We reunite Will Greenwood with doctor who saved his life on Lions tour

Telegraph

10-07-2025

One of the most memorable moments of the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 1997 was a harrowing one. In a tour match against the Free State in Bloemfontein, Will Greenwood was knocked unconscious after his head smashed into the rock-hard ground.
It was over to Dr James Robson, a Lions legend in his own right, to treat Greenwood, who had swallowed his tongue and was struggling to breathe. The incident was captured in intimate detail in the Living with Lions documentary, ensuring it has gone down in folklore.
'Gentlemen, thank you so much for making time for this, it is an honour to be able to facilitate this reunion and to relive one of the most poignant moments in the history of the Lions.'
'It's going to be a very one-sided interview because I don't remember too much!'
'James, let's start at the beginning.'
'The 1997 Lions tour was one of the most special. I remember going up to the Highveld, we flew up for the midweek game between the first and second Tests, against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein. One of the striking things was the temperature. It was a roasting hot day.
'The other thing is that it appeared we were playing on a ground that was like green concrete. The pitch was so hard. It was one of the fastest games I think I've ever witnessed, the speed from both sides because of the conditions was phenomenal. Will was playing fantastically well.'
'The lads had won the first Test, and we flew up to Bloem knowing that we had to keep winning to keep the tour going. Mum and Dad had flown over from the UK that day. Now the players all have short-sleeved jerseys. In the old days you had a decision to make. They were all long sleeves. You either left them long or cut them off with scissors. I always cut my sleeves off.
'But on that night, Allan Bateman had been out for a warm-up. He told me not to cut my sleeves off because it was a bit dewy and he knew how I liked to carry the ball and thought I might get a bit more purchase with the moisture and fabric of the sleeve. Lo and behold, the sleeves that I did not cut off, were the sleeves with which I was whipped around in the tackle by Jaco Coetzee, the Free State No 8. It was the last thing I remember.'
'In the tackle Will had been whipped around and struck his head on the ground.
'Typically, he had been injured on the furthest side from the medical team, so we had a bit of a trek to run on. Luckily Rob Wainwright was playing. Rob was a medic in the army, and he administered the first aid to Will, putting him into the recovery position.'
'Backy [Neil Back] stood over me and said: 'You should have passed, you greedy t---.' That was how it was reported back to me!'
'The beauty about medics and rugby players is that black humour is entirely acceptable. I remember running on to Will and he was having what looked like a fit, he was shaking and sort of convulsing a little so that was scary for those of us around him. I remember taking him off the pitch on a stretcher and as we approached the touchline, I distinctly remember Will's mum saying: 'William, William, what have you done?''
'When I am a bit p----d now, my lads take the mickey out of me by saying, 'William, William, what have you done?!''
'You do feel for parents, you feel for loved ones when they see their loved ones being taken off injured. Will had lost the ability to maintain his airway, so the tongue tends to slip back. I don't like the term 'swallow your tongue'. If you are lying back the tongue can slip back, which is why Rob put you in the recovery position.
'We got into the medical room, and I was struggling to maintain his airway and I kept thinking any minute now a more senior doctor will come and relieve me. It was automatic. My instinct was just to maintain his airway. Get oxygen on him, get him to a place of safety and get help. It is only in the aftermath you think about, 'What if?'
'Fortunately, he decided to wake up. I remember his mum coming to the door of the medical room and vaguely said, 'He's fine', lying through my teeth.'
'I've watched the video, and I wake up when she whispers in my ear. I come around and I don't know whether I was rude to her, but she says, 'He'll be fine now, he'll be fine'.'
"Has he broken his neck?"
I never knew my Mum had said that until 15 minutes ago and this happened in 1997. I have never brought myself to watch the DVD.
When you are shouting and screaming at players just remember they are part of a family who just want their kids to be safe.. pic.twitter.com/QC8qJHphbj
— Will Greenwood (@WillGreenwood) July 30, 2021
'How did you keep the airway open?'
'We can do a jaw-thrust manoeuvre. If you are conscious and someone does it, it is incredibly uncomfortable. When you are unconscious it doesn't matter, you just bring the mandible forwards and that brings the tongue forwards, and it opens the airway. It is a life-saving manoeuvre, there is no doubt about that, because if you lose your airway, you are not going to last too long.'
'How long was I out for?'
