Brian 'Stack' Stevens, England rugby player – obituary

Brian 'Stack' Stevens
Brian 'Stack' Stevens Credit: PA Archive

Brian 'Stack' Stevens, who has died aged 77, was a Cornish farmer who played 25 times as a prop forward for England and scored a dramatic try in his country’s first-ever away victory over New Zealand in 1973 – charging, as one writer put it, “like a runaway bullock”.

He had also been on the tour, two years before, in which the British and Irish Lions achieved their historic first series victory over the All Blacks on their home soil. He turned down a place on the Lions’ 1974 tour of South Africa because, in those amateur days, he could not afford to leave the family farm for four months. “I was haymaking,” he said ruefully afterwards, “when the Lions were thrashing the Springboks.”

One of his most memorable performances was in South Africa in 1972, when his powerful scrummaging demolished the giant Afrikaner prop, Theo Sauerman, and helped England to a victory that caused some surprise after they had finished bottom of the Five Nations championship that year.

It was Stevens’s bad luck to be playing for England teams at a time when they were in the doldrums, failing to win the championship for 16 seasons between 1963 and 1980. This is largely attributed to erratic selection policy.

It was a mark of Twickenham’s incompetent management that Stevens’s remarkable talent had gone unnoticed before he reached the age of 29. Penzance was evidently too far for the selectors to travel in those days. It was only when he made some storming appearances for Cornwall in the county championship that they were forced to sit up and take notice.

Brian 'Stack' Stevens on the ball with Ireland's Ken Kennedy behind and John Moloney (right) at Twickenham  in 1974
Brian 'Stack' Stevens on the ball with Ireland's Ken Kennedy behind and John Moloney (right) at Twickenham  in 1974 Credit: Colorsport/REX/Shutterstock

His first international was in an England victory over the touring South Africa side in 1969, followed by a victorious debut against Ireland in 1970. He captained his country for one match in 1971. As an amateur Stevens found it hard to get from Cornwall to England training sessions, sometimes hitching a ride on a lorry carrying vegetables to Covent Garden. For that reason he switched clubs to Harlequins for a short time.

Brian Claude Stevens (always known in rugby circles as Stack) was born at Godolphin, Cornwall, on January 2 1940 as the youngest of six children. He was educated at Leedstown High School and Cornwall Technical College. He appeared for the Cornish Pirates “Mounts Bay” Colts at the age of 16 and made his debut for Penzance & Newlyn in 1958 when he was 18.

He played more than 500 games for Penzance (now renamed the Cornish Pirates) and 83 for Cornwall, captaining the county from 1973 to 1975. He also represented the Barbarians.

Stevens was a member of the pantheon of great Cornish internationals that includes John Kendall-Carpenter, Vic Roberts, Richard Sharp, Phil Vickery and now Jack Nowell. His England career ended in 1975, when he was 35, handing over his loose-head position in the scrum to the great Fran Cotton.

In 1980 he married Jane Vingoe, the daughter of another Cornish player, with whom he had two sons, Sam and John, the latter of whom appeared for the Cornish Pirates.

Stevens suffered in later life from a rare neurological condition which he faced with what the RFU described as “the same courage he always displayed on the rugby field”.

He leaves his wife and two sons.

Brian “Stack” Stevens, born January 2 1940, died October 10 2017

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