It is 20 years since Bill McClaren roared the famous words into his microphone as Scott Gibbs broke English hearts.
‘He’s like the leader in a buffalo stampede, that lad!’ With the Millennium Stadium still a building site, Wales had relocated their home games to Wembley. They stepped into enemy territory but they were flanked by Tom Jones, Max Boyce and a sea of red supporters baying for English blood.
England had dominated the rivalry for a decade — winning eight out of nine meetings — and they were 80 minutes away from the Grand Slam.
Scott Gibbs leaves England players behind as he sets off to score his winning try in 1999
England players look distraught as they let the Grand Slam slip in the final seconds of the game
Dan Luger gave England the lead inside two minutes but they were confronted by 15 Welshmen hell bent on upsetting the odds.
Wales hung in there and, in the dying moments, Gibbs broke through like that buffalo for one of the greatest tries in Welsh rugby history.
The Mail on Sunday tracked down four players involved in the iconic match, England winger Steve Hanley, No 10 Mike Catt, Wales flanker Colin Charvis and Gibbs himself, to relive their memories.
STEVE HANLEY: It was my first and only Test. ‘Keep your head down and don’t look up at the Welsh crowd,’ they told me. The day before, when Jonny Wilkinson and Catty were practising their kicking, it had felt like a home game. On the day of the match, we drove up Wembley Way and there was a lot of jeering. I remember just being hit by that sea of red. I loved it.
SCOTT GIBBS: I’d never experienced a support like that outside Cardiff. We’d been incarcerated in the locker room so we missed Max Boyce and Tom Jones belting out Delilah. We were massive underdogs and it felt like there were 100,000 Welshmen when we went out.
MIKE CATT: The sun was shining on the dog track around the edge of the pitch… it was all set up for the perfect day.
COLIN CHARVIS: There was the Stereophonics song, too: As long as we beat the English! It felt like a little bit of Wales in London.
HANLEY: Before kick-off, Martin Johnson walked out the changing room and said to me: ‘I’ve waited all season to play with you’. As far as man-management goes, that made me feel on top of the world.
CATT: It was one of those games where our discipline cost us. We should have been absolutely out of sight. Completely. Neil Jenkins just kept Wales in the game and we couldn’t get two or three scores ahead. We had a penalty to move us further ahead and it was the classic: ‘Do we go for the corner or do we go for goal?’ It reminds me of the 2015 World Cup, when a young Chris Robshaw, young Owen Farrell and young George Ford gathered around to make a decision. It was a young Lawrence Dallaglio who made the decision to go for a lineout and, as history tells you, we conceded a dubious penalty for a tackle on Charvis.
Gibbs (arms raised) celebrates after scoring a late try as Wales fans go wild in the stands
CHARVIS: Tim Rodber got me with a good, firm tackle and there was a clash of heads. It left me with six fractures to my face but there wasn’t any malice. There were still 10 minutes left to play and my face was up like a balloon. We’d hung on for dear life all game, so we kicked for the corner and went for it. We called a shortened lineout, Trifecta, which we had up our sleeve.
GIBBS: After training that week, Rob Howley and I had discussed a Hail Mary play called Richmond if we were chasing the game. We would get the ball off the top and into Scott Quinnell’s hands. We knew he’s draw a lot of attention so we’d try to find someone on the cutback. He fumbled it and I found a way through to cross. It was a split-second decision of, ‘Do I run over him or evade him?’ I skipped out of contact and went through almost untouched.
HANLEY: I ran across the pitch at full tilt to try and tackle Scott and he wrong-footed me. Even if it was touch rugby I wouldn’t have stopped him. Then he beat Matt Perry and the place went mental.
GIBBS: There was genuine relief that we’d battled and clawed our way back into the game. It wasn’t a difficult conversion for Neil Jenkins. He did what he always did. Neil and I played together, holding hands, for Pontypridd Under 11s and all the way through our international career.
CHARVIS: It was a defining moment for that group of players. We were a generation that hadn’t experienced much joy against England. Suddenly it was: ‘Oh my God. We’re gonna do this. We’re gonna beat England.’
Neil Jenkins kicks the winning points for Wales on a glorious day at Wembley in April 1999
Wales lock Chris Wyatt jumps high to win the line out ball in the sunshine as England battle
CATT: It was soul destroying. We tried to get back with a drop goal but I should never have gone for that kick. It was too far out. I just swung at it but we should have kept playing. After that, Clive got us all together and asked, ‘How many drop goals do you think we could score in a game?’ It was a catalyst. We had never really used drop goals as a weapon but Wilko started kicking them on a regular basis. He went on and won the World Cup with a drop goal.
We became a lot more resilient because all the abuse that was chucked our way. I sent my drivers’ licence to the DVLA in Wales for renewal. It got sent back with a post-it note saying, ‘Scott Gibbs for Prime Minister’!
CHARVIS: We went back to our hotel in Kensington, the Royal Garden, and had a couple of gin and tonics. The next morning, Graham Henry held the bus till 11.05 so we could stroll over to the off licence across the road and grab a couple of cans of Red Stripe for the journey back. There were Welsh flags hanging off all the bridges on the way back down the M4. Swindon, Reading, everywhere
GIBBS: We grew up in the 70s when the rivalry was dominated by Wales, who had some of the greatest names in history. I remember watching JPR Williams in 1979. We carried that burden. It was certainly the best moment for me in a Welsh jersey — and it cost the English quite a chunky win bonus!
Lawrence Dallaglio, who made the incorrect call at a late penalty, hands off Ben Evans
The Welsh team celebrates after winning the game and denying England the Grand Slam
HANLEY: At the time, I was at university in Preston with a lot of Welsh lads. They all watched it in the Students’ Union and, on our next night out, they made me stand on a chair and drink a horrible pint in a Scott Gibbs shirt. It was followed up by a pint of soda water and I was sick everywhere!
GIBBS: It was about a month later that it really sunk in. The celebrations were over and I met two elderly ladies in the grocery store in Swansea. One had her arm in a sling and the other had this terrible cut over her eye. I felt like they were following me around the store and eventually they stopped to ask me about that day.
I asked what had happened to them. One told me she had jumped up off the sofa in elation and dislocated her shoulder, while the other one cut her eye on the light fitting. They said it with a smile. Maybe there’ll be another moment of history next week.
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