The Waratahs have used an inspirational visit from NSW and Wallabies old boy Richard Tombs as they look to upset the Queensland Reds in their Super Rugby match on Friday.
Tombs was a member of the 1991 Waratahs squad that went through the season unbeaten and a member of the World Cup-winning squad that year, but his life changed dramatically in August 2018 when he suffered a spinal injury that has left him in a wheelchair.
Tahs captain Jake Gordon and coach Darren Coleman revealed Thursday that Tombs had addressed the team this week, with tangible experience from his playing days.
Tombs spoke of the moment everything changed during an over 35s football (soccer) match in a piece he wrote for The Roar’s sister publication Athletes Voice, in 2019.
“I wouldn’t call it ‘social soccer’. In fact, across my 12 seasons playing for Curl Curl in the Manly-Warringah over 35s competition, it was always very competitive. I was never one to play muck-around sport. I play competitively and enjoy that aspect of sport,’ Tombs wrote.
“I’m a team-first kind of player, so when our goalkeeper broke his ankle in a match late last season, I offered to fill in for the final 20 minutes. I hadn’t played a lot at goalkeeper but went in and did my best.
“I soon realised that it’s quite a vulnerable position to play. When the ball came across the box a couple of times, I went out like a ‘keeper does to punch it away, but it struck me that, with your arms raised like that, your whole body is exposed to physical contact.
(Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
“Nevertheless, with our regular ‘keeper out of action, I offered to fill in again the next week, against Wakehurst up at Frenchs Forest.
“It was only about 10 or 15 minutes into the game when I had to deal with an awkward ball that came bouncing across the box. I went out to get it, with one of our defenders doing a good job of shielding the opposition striker from challenging me.
“The ball got into my arms and my defender peeled off. But the striker kept coming through. He ran into my head with his thigh. The impact knocked me with a sort of whiplash onto my back. That was the instant.
“Almost immediately, as I looked up at the sky, I realised I could hardly move. I could flail my arms around a bit but didn’t have control of them. I couldn’t move anything else and I knew I wasn’t in a good state.
“I was telling my teammates not to move me. I knew I had to keep calm because it wouldn’t have helped for me to panic. I had to cool the jets, cool everyone else’s jets and tell them to call an ambulance.”
Join experts Brett McKay, Harry Jones and Jim Tucker for Ep.2 of The Roar Rugby Podcast. Stream it below, save it for later, or follow on Apple, Google, Spotify and more.
Tombs was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital and into surgery, waking up a couple of days later.
“Another day or two after that, the surgeon came around for ‘the chat’. It was surreal, to be honest,” Tombs wrote.
“The inevitable question was, ‘Well, what’s my prognosis?’ The surgeon’s reply was, ‘I can’t tell you. Every spinal cord injury is different. We’re just going to have to wait and see’.”
Tombs had some good initial progress before his attempts to walk again were thwarted by spasticity. He later set up a Guns Out Spinal Foundation to bring together people going through the same challenges, and the raise awareness of the impact of spasticity, and to help fund research to find a cure.
“I love meeting people and learning more about different people and different organisations and how I can assist them, I get a lot out of it myself,” he told the Northern Beaches Review. “If I can bring benefits to an organisation or individuals, I love being a part of that.”
Richard Tombs (Photo by Getty Images)
He has been overwhelmed with the support he’s received, with the fellowship of rugby getting him through some tough times.
“It’s hard to come to terms with the idea of being needy,” Tombs wrote. “I’ve always been a very independent man. Despite how frustrated I feel, I recognise how lucky I am to have such great support. People and relationships are the most important things in life.
“I was fortunate to play in some great teams at different levels. I think back to my days at The Armidale School, where I attended for Years 11 and 12. In our final year, we went through undefeated, which was a really rare thing.
“We beat Joeys for the first time in 76 years and had four of us picked in the combined GPS Schools sides, which hadn’t happened for 30 or so years.
Then, in 1991, the Waratahs went through undefeated, including beating England and France, which led to me being selected in the World Cup squad.
“Those exceptional seasons were memorable, of course. But the core of my rugby friendships come from my club rugby days with Northern Suburbs.
“To me, club rugby was such a great environment, something I wish the young elite players of today would experience a bit more.”
Gordon said Tombs story had resonated with the players.
“He’s had some challenges that we haven’t faced and it was an inspiration to hear him speak,” said Gordon.
“Obviously it’s a really good test for us [against the Reds] and [Tombs’ visit] works perfectly with what we’ve got coming. It was awesome.”
Coleman added: “”There’s some guys there that it resonated with. You’ve only got to look at him and it’s confronting and it makes football players appreciate that any day things can change quick.”
Tombs also spoke to the players about his experience of playing in a NSW team that went from easy beats to the best team in the land.
“He spoke a lot about his rugby journey, which was tangible for us,” Gordon said.
“He’d been in teams that have struggled and which turned it around the year after. The other stuff was more inspirational for us, the way he’s dealt with that.”
There is a lot of hope around the country, but there's so much more work still to be done.
Some of the players don’t seem to have much of an emotional impact to losing.
It's another big week of trans-Tasman rivalry with four Aussie teams going up against Kiwi opponents and the Brumbies hosting the Fijian Drua. See…
The final result was 4-1 for the Kiwi sides but some of the results could easily have been different with a bit more maturity from the Aussies.
What has the pressure been like on DC at Tahs HQ? Harry Johnson-Holmes chats to Christy Doran and Matt Toomua on the Roar Rugby…
Layne Morgan took time out from Mad Monday to join the Roar Rugby Podcast. Ahead of the Wallaroos squad announcement, she highlighted how much…