'That is difficult to say. It seemed like an eternity. You were out long enough for the time we administered help on the ground, then got you on and off the stretcher the full length of the pitch and into the medical room. So, you are talking for a few minutes there. He ended up in the neurosurgical unit, that's how serious it was.'
'In the old days you didn't leave the field with concussion because it meant you were out for 21 days. My dad is 83 now, and he tells the story of me in the back of the ambulance, and I sat bolt upright on the gurney. 'Dad, dad, tell them it is my hamstring', I said, because I didn't want to miss the second Test. Now I don't know whether to laugh or cry.'
'Fortunately, things have changed now, players will own up to concussion, players around them will say, 'Doc, he is not right, you need to get him off'.'
'I remember waking up in a Bloemfontein hospital, lifting the sheets and wondering why I had a Lions kit on. I couldn't work it out. I also remember calling out, 'Oh, my shoulder' and hearing an Afrikaans accent say, 'Don't worry Mr Greenwood, you banged your head'. It was actually my shoulder that gave me problems next season, not my head. Amid the stress to save my life, I had actually also sprung my AC [acromioclavicular] joint. I also noticed my gumshield was in my sock. Who put it there Robbo?'
'I think it was Rob. Nowadays we would leave it in unless it was causing an obstruction but in those days, we tried to clear the airway.'
'The Lions team went back down to Durban straight away to prepare for the second Test. I stayed on with Will. I remember going back the following morning and they said you had been complaining about your shoulder but that it was quite common for people with head injuries to think they have injured something else. But you actually had injured your shoulder.'
'Did you take me back?'
'Yes, we went down on the plane. Now I think we should have stayed up for another day or two.'
'I can't remember any of that. I spoke to my missus every day for three days. We had only just started going out back then. When I finally came around, at least in my head anyway, I told her I was so sorry I hadn't called her. She said, 'What are you talking about? We have spoken for an hour and half every day'.'
'That shows the gravity of the head injury. I felt more reassured when I saw him the following morning, I must admit, I was still anxious, but I knew it was in a place of safety. You rely on your secondary-care colleagues and when you're abroad, you're relying on people that you've never met before. But medics are medics the world over. We share a close bond. I've got regrets. As I say, I wish that I stayed another day in Bloemfontein and that would have made the plane journey a little bit less worrisome. But Lions tours are special, and these guys that play for the team are extra special.'
'My dad gave me a score for every single game that I played for England and the Lions. I got a double plus for something special, then a plus, a zero for neutral and a minus. My score in the World Cup final in 2003 was 88.6 per cent – I missed one tackle, I made one s--- pass and one knock-on – it still really p----- me off. I say this because we chased the perfect game.
'The irony of ironies, this game was the closest I ever got to the perfect game. I scored 99 per cent. I had one neutral touch, but no negative touches, like Robbo said, we flew out of the blocks and took them apart. Brendan Venter was my opposite man and he sent me his shirt after the game because we hadn't been able to swap it. It was a really nice touch.'
'Did you go back home then?'
'Yes. I remember being in Durban watching Jerry Guscott kick his drop-goal and drinking far too much alcohol after being told to have six months without alcohol. Fran Cotton [the Lions manager] had played with my old man, and he said I could stay. But I was uncapped and didn't really know what the form was. I just felt I was a spare part. Now I would have stayed. It is one of my great regrets. Instead, I went to the Henley festival and watched the third Test on a big screen.'
'Yes, I hadn't watched the incident back until we had a 25 th anniversary of the tour. We did a whole heap of interviews in the build-up to the reunion and they surprised us on a call by showing it to me. It knocked me for six. Not for myself, but I just felt sick watching it for my mum and dad.
'As a rugby player you have to feel you're invincible. You feel invincible. The docs and the medics, they make you feel invincible. I remember thinking it was just a blur, and suddenly I was in Henley watching the third Test and I had not really said goodbye and thinking, 'S---, I should have done'. Hopefully through the years I have said thanks quietly and privately. I am hugely grateful to James for what happened that night.'
'I love the job that I've done. I'm proud to say that I've been there and stood at the pitch-side to look after a lot of these boys. It's a job that I wish I could continue to do, but at some point you've got to hand over the reins. His name crops up every now and again, sometimes he is after tickets, other times he's just asking me how I am. I'm just glad for Will's sake that everything worked out well.'