Tom Smith was 5ft 10in tall, however when speaking to those that knew him and who performed with him you’d hear of a person who was someplace nearer to 10ft 5in tall.
A quiet colossus, a revolutionary in new-age propping within the late Nineties, fairly presumably the best Scottish rugby participant of the skilled period and, within the phrases of a fellow front-row immortal Jason Leonard, one of many best Lions in historical past.
The information of his passing on Wednesday on the sickeningly younger age of fifty shocked the world of rugby. It is not that folks anticipated him to beat the horrible cruelty of his 2019 colon most cancers prognosis, however that was the dearest want and it was given hope when he appeared at Murrayfield final autumn.
When bringing out the match ball on the day Scotland performed South Africa, Smith appeared like a person who may pull off the best miracle. Flanked by his youngsters, it was simpler to droop actuality and conclude that he had years left in him, not months.
What dignity and energy he had that day – and every single day. What class.
‘My form of participant, no worry and no hassle’
Everyone knew that Smith was an ideal participant, however some knew it sooner than others.
Gregor Townsend remembers taking part in with him at schoolboy degree and marvelling at his expertise. A prop who may additionally play quantity eight, a man who may go off each arms, who may run and browse a sport like few others. Townsend, and so many others, may have been devastated by Wednesday’s information.
When researching a e-book on the 1997 Lions, among the sport’s greats have been requested about Smith. The responses have been unimaginable. It was solely if you spoke to his fellow gamers that you just bought the complete realisation of how fantastic he was.
Former Scotland and Lions head coach Jim Telfer: “Tom was exceptional. He was my kind of player, no fear and no bother.”
Ex-Eire and Lions hooker Keith Wooden: “I thought he was magnificent.”
England’s World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson: “Hell of a player.”
Former England and Lions flanker Lawrence Dallaglio: “He didn’t say much, but he didn’t have to. He inspired everyone around him.”
He performed 61 instances for Scotland which was a feat in itself on condition that he was solely 18 when he suffered the primary of the epileptic suits that lived with him all through his taking part in profession.
“During one nocturnal seizure I fell out of bed and broke my toe,” he as soon as recalled. “Then around 2005, I started having daytime seizures which caused short-term memory loss and nasty headaches. I played a Calcutta Cup against England after having a seizure on the day of the game.
“It wasn’t actually one thing I shared with different folks, although. I all the time wished to be judged by what I did on the sector, not by what I did regardless of my epilepsy. There are many folks on the market with epilepsy. They only get on with it.”
Just get on with it – it was his way of things. He played six consecutive Lions Tests in 1997 and 2001 and he just cracked on.
That first tour, in South Africa, is the stuff of legend. That was the beginning of his international story, a prop who had only played three games for his country before being selected by Telfer and Sir Ian McGeechan.
Tour captain Johnson admitted he did not know Smith “from a gap within the head” when the squad was first named. That may change quickly sufficient.
Telfer spotted Smith’s qualities even before he had made his debut for Scotland. He rang McGeechan before the prop’s first cap, against England in 1997, and told him to keep a close eye on him.
“Jim stated: ‘Do not simply have a look at how he will get on within the scrum, have a look at how he will get in regards to the area, how he reads the sport. He is completely different – and I believe he could be the form of man we may use in South Africa’. So I watched him and I may see that he was a particular participant.”
Johnson remembers doing line-out drills early in the famous tour of 1997. It was the effortless way Smith understood his brief and the relentless accuracy of his execution made the captain’s eyes open.
Some of the other props toiled. Smith nailed it every time. Good ball, terrible ball – it didn’t matter. Smith dealt with whatever was thrown at him.
“You then add in his performances – and Gauteng [before the first Test] was the large one,” said Johnson. “He needed to scrummage towards a giant, horrible, nasty workforce in a full-on Take a look at match surroundings at Ellis Park and to try this in addition to doing all the opposite issues he may do was unimaginable.”
Graham Rowntree, the English prop, watched on from the sideline that day.
“I used to be astounded by Tom’s efficiency,” he said. “There have been a number of props round that point who modified propping. It wasn’t nearly set-piece dominance anymore – due to them it immediately turned about what you may do with a ball in hand, what you may do if you make a break.
“Nowadays you take that for granted with all prop forwards, but back then it was only Tom doing that and a couple of French forwards – Christian Califano and Franck Tournaire – and they changed propping.”
‘Small however sturdy… really extraordinary’
The 1997 sequence was probably the most storied in Lions historical past. The sensation was Smith, Keith Wooden and Paul Wallace, the Lions entrance row, have been too small to deal with the monsters they have been going up towards – Os du Randt, Naka Drotske and Adrian Garvey.
The Springbok supporters, their total press pack and far of the visiting media suspected that it was going to finish mercilessly for the vacationers.
It did not, after all. The brilliance, cleverness, mobility and coronary heart of the Lions entrance row received the day after which the sequence. Smith was a outstanding performer. World class from head to toe.
“Tom was small, but he was strong,” stated Wooden final yr. “He was fast and had the most unbelievable hands – I mean, truly extraordinary.
“It was humorous, we toured once more in 2001 and as quickly as we sure up for our first scrum collectively in 4 years it was like settling down into a well-known armchair. It simply felt snug and he would do something to make your job simpler.
“You would tell him you needed something and he would barely acknowledge it, he would just accept it, no matter what you said. He was properly selfless. His job was to do his job and part of his job was to make my life a little bit easier and so that’s what he did.”
Smith spoke about travelling to the primary Take a look at in Cape City in 1997.
“I remember sitting on the bus and and they had flags hanging on all the lampposts on the way to the stadium with a springbok stamping on a lion. And I was like: ‘What the hell am I doing here? Why am I doing this to myself?’. The pressure was just so intense.
“It is humorous the way you look again and keep in mind issues – half the emotion going to the sport was worry. Typically I used to be fairly burdened, fairly nervous and there was a component of worry – worry of failure, which I believe drives many gamers. It actually drove me.”
It drove him on for another eight years as an international player. He kept the fear under wraps, but the bravery? Everybody could see that.
Within the face of terminal sickness, he was by no means extra extraordinary. The tributes are flooding in. He would not have had a lot truck for such reward, however he is deserving of every eulogy. An excellent participant and an amazing man.
