By Stockers
February 12 2004

The news that Budge has been forced to retire from the game through injury has hit us all like a stone from a catapult. In a way, we knew it was coming as stories drifted around that Budge, our Budge, could not shake off the effects of injury. But it is still the news we did not want to hear. This time, it was a broken ankle, suffered so cruelly in a friendly match at the start of this season, when hope and anticipation of the glorious battles ahead must have filled him with enthusiasm. It was the last in a long line of injuries nobly sustained and honourably borne as the scars of battle. Budge is a warrior of rugby and the courage of the man in putting his head where others would not dare to put their feet, in the words of Wayne Smith, his club coach, has amazed his team mates and fans alike and similarly infuriated opponents the world over. He bravely came back, more than once, from damage that would have made most men hide in a monastery or wrap themselves in cotton wool for the rest of their lives, but not our Budge.

Budge should really have applied for membership of the Magic Circle judging by the way he could snaffle or stop opposition ball at the ruck. Very few other back rows in the world have his ability to frustrate the enemy when they think that the ball is really their property to do with as they wish. He would often be labelled “a cheat” by those less well versed either in the laws of the game or in the jungle rule book which is the only legislation at the bottom of the ruck. Just as Matt Dawson knows he’s having a good game at Kingsholm when The Shed start sledging him, Budge would know that he’d got the measure of his opponents when the cries of “Pountney....... you cheating so and so !!” echoed round The Rec or Welford Road.

But there was much more to Budge’s game than that. His captaincy, both of his club and his adopted country, Scotland, showed the thinking rugby player and the proud man committed to the cause. He wore both shirts with pride, none more so than when Scotland achieved a wholly unexpected victory over England, the Grand Slam champions in waiting, at Murrayfield in April 2000. As he trotted round the Edinburgh turf on a lap of honour with his fellow Scottish Saints, Mattie Stewart, Craig Moir & Richard Metcalfe, the look of sheer pride and quiet satisfaction at a such an achievement showed the true make up of the man.

His time as a Scotland internationalist was not always easy and ended controversially. His Hampshire roots were no basis for wearing the Thistle but, under Ian McGeechan’s influence, qualification due to a Channel Islands granny brought Scotland their best open side flanker for many a year. He gradually became accepted by most, if not all, Scottish rugby fans through his sheer guts and determination on the field and eventually rose to captain the side. Only injury (again!) stopped him becoming a British Lion in 2001 and if there is one area for regret in Budge’s great career, this must be it.

His time with Scotland ended, as has been well documented, in a row over training standards and support for the international squad. Budge spoke his mind and literally walked out of a training session and it is to his credit that long overdue changes are at last being made to the running of Scottish rugby from the top down.

At his home ground, Franklin’s Gardens, his retirement from international rugby was greeted with understanding and the view that at last we would have our Budge all to ourselves and that at last his body might get less of a battering. We had failed to realise that the Gold Black and Green shirt was just as important to Budge as the dark blue of Scotland, if not more so and it wasn’t long before bits were getting damaged again, even one very sensitive bit that some guy from Reading stood on during a match at The Gardens.

Of course, Budge bounced back from that nasty injury and fearlessly took to the field again after a short break. Many of us who call a good game from the stands or terracing would have been rather less keen to jump straight back into the fray after that.

Ten years of First XV Saints rugby since his debut, 46 tries for his club and 5 for his country and a Heineken Cup Winners medal (not forgetting the Calcutta Cup ofcourse) and the opening try when Leicester’s lengthy home record was toppled are one measure of the man as a player but not of the man as a man.

Brave yet unassuming. Determined but seemingly laid back off the field. A scowling player who growled at the enemy and some referees but was all smiles afterwards. A true club man who always had time for a word with supporters. Founding member of the Steve Lander Fan Club.

Good luck to Budge and Ali for the future. This will not be the last we have heard of Anthony Charles Pountney in rugby and it is to be hoped that his early steps into coaching will lead to another successful stage in his illustrious rugby career.

Thank you for the memories Budge. Once a Saint, always a Saint.



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