This season's Heineken Cup final at Twickenham Stadium may not seem a million miles away to Cornish rugby fans, but the prospect of a trip to English rugby's HQ used to force one of Cornwall's finest rugby products into a major logistical exercise...
This season's Heineken Cup final at Twickenham Stadium may not seem a million miles away to Cornish rugby fans, but the prospect of a trip to English rugby's HQ used to force one of Cornwall's finest rugby products into a major logistical exercise.
The Heineken Cup Trophy Tour spent three days in the county last week and took four ex-England internaitonals to Land's End to illustrate the fact it is only 282 miles to Twickenham from the furthest point west in the country.
Listen to the interview with John Collins by clicking here
One of the famous four was Camborne legend John Collins, who made his first trek to Twickers as long ago as 1947. That was as part of a supporters trip from his home town club of Camborne, while five years later he made the journey for a different reason.
Now 78, John remains the only player from Camborne RFC to be capped by England and was delighted to recall the methods by which he travelled to London as both a fan and a player.
"My first trip was with my Dad as a fan on the supporters bus from Camborne to see England play Scotland in March, 1947. We left early on Friday morning and arrived at 10.00pm that evening," said John.
"It was a near 14 hour coach journey with stops in Honiton and Salisbury. It was a releif to get there, but there was huge excitement on the bus, especially among the youngsters.
"We stayed in central London and went out to Twickenham for the game the next day. It was back into the city for a show on the Saturday night and then the long journey home on the Sunday.
"It didn't really matter how you travelled in those days it seemed to take an age. When I played in my first England trial at Twickenham I remember catching the Cornish Riviera train and that took a good eight hours to get to London.
"That was how I went to London when I won my first cap. I was picked to play against Scotland in Edinburgh on 15 March, 1952 and I caught the train to London on the Wednesday morning.
"We met up and stayed in London that night before travelling to Scotland by train on the Thursday. We had a bit of a run around together on the Friday and then some of the players went off to play golf.
"We had a look at Murrayfield on the morning of the match and then had lunch together and talked over a few tactics. It was a great feeling playing for England, although I think my father, Phil, was even more nervous than I was."
Phil Collins handed down his love of rugby to his son. A centre who played 44 times for Cornwall, captained Camborne and played against four touring teams, he travelled all the way from Camborne to Edinburgh by train to watch his son make his Test debut.
"I think Dad shed a few tears, but I felt quite calm. The only problem I had was in the dressing room before the game when I found myself as one of three England players who wanted to follow their personal tradition of being the last player out of the tunnel," recalled John.
"One of them was the Penzance & Newlyn back row forward John Kendall-Carpenter. In the end I left the other two to fight it out am\ong themselves - I wasn't going to miss out on a moment of my big day."
England beat the Scots 19-3 to end a run of nine successive away defeats stretching back over a five year period. So what does John remember of that great day.
"We were quite a good side and we beat them quite easily in the end. I was a very good drop kicker and I had a chance from near half-way early on and it just went past the upright.
"I had one chance with a goalkick because we scored a try on the right and as I was a left footed kicker I was offered the conversion. In those days a player held the ball for the kicker, but Pat Sykes and myself hadn't done any practice.
"He held it at the top, but I was used to having someone hold both ends of the ball and then letting go at the right moment. I asked him to hold the ball in two hands, but he said he had never done that before.
"In the end he let go a bit early and the ball went through the air like a balloon and missed by a mile."
John eventually got home to Camborne on Monday evening after travelling from Edinburgh to London on Sunday and then London to Cornwall the following day. Next up for England and John after that triumph were Ireland at Twickenham.
The game had been postponed from 9 February because of the death of King George VI and had it not been for the fact the Irish had travelled the game could have been called off again because of blizzard like conditions.
"I caught a taxi to the station on Thursday morning and arrived at Paddington at 5.00pm. Then I got the tube to Richmond where I met up with the rest of the England players," recalled John.
"We had a a get together and then went off to see a show the night before the game. Unfortunately there was a lot of snow the night before the game and the match was in doubt for a while," said John.
"There was a large contingent of supporters from Camborne booked on the train to come to the game, but they weren't aware of the icy conditions and many of them weren't prepared for the cold on the day of the game. When we got to Twickenham everything was covered in snow.
"The ground staff managed to clear half of the pitch and all the snow was pushed back on the banks. That mean't there was a smaller than usual crowd.
"I was so excited at playing for England at Twickenham that I didn't feel the cold at all, although I know that my grandfather took a couple of drops of whiskey to keep himself warm.
"I think we made a little bit of rugby history that day because the referee, Ivor David, allowed us to go into the dressing rooms at half-time to change our kit. We won 3-0 against an Irish side containing Jackie Kyle thanks to a try by Brian Boobbyer.
"After the post-match meal I went to Paddington with my family to see off the Camborne supporters as they caught the midnight train back to Cornwall."
John's third and final cap came against France in Paris in April - and another win. This time two Nim Hall penalties tipped the scales 6-3 in England's favour
"I left for Paris on Wednesday morning,. stayed in London on that night and travelled to Paris on Thursday. I eventually got back home on Monday night, although I wouldn't have worried if it had taken seven days," said John.
Life is a lot different now, with Twickenham being a mere four hour drive from Cornwall. Even so, John will have to take the train to get to the Heineken Cup final because he has never driven in his life.
