we were to play through the following year too. Dave Foster was a huge source of ideas and energy at scrum half. Dave Breuer at loose-head was a true Haberdasher eccentric and had a gender-bending habit of wearing black eye-liner so as to intimidate his opposing prop. On the wings we were blessed with Nick Kaufmann, Dan Sayers and Will MacFadyan. Ian Cottam and Si Weston were superb complementary centres and Martin Baker at fly-half was a fearless crash tackler with an unquenchable will to win. Tim Parker at full back was a worthy successor to Dave Sadler and amazingly unflappable under high balls. In the scrum Paul Foster and Chris Lenton were terrific in the loose. Finally, against Emanuel’s immensely powerful pack, we could only just hold our own. Stalemate resulted, broken only by penalties. They had three and missed two. We had two and missed both. As you can imagine, I was not looking forward to having to announce to the school assembly that we had lost the unbeaten record! It was a grim task but to my surprise the whole school got up and gave us a prolonged standing ovation, the clapping only dying down after 5 minutes or so. In my time at school the healthy cynicism of Haberdashers’ boys was one of their most endearing qualities but, at that moment, they surprised everyone, including (probably) themselves, with a spontaneous display of pride and generous-spiritedness about what the Ist XV had achieved over the last four years.
S
Dave Foster (74/5 to 76/7) nowdonia training camp was a superb way to start the season. It was some serious pre-season training and an early guide to fitness and selection, grinding it out up Snowdon or evening fitness training on the beach. It always gave us a flying start: we would be fitter, better drilled, more bonded and cohesive than our opponents.
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old boys notes
Snowdonia also gave us some great memories: how Dave Mushin and co. in rugby shorts and T shirt, offered to help a group of Police Cadets who were waiting to be rescued by helicopter from foul weather. Or the water fights (thirty of us versus Doug Yeabsley, charging the length of the hut behind a mattress barracade and locking Dai Davies into the end dorm. Or Arch getting exposure on Tryfan and having to hunker down in a bivvi with Ralph Warmy. As for that unbeaten run, the passion and commitment of the side was always there and we took it into every game we played... and that growing record behind us and on our shoulders, gave us both confidence and fear. Sometimes we felt we could not lose, but always we felt we must not lose.
Nick Kaufmann (75/6 to 77/8)
B
eing in the team for most of three years with teammates from the two years above and below as well as one’s own, guardians of the unbeaten record together, receiving and passing on the baton created an extraordinary sprit among us. It was more than the natural camaraderie in any team sport even one as physical as rugby where you are battling for each other from match to match. It was more than a cup run. This was a generational campaign from season to season. The weight of ‘history’ for the most part helped us to preserve the record right up until that last game against Emanuel, when, I would argue, at last it proved stifling and it was broken by a single penalty kick. Perhaps one could compare this to the extended ascendancy of a Liverpool or a Manchester United in their great periods – and so too the regime of Dai Davies and Doug Yeabsley to those of Sir Alex Ferguson and the Anfield boot room. They shared the critical ability to blend the new and old while instilling and maintaining the same vital spirit across the generations.
Tim Leigh, the record breaking try scorer, in full flight with the ball - as usual.