Rugby World Cup 2023 – Day 17 highlights
Former Wales lock Richard Webster has opened up on the time he “went on the p*** and ended up with a cap” at the 1987 Rugby World Cup. A stroke of good fortune and timing saw Webster, who happened to be in Australia working a construction job while also playing for a local team Down Under at the same time that the tournament was being held.
Webster, who would go on to make several caps for Wales but had never featured for his country at the time despite previously playing for Swansea, represented Northern Suburbs when his friend Dai Young was called up to replace Wales prop Stuart Evans.
Webster had been “getting drunk all the time” after being sacked as a bricklayer before finding another job, but quickly found himself on his own as Evans joined up with the squad – before heading to the match to support him.
“I was pleased for Dai, but I was gutted as well because it wasn’t a great place to be staying on my own without my mate,” Webster told WalesOnline. “Anyway, a few days after he left, all the boys we were playing with were going up to Sydney to watch Australia play Ireland, so I went with them.
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“I got hammered the night before we left and ended up getting on the train in the morning in the same clothes I’d had on the night before. When I sat down in the carriage, I picked up a newspaper and suddenly I am seeing this tiny little bit in the corner: ‘David Young selected to start against England in World Cup quarter-final’.”
When Webster found out his pal had been selected he headed to Brisbane on an 18-hour bus journey from Sydney after his mates all chipped in to help pay for the trip, before meeting up with Young and the rest of the squad for a few drinks to celebrate their quarter-final victory over England.
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“When I got there, I didn’t have a lot of money and I didn’t know where I was going,” he continued. “But I found the hotel Wales were staying in and phoned Dai from reception. I am still in the same clothes as the Friday and it’s now the Sunday!
“They took me to the game that afternoon and we beat England. I went on the p*** with them in the night, we had a good drink. I got up in the morning, thinking I was going back to Canberra. Then I got called in to see Clive Rowlands (team manager) and he said ‘We’ve had a couple of injuries, you are not in the squad, but would you like to stay with us as a guest?’”
Webster travelled with the squad for the semi-final against New Zealand, with Young once again starting, but Webster had other plans to be a ticket tout in order to earn some money at the time. Wales lost the match but still had a third-place play-off against Australia and back-rower Richie Collins had suffered an injury. Remarkably, Webster was the one called to replace him for the last-gasp 22-21 victory as Wales sealed third place.
“We lost the match (against New Zealand) and I went on the beer again,” Webster detailed. “I got up in the morning thinking I was getting a flight back to Canberra and then Clive called me in again and said, ‘Right, you are now a member of the World Cup squad and you are coming to Auckland with us’.
“Before we left Auckland to go to Rotorua, which is like travelling to Brecon, they announced the team. I remember they got to the back row and said: ‘Gareth Roberts, Paul Moriarty and, openside, Richard Webster’. I was like ‘F***, I am playing’.
“I had been on the p*** for four months, I hadn’t trained. That’s the God’s honest truth. Then I am picked for my first cap! I must be the only mad Welshman who went to watch a game, went on the p*ss and ended up with a cap!”
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