenwood got two and the others came from Ben Cohen, Jason Robinson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Austin Healey. Jonny slotted five conversions and a penalty and Matt Dawson got a penalty. I remember being so bitterly disappointed being brought off that day, I’d never been subbed off. Even if referees said I was bleeding I’d say it was only a scratch to avoid going off for even a minute to get sutured or bandaged up. I hated coming off in the Flaminio stadium even for four captains with a collective 252 caps between them!
Scene of earlier drop goal
“Rome is a beautiful place to go and the Italians are so enthusiastic, very supportive of their team. It’s always a great place to visit and a grand occasion. My only England drop goal was in Rome against Italy in Round 4 of the 2000 Six Nations. I’d taken kicks off the tee growing up and in training I’d always do my individual personal development extras.
“Often, Jonny was out there and I’d field the balls and kick them back to him. I recall the team’s attack was very lateral in front of their posts and, with the ball in my hands, I simply knocked it between the poles without even thinking, then ran back to the half way line as speedily as possible without making any eye contact, hoping nobody said anything. Dave Alred, our kicking coach, came to my defence post-match and said it was tactically the right thing to do at the time, to build the score 3, 6, 9 so the opposition now had to score twice. Then at the dinner the Italians’ President spent half his speech saying it was disrespectful. I’d still got a one out of one success rate though!
“A lot of supporters invited their partners out to Rome and while they were watching the game their other half would go shopping. Ali would always be at the match, I’d have had to cut up the credit cards in Rome! But seriously I know that like most professional sports people I owe so much to my parents, my wife and family. I remember Ali being pregnant with Olivia standing out in the cold with a stop watch timing me doing interval runs. I’d never have been able to achieve what I did without my wife and family and so many others.
“Wales and Italy were games one and two on the journey where we started a winning run of 22 of 23 on the bounce towards that World Cup final victory with only a loss to France away 16-17 in game 15 of 16 pre-tournament, which I believe was important because losing that game grounded everyone. I played a lot of games, gathered a lot of great memories and winning the World Cup was the last piece of the jigsaw in terms of trophies, which made all the effort worthwhile.
“My kids are both thankfully super fit, have shown huge resilience and are mentally strong. Finley, who’s in his second year of a professional football contract with Nottingham Forest, spent a number of weeks and months last year training remotely, while Olivia, having played international hockey up to U18s, is in her final year of a psychology degree at Nottingham University and is hoping to begin a Masters Degree in September.
“These have been tough times for everyone. In a normal year I would be involved in about 40 personal appearances including after dinners, plus leadership and motivational presentations and I strongly believe there’s huge similarity between elite sport and business. To excel at something you have to enjoy it. If you don’t, then try to change the environment or move to another one because we are only here once. I always enjoyed being a rugby player and coach and the friendships are lifelong and incredible.
“The great Lions coach Ian McGeechan once said: ‘There will be a day in the future when you’ll walk down a street, see a player who was in this team and you’ll look into his eyes with no need to say a word.’ He was absolutely right. You’ll see each other, have a little smile thinking of a moment back then, of what happened. That’s true now on social media.
“There’s never an easy route to where we want to be but there’s never been a time when it was so important that we stay positive.”
