Budge Rogers: Firsts & Lasts
The latest in our series speaking to former England captains, sees Budge Rogers recall his first and last as skipper.
Budge Rogers was an iconic England player and captain.
The first to be awarded an OBE for services to the sport, he broke the record for number of England caps with 34, the most in 42 years - with that distinction previously held by William Wavell Wakefield.
A lightning fast open-side flanker, he first played rugby at Bedford School He went on to play an astounding 485 games in 20 seasons for Bedford and to captain them to Knock Out Cup victory over Rosslyn Park in 1975.
Claimed by the British & Irish Lions and the Baa-Baas, Budge’s love for speed and style was reflected both in his love of dynamic rugby and sports cars. He once, like Peter Ustinov and John Surtees, owned a Jowett Jupiter HKY 770 of which only 900 were built.
Dubbed Budgie by his grandmother, his given name Derek simply disappeared as the family stuck with Budgie and school friends and team mates shortened it to Budge.
Budge’s last match as captain in 1969 was his last Test for England, although he continued to play outstanding rugby for Bedford for another seven seasons and was brought back to lead the uncapped England tour to the Far East in 1971.
After hanging up his boots, he became an England selector, then Chairman of Selectors in 69/70 with England winning their first Grand Slam for 25 years under the captaincy of Bill Beaumont; as Chairman he managed tours to Canada, the Far East and America.
In season 2000-01 he was the RFU President during a time when the RFU was struggling to get agreement over promotion and relegation with the English First and Second Division clubs.
First 15 January 1966 at Twickenham (England 6-11 Wales)
“I played alongside David Perry at Bedford in 1965 and he was made England captain. Not surprisingly Bedford made David captain the following season but he lost the England captaincy in the trials and from captaining The Rest in the trials I was made captain when the England side was announced with six new caps. I was informed by letter and the format was to meet on the Thursday evening and have a run out on Friday morning.
“That was all the preparation we got before a Test match. I thought ‘B****** that, I’ll get the boys down on Wednesday night and have a practice at Richmond.’
“It took a while to get hold of the team, there being no internet, but they all agreed to come early and it was then that I received a call from the RFU Secretary Bob Weighill. Bob said he wanted an assurance for the President that my Wednesday practice wouldn’t take place. I thought an extra practice on our own would be all right but was told it was breaking the rules so I had to call everyone again and tell them we had to meet up on the Thursday night as usual.
“Those were the rules. We all thought they’d been written by the All Blacks because they were the only ones who had coaches. We had no coach and I had no communication from anyone, no guidance from the Chairman of Selectors, nothing. You were just left to it; you ran the practice, trying to nail the team together when you were practically introducing players to each other! That was how it worked.
“It was a pretty dull old game, lots of Tests were won on very narrow margins and if you lost you knew there would be team changes; we had four more new caps for the next game. It poured with rain at Twickenham and I remember Jeremy Spencer, the Quins rookie scrum half who was a top of the turf player, suffered.
"That was his only cap poor chap. We had three 9s that season and I had 18 different scrum halves and blindside flanker in my international career. It was just ridiculous.
“There was no consistency in selection at that time. Players might get picked one season and then disappear, tons of players had a handful of caps and very few of us went on to 20 or 30."
On one occasion, five of us had to share a room at the Mayfair and after one Test my Jowett Jupiter broke down on the Hammersmith flyover.
Budge Rogers
“I was disappointed with the result, obviously, but it was pretty even, we could have won. Perry scored from Number 8 and our full back Don Rutherford, a fabulous player who went on to write the coaching manual and be RFU Rugby Director, nailed a penalty.
“We all drove our cars to Twickenham, we didn’t have a team coach, and then after the match we drove to the Mayfair Hotel in London for the formal dinner, where there were two England players on each table of guests.
"On one occasion, five of us had to share a room at the Mayfair and after one Test my Jowett Jupiter broke down on the Hammersmith flyover. Another player who was following helped push it into the middle of the flyover and gave me a lift as I left it to the AA to recover.”
Last 12 April 1969 at Cardiff (Wales 30-9 England)
“Dick Greenwood was captain when we lost 17-15 in Ireland but he got injured playing squash the night before the French game and I was made captain and broke Wavell Wakefield’s most capped player record, which was pretty special. We beat France very convincingly and then beat Scotland 8-3 at Murrayfield and went down to Wales quite confident.
“The first half was a pretty even contest with the score 3-3 at half time. Then they just tore us apart. It was the beginning of one of the best ever Wales teams, with the likes of Barry John, JPR Williams and Gareth Edwards playing.
“For some reason, who knew why - in those days you just did what you were told - it was decided that Bob Taylor and I should pack down left and right...with me left and all their tries were on our right I almost got to about three of those but I was starting from the wrong side of the scrum. It was a real b*******!
“And that was my last Test as captain, my last England Test altogether. Don White was appointed as England’s first coach and left me out of the squad for the next season and I remember writing to him saying ‘I’m not finished yet’. But I was, that was it. They called me up to captain the 1971 Far East tour, which was uncapped. Then after the 1975 Cup final which Bedford won, Don Rutherford told me ‘Budge, you could still be playing for England now.’
'Rugby has been my life'
“I loved every game for England and playing rugby seemed such a natural thing. People ask the difference playing for club or country and it was the pace, that and the fact that in a club game you knew there would be weaknesses, whereas playing for England you concentrated on your game, your role, and could have confidence that the guy next to you would cover his.
“Would I have liked to play or captain in the professional era? I would have loved to have that pathway because from the day I left school only one person ever offered guidance and that was Don White after an East Midlands county game. He had switched me to blind-side flanker when I came in aged 18 as openside and he would sit in a corner of the clubhouse and talk to me about my game.
“I had no idea at 18 that I could play for England and as captain I remember travelling to Scotland and a selector suggesting how we might play. He was shut down by the Chairman of Selectors who said ‘You be quiet! Budge will stand and fall on his own judgment.’
“Rugby has been my life. It meant I learned how to speak after a dinner, which I would never have done otherwise. And then there are the little things that make you smile. As a travelling reserve in 1961 in a nice hotel on the beach in Cardiff I was introduced to whitebait by Jim Roberts.
“Then there are the friends. I’m planning a trip down to Cornwall with one of my sons and I’ll catch up with Richard Sharp who played fly half for England. All of my pals are rugby pals.”
Could you help to inspire the next generation of rugby talent? The Irwin Mitchell Mentoring Club’s community of mentors will help keep teenagers in the game and benefitting from all it offers into adulthood.
