Wonderful to sign off as a winner at Twickenham

CHARLIE AMESBURY THE FORMER HARLEQUINS, NEWCASTLE, SALE, BRISTOL AND CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY WINGER RUGBY

- Jon Newcombe

It may sound strange coming from someone who ultimately was on the losing side, but the 2015 Championship final between Bristol and Worcester has to go down as one of the most exciting games I’ve ever played in. It was just a brilliant game of rugby (ending 59-58 to Worcester on aggregate).

At half-time in the second leg at Worcester, we were down a number of points and the speech from Peely (Dwayne Peel), who was captain at the time, will stay with me forever.

Normally the coaches leave the players to it at a certain point in the changing room in the half-time break but Peely kept Andy Robinson in there, and insisted he joined the circle. He made a ferocious, classic ‘come on lads, this is what we need to do’ speech. At the same time, he was ragdolling this old England legend all over the place, saying ‘we need to do it for this guy’. Andy Robinson was trying to keep his composure, we all were.

It got the reaction it needed, and we quickly went 14 points up. However, a yellow card and two tries later, Ryan Lamb kicked the promotion-winning conversion to snatch victory in the last play meaning we had to postpone the promotion celebration for another year.

Part of the reason I moved clubs during my career was to seek out high-pressure scenarios while also trying to better myself as a player. It’s the big games, the big stages and the big moments that stay with you – and those stirring speeches like Peely’s. Another I remember in my younger days at Harlequins was when we played Scarlets in what was their last-ever European match at Stradey Park in 2008. It was obviously a hugely emotional day for the Scarlets, and they looked set to bid farewell to their spiritual home with a big win as they led 19-3 at half-time.