Rugby World Cup: Ex-Waterloo star eyes up World Cup glory yet again

Oct 17 2007 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

MERSEYSIDE can no longer boast of having three clubs – Orrell, Waterloo and LSH – in the top national division, but at least they have a distinguished former player battling on to try and win his second World Cup winners medal.

Big lock forward Ben Kay spent three or four years playing for Waterloo after he left Merchant Taylor’s School in Crosby and became a familiar figure before he moved on to Leicester.

He still keeps in regular contact with his old club, where his late father served as president for a time and is sure to be invited back there after the current competition is over.

He still recalls the moment in that last World Cup Final when he dropped a pass almost over the line, but fortunately for both England and himself, it didn’t affect the final result.

Not surprisingly, he did suffer a serious loss of form a couple of years ago, as did several others, but in the last 12 months has really buckled down again to make himself almost an automatic choice.

He is still not widely hailed as a highly constructive forward, but his all-round work, not merely at the line-out and his consistent firepower, have made him pretty well an automatic selection.

In fact, it is his kind of play that has enabled England to shock the rugby world and reach the final, because he is very much a back-room worker who never stops trying and does not spend half his time trying to catch the public eye.

His performances are typical of the current England pack, who have never given an inch unnecessarily, but they may not be quite enough to overcome the Springboks, who have looked the best side in the competition throughout and unlike New Zealand, have not got into the bad habit of cracking at vital moments.