Blakeway, Phil

Phil Blakeway, Fred Reed & Keith Richardson form the Gloucester front row
Steve Colling - GRFC 1975 Calendar

Phil Blakeway was one of the best prop forwards to have played for Gloucester in their long history. A real hard man, he usually played on the blind-side, but could and did play at open-side. He appeared in both positions for England. Indeed, he would have won many more international caps if his career had not been severely disrupted by injury. He was selected for a British Lions tour, but an early injury ended any chance of a Lions cap.

Philip John Blakeway was born in Cheltenham on 31 December 1950, into the family fruit and vegetable wholesale business of Francis Blakeway Ltd. He was educated at King’s School, Sherborne. Whilst at school he suffered a torsion of the bowel, a dangerous condition, and his parents were told that under no circumstances should he be allowed to play a physical contact sport. After leaving school he developed into a good pentathlete, but soon turned his attention to rugby. He started to play for Cheltenham as a loose-head prop in 1968. Phil himself freely admits that at that time he was a bit wild. In a game against Lydney, which was never going to be a quiet affair, Phil took objection to a Lydney forward consistently poking his fingers into his eyes. Phil took retribution, was sent off and received a six-week ban. He says that if the club had represented him at the disciplinary hearing the ban would not have been so long, but the Cheltenham chairman was on holiday, and nobody opened the letter which informed of the hearing. Phil decided he would move up the road to Gloucester.

His first game was on 13 November 1971 against Moseley, whilst a sizeable contingent of Gloucester players was playing for the county team. Phil would find it difficult to play regularly as Mike Burton, at blind-side, Robin Cowling and Keith Richardson were all regular choices in the front row. Phil was now playing at blind-side, and his first try came against Harlequins on 14 October 1972. In the same month, he made his first appearance for Gloucestershire in a friendly game against Glamorgan, and in 1973 represented England at Under 23 level against Japan.

It was not until the 1974-75 season that Phil could gain a really regular spot at blind-side, due to the continued presence of Mike Burton. In the summer of 1975 Phil was selected to go on the England tour to Australia, but he did not appear in any of the test matches.

Phil made his first competitive appearance for Gloucestershire on 8 October 1977, against Devon at Kingsholm. On 26th he turned out for Gloucester against South Wales Police, and received a nasty bang on his neck. He finished the game, told no-one of the injury and, three days later played for the county, scoring a try, against Cornwall. However, the injury had been aggravated, and turned out to be a broken vertebra in the neck. The injury was so threatening that Phil announced his retirement.

In fact, he did not play again until March 1979. Even more remarkable was that Phil made his debut for England against Ireland in January 1980, just over two years after breaking his neck! He played in all four of the Home Nations games, and England won the grand slam. He picked up a rib injury in the France game which would have unfortunate consequences later. In addition to the England games Phil had also played for Gloucestershire in the losing final of the County Championship in February to Lancashire. Overall, Phil had acquitted himself well and was selected for the British Lions tour of South Africa in the summer of 1980.

In the second game of the tour against South Africa Rugby Association Invitation XV, the rib injury was aggravated. It turned out to be a rib break. Phil returned home, only to suffer another bowel torsion which required surgery. Medical advice was not to play for a year, but by October he was back playing for Gloucester. His first game on returning, was not for the faint-hearted; a mid-week game away to Pontypool, then the most powerful club in Wales. Gloucester pulled off a famous victory by 17-15. It was the first time Pontypool had lost at home to an English team since September 1978, nearly two years before. Phil again played in all the England games in 1981. He was now suffering from severe back problems, which had become so bad that, for the second time, he announced his retirement.

Nothing daunted Phil was back playing for Gloucester in October 1981. He captained the South & South-West team against Australia at Kingsholm. The regional team was on top in the forwards until a frustrated Australian fist broke Blakeway’s nose and he had to come off at half-time. In the end Australia won 16-3. That season he played in two more Five Nations games, and also appeared in Gloucester’s John Player Cup Final against Moseley that was drawn 12-12 after extra-time, the cup being shared.

In the autumn of 1982 Phil captained the South-West against Fiji to a 36-6 win, before an unfortunate disagreement with the Gloucester club led to his third retirement. Four days after the Fijian game, Gloucester were due to play Pontypool. Phil declined to play, which led to a Gloucester committee man accusing him of not playing enough games for the club. Phil was upset by this, and announced his retirement.

Like the legendary Phoenix, Phil was back for the start of the 1983-84 season, and captained the South & South West against New Zealand. Seven Gloucester men were included in the forwards, and were well on top. Phil claims that all the advantage was wasted because the instructions were to kick and chase. New Zealand won 18-6. Later in the season he won further caps against Ireland, France and Wales, and also appeared for Gloucestershire in their Championship final victory, 36-18, over Somerset, at Twickenham.

In May 1984 Phil played for England in the first test against South Africa. The front row, all Gloucester, consisted of Blakeway, Steve Mills and Malcolm Preedy. All were dropped after that test!

At the start of the 1984-85 season, Phil injured his rib again, in a pre-season trial game, and was side-lined for 14 weeks. On return he played two games for Gloucester at tight-head, before being selected for England at loose head against Romania, then with ever increasing discomfort against France, Scotland and Ireland. His back and neck problems were now so acute, and a diagnosis that his neck vertebrae, “were a mess”, convinced him that at last it really was the time to retire.

He had won 19 England caps, 19 more for Gloucestershire, and appeared 140 times for the Cherry and Whites. He also played five times for the Barbarians between 1980 and 1985.

Comments about this page

  • I will always remember Phil as a great rugby player who showed no fear

    A true ambassador for the game, England and for the mighty Cherry and Whites

    Thank you Phil

    By Micheal Jones (09/03/2024)
  • Greatest prop to play the game

    By ian hawdon (07/03/2014)
  • As a lad growing up and attending games at Kingsholm, my abiding memory of Phil Blakeway was during a local derby match with Bath where he literally picked up David Trick who was running at full throttle and unceremoniously dumping him into touch….an awe inspiring sight for a young aspiring (if not particularly talented!) prop. Long live King Phil of the Tight Head!!

    By Darren Chandler (04/12/2009)

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