“That was all down to confidence, to pure belief,” Teichmann explains. “Wales were bloody good that day, right on top of their game, but we scored tries at important times and our discipline towards the end was of a very high standard. But, hey, this trip has been so much harder than last year’s On the one hand, our opponents have improved. On the other, the pressure on us has grown as we’ve closed in on the Grand Slam and this damned record.”I’m just pleased we won in Dublin to make it 17 in succession; it would have been very hard on morale to have slipped up one short of the All Blacks’ figure.

Now we have that one in the bag, we can go out at Twickenham and throw everything at England. It will be a tough game, definitely, but I can’t think of a better way to finish a long, long season.”SWEET 17: THE WINNING STREAKS OF THE TEST RECORD-BREAKERSSOUTH AFRICA1997Australia Pretoria 61-22Italy Bologna 62-31France Lyon 36-32France Paris 52-10England Twickenham 29-11Scotland Murrayfield 68-101998Ireland Bloemfontein 37-13Ireland Pretoria 33-0Wales Pretoria 96-13England Cape Town 18-0Australia Perth 14-13New Zealand Wellington 13-3New Zealand Durban 24-23Australia Johannesburg 29-15Wales Wembley 28-20Scotland Murrayfield 35-10Ireland Lansdowne Road 27-13NEW ZEALAND1965South Africa Auckland 20-31966Lions Dunedin 20-3Lions Wellington 16-12Lions Christchurch 19-6Lions Auckland 24-111967Australia Wellington 29-9England Twickenham 23-11Wales Cardiff Arms Park 13-6France Paris 21-15Scotland Murrayfield 14-31968Australia Sydney 27-11Australia Brisbane 19-18France Christchurch 12-9France Wellington 9-3France Auckland 19-121969Wales Christchurch 19-0Wales Auckland 33-12. REGRETS? I’VE had a few And not too few to mention

Interviewing Sharron Davies – that was one. Obviously it wasn’t the Sharron Davies bit that was a problem, because she was exactly as her public image had led me to expect Confident Articulate. Attractive in a sort of Yes Obviously, But That’s Not Really The Point Is It? way.
And also, as I recall, touchingly committed to her Great Dane, Ben.

Shortly before we met, she had given this 12st character the run of her hotel room while she swam at a competition in Coventry “He’s a bit of a Mummy’s boy,” she said “The hotel didn’t mind. I have an arrangement with their group.” No, the problem occurred with my choice of venue for our in-depth interview. Or, to be more accurate, her choice of venue for our little chat.A Pizza Hut in Leeds city centre, where we were surrounded by 10 awestruck young swimmers with whom she had been practising earlier in the morning.If there is an art to interviewing people over lunch, I have yet to master it. As I attempted to co-ordinate sensible questions with garlic bread with eye contact with sage nodding with pizza margherita, it occurred to me that my sketchy notes were unlikely to be of much use.

Davies’s rapid-fire verbal delivery compounded my difficulty.But all was not lost! I had my tape recorder! And how well that super precision, anti-resonance tape picked up the sound of scraping cutlery and chattering Wigan Wasps.Not so long after that little setback, I travelled to Brussels to cover a grand prix athletics meeting at the Heysel Stadium, where Britain’s recently established Commonwealth 1500 metres champion, Peter Elliott, was due to run.Arriving on the day of the event, I made my way to the organisers’ HQ at the Sheraton Hotel and chanced upon a man widely regarded as the doyen of athletics writers. As we travelled up the escalator towards the meeting office, he asked me if I had come to watch anyone in particular “Peter Elliott.” I replied, Boy Scout style “Oh dear,” he replied, doyen style “He’s not coming.” All right I was younger then Greener And I like to think I have learned from such experiences. I like to think it – but maybe I haven’t.This week I tried to telephone a man in the United States Not, on the face of it, an impossible mission. Especially as I had the complete number and a clear grasp of the man’s name and position. Which, as it happens, was Mark Asanovic of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team.”You have reached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,” the voice said. Way to go! “Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm If you know your party’s extension, please dial it now.