Sir Clive Woodward has paid tribute to the late Ray Gravell, recalling how the Welsh rugby legend would ambush and flatten him whenever they crossed paths after their playing careers had ended.
Woodward and Gravell became close friends after being thrown together as room-mates on the 1980 British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa. But their friendship took a particularly physical turn after both men retired from playing.
Woodward recalls Gravell's 'party piece'
Woodward recalled how Gravell would hide and then pounce on him whenever they found themselves at the same rugby match, leaving the former England centre sprawled on the floor before delivering the same familiar line.
"All the years after we finished playing, I'm now working for the media and so is he, and it became his trait, whenever we met on the international scene, he would just flatten me," Woodward said.
"I was pitchside at Cardiff when England were playing Wales and we're about to go live on air in about three or four minutes, and suddenly — bosh! He absolutely flattens me and stands above me and goes: 'Soft centre, you always were a soft centre!' And then he picks me up, gives me a big hug and says: 'How are you, bach?' And that became his party piece."
"It didn't happen once — any match where we were both at, a club game or an international game, he would get me. He would hide behind cupboards and fences and cameras, come out and smack me down, bang, bang, 'soft centre, soft centre!' And he loved it, it was his party piece. He always knew I was there."
"I can see him now, his beard looking down on me: 'Soft centre, soft centre!'", Woodward added.
Gravell's life and legacy
The story offers a glimpse of the larger-than-life character Gravell was, and today marks what would have been his 75th birthday.
Gravell, born in Mynydd-y-garreg, was one of the most recognisable figures in Welsh rugby, winning 23 caps for Wales and five for the Lions. Despite their very different backgrounds, he and Woodward became firm friends after being paired together on the 1980 Lions tour.
Woodward was an Englishman who attended naval school and Loughborough University, while Gravell was the passionate Carmarthenshire native and son of a collier.
Friendship born on the 1980 Lions tour
"We both got picked for the Lions tour in 1980 and that's where the whole thing came from. They just put us in a room together. I thought 'oh my goodness', because we were totally different people, chalk and cheese. But everywhere we went, we were room-mates, and we became good friends," Woodward said.
He remembered Gravell as a man who could talk for hours, including one bizarre late-night discussion about former Wales centre Paul Ringer.
"My memories of him are just him, non-stop talking. In the middle of the night, he would just ask me the most bizarre question. There was one night where he sat up and said: 'Paul Ringer was innocent!'"
"I was playing in that game [England v Wales at Twickenham in the 1980 Five Nations] and we just had this big debate then, about two o'clock in the morning, about whether Paul Ringer should have been sent off or should not have been sent off. I remember these incredible conversations."
Their friendship endured long after their playing careers had ended, with Woodward describing Gravell as a "larger-than-life character in every single way".
"For a guy who I'd never met before, we all love the Lions but you do make these incredible friendships and it was no fluke that us two were put together, because we were from two different ends of the spectrum in terms of where we came from."
Woodward added: "I was really lucky to have known him as long as I did."
