Gadd, John

John Gadd

John Gadd was a hard-working blind-side forward who possessed both speed and a work ethic that few could match. A quiet man off the field, he was dynamic on it – a great ball winner, always ready to do the unseen work on the ground. Of the many great Gloucester players who can consider themselves desperately unlucky not to have won an England cap, John Gadd came closest of all. John was singled out for praise after playing in the England side that overwhelmed The Rest 47-7 in the Final Trial of 1982 and played in uncapped internationals against Canada and Fiji, yet never won a full cap.

John Douglas George Gadd was born in Invercargill, New Zealand in 1960 of a Kenya-born father and English mother. He came to England in 1972 and attended Newent Comprehensive School and Cheltenham College of Technology. While at school in Newent, he played for Gloucestershire Schools Under-16 group and had an England Schools trial. He played club rugby for Newent and for Gloucester Old Boys before coming to Kingsholm.

John made his first appearance for Gloucester on 13 September 1978 against Cheltenham at Kingsholm. However, it was not until the 1980-81 season that he became a regular selection, after playing for the first time alongside Mike Longstaff and Mike Teague in the back row combination that was to serve Gloucester so well in the triumphant 1981-82 season that followed. The match was on a Wednesday evening in Pontypool and Gloucester posted a famous 17-15 victory – the first win by an English club at Pontypool for two years. After a 31-4 victory over Leicester at Kingsholm ten days later, The Times said that “in Teague and Gadd Gloucester have two loose forwards of great promise”. He played for the South West against London in the divisional trials and for England Under-23 against English Students and the Netherlands at the end of that season.

1981-82 was perhaps Gloucester’s greatest season in the amateur era in which they lost just 3 of the 48 fixtures played. The back row of Teague, Gadd and Longstaff was a major factor in this dominance. John Gadd played in 38 of the 48 games, scoring 12 tries, and appeared in the John Player Cup Final against Moseley. Away from Kingsholm, England B selection came in November when he was called up to play alongside Mike Teague against France B at Bristol. England won by 20 points to 10 and The Times said “England Pack the Key to English Triumph.” He played for The Rest against England in the Final Trial and, following the trial, was included in the 20-man squad for the first Five Nations international against Ireland. He did not play in the internationals but was selected for England’s party for the summer tour of the USA and Canada, where he acquitted himself well.

Returning from North America, he played in what the chairman of selectors, Budge Rogers, described as “the strongest available selection” for England against Fiji in an uncapped international at Twickenham in October and was then chosen to play in the Final Trial on December 18 at Twickenham for the senior side England against The Rest. England overwhelmed The Rest by 47 points to 7 and The Times was full of enthusiasm for Gadd’s performance and the prospect of him playing alongside Peter Winterbottom:

“Winterbottom and Gadd are a well-matched pair: Winterbottom fast, upright, the provider at the maul; Gadd like a foxhound as he leans forward scenting for the ball, always willing to get down on the ground and set up the ruck.”

His Gloucester coach Dick Smith, himself overlooked by the England selectors more than once, was equally confident:

“I think Gadd will be in the England side for the next 10 years. He’s a superb forward. Whenever he has the ball, you can guarantee it will come back on our side. He’s prepared to defend too, to get down on the ball and get it moving forward again.”

It was generally felt that Gadd’s moment had arrived, but it was not to be. (Peter Winterbottom went on to become the first England forward to win 50 caps, but John missed out again). He was included in a 30-man squad to train with England at Bisham Abbey, described in The Times as “the unlucky Gloucester flanker, John Gadd, who has come so close to a first cap after a good tour of North America with England last summer.”

Later that month he played for Gloucestershire in a 19-7 County Championship Final victory over Yorkshire at Bristol. Still only 22, he found himself back in the England Under-23 party to tour Romania at the end of the season.

 John played for England against Canada in another uncapped international at Twickenham on October 18 1983, and four weeks later was in the South West side which played the All Blacks at Bristol “still very close to the senior England position”. Once again, he was in the England training squad at Bisham Abbey and was on the winning side in a second successive County Championship Final, helping Gloucestershire beat Somerset 36-18 at Twickenham.  At Easter he helped the Barbarians to a 40-13 victory over Swansea on their Welsh tour.

Still in contention in 1986-87, he played for the South West in the Divisional Championship but, at the start of the following season, Mike Teague and John Gadd severed their connection with Gloucester and joined Stroud, citing lack of time to play senior rugby due to business commitments. When they played in a 19-10 win by Stroud over Salisbury in the southern area league of the Courage Championship in early October, The Times sent their chief rugby correspondent along to report the match! On March 12, John played in the County Championship Final against Lancashire, accredited as a Stroud player. (Mike Teague, restored to Kingsholm, and Mike Longstaff, now a team-mate at Stroud, also played, re-forming the old Gloucester back row).

He returned to Kingsholm in 1988 and played regularly for two more seasons. Reporting on the opening home match, in which Gloucester beat Swansea 35-13, The Times said “Gadd, after his season of relaxation with Stroud, looked as if he’d never been away.” And so it proved in another outstanding season for the Gloucester back row.

In the 1989-90 season under Mike Hamlin’s captaincy Gloucester finished runners-up in both the John Courage Championship and the Pilkington Cup. As in 1981-82 a major factor in their success was the performance of the back row with Ian Smith now at open-side, John Gadd at blind-side and Mike Teague at No.8. Gadd played in 7 of the 11 league games and in every round of the cup.

A red card in the Pilkington Cup Final resulted in John Gadd’s suspension at the start of the 1990-91 season but following his return to first team action in December, he had been playing as well as ever when sadly he received the injury that ended his career. His last match was at Pontypool on 1 March. Kevin Dunn summed up the feelings of many of his Gloucester team mates:

“Gaddy was somebody you’d want on your side all the time.”

Comments about this page

  • Great player, I was lucky enough to play junior rugby with him at GOB RFC.

    By Gerald Norman (05/11/2017)
  • Years ahead of his time, he appreciated ‘running lines’ before the phrase was invented. John Gadd also had the ability to read the game so well and always was in a position to influence the game. Although I may be biased I put him in the same class as recent No 6’s such as Richard Hill and Dan Lydiatt for consistency of performance.

    By Gary Lusty (01/02/2014)

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