What became of 'Gurkha', the fearless cult hero they put in jail after the Battle of Brive
| Published date | 05 February 2021 |
| Publication title | WalesOnline (Wales) |
“I think it was the Chief that came up with that name and it just stuck.”
It’s a pretty appropriate one, as the cult-hero ex-Pontypridd hooker was certainly fearless.
He never took a backward step, as famously illustrated during the Battle of Brive, and it made him hugely popular with the Sardis Road faithful.
It also took him to the brink of a Wales cap, only for his hopes to be dashed by a moment of madness he struggles to explain to this day.
Having started out at Merthyr RFC, from where he won his Wales Youth cap, John joined Pontypridd at 19 in 1982.
“The club was going through a rebuilding process, so we took a bit of a battering in my early days, a few pastings,” he recalls.
But, with the arrival of the Jones brothers -Clive and Chris -as coaches in 1987, so fortunes changed.
“They turned the club completely on its head,” said John.
“They took us from a bit of a laughing stock to a side to be reckoned with.”
Forwards coach Chris Jones had famously been banned for life twice for his indiscretions on the field with Treorchy and he instilled an uncompromising approach.
“We all knew about his reputation about being sent off and going up the mountain and this and that,” said John.
“What I got from him was he would tell you the truth.
“You’d come off knowing you didn’t have a good game, but trying to convince yourself you did, and he’d say ‘You were terrible, terrible. You were dreadful’.
“What he wanted off us was physicality in every game.
“He went out and got the likes of Adrian Owen, who was renowned, Mac Knowles, Denzil Earland, Jim Scarlett.
“These were boys who were up his street. He loved them because there was only way they could play.
“He wanted to make us fearless, so sides didn’t want to come to Ponty, didn’t want to play us. So when they did come there, they were half beaten anyway.
“Training nights were worse than a game. We didn’t hold back. There would be so many boys going down to Ponty Hospital to get stitched up after training.
“Our game was rucking and there was no holds barred.
“We were renowned for being ruthless on the field. Possibly that’s where the House of Pain might have come from.
“At the time, I just wanted to win, but I have seen the old tapes and, looking back on it now, even I’m cringing the way we ran over people. You think ‘Were we really like that’
“You would just run in and, if they were on the floor you rucked them out of there. If it was the head, it was the head.
“It was allowed in them days. You would have your linesman on one side and their linesman on the other and you just got away with it.
“Today now, I wouldn’t have a career, I think half the side wouldn’t have a career because we’d be cited every week.
“I’d run out and give my opposite number the old ‘Come on then’, just to put the fear of God in him.
“I wanted that little bit of reputation, so it would proceed me. I wanted hookers to worry about me.
“That’s what was instilled in us. We had people talking about us, maybe for the wrong reasons, but they were talking about us.”
And people began talking about John in international terms, with Wales B honours coming his way and then a call up to the bench for the England game during the 1989 Five Nations.
So what recollections does he have of that day
“Not going on!” he replies with a chuckle.
“It’s frustrating. You are part of the squad and you aren’t, you are in, but you are not.
“Everything revolved around the first XV.
“I do remember the fantastic feeling coming in on the bus and seeing all the supporters. I remember that vividly.
“As for the game, I remember Mike Hall scoring, but it was too much to take on in one.”
Of course, in those days, replacements only came on in the case of an injury, so there was to be no cap, with starting hooker Ian Watkins seeing out the duration of Wales’ 12-9 win.
“There was one incident where he made a break and turned his...
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