Lives Remembered: Dickie Jeeps, 1931-2016
Former British and Irish Lions scrum-half and England captain Dickie Jeeps may have been only 5ft 7in tall but there was something almost indestructible about him.
Ex-England rugby captain Dickie Jeeps dies aged 84
With his enormous strength and unashamedly competitive streak, one former team-mate called him “the toughest, hardest player around”.
He certainly proved a valuable asset during his international playing career, in which he appeared 24 times for England between 1956 and 1962, 13 of which were as captain and won 13 caps on three tours for the British Lions, both of which were record figures at the time.
At club level he played for Northampton Saints and Cambridge. The son of a fruit farmer, Richard Eric Gautrey Jeeps was born in Chesterton, Cambridgeshire, and was educated at Bedford Modern School.
Dickie Jeeps was just 5ft 7in but there was something indestructible about him
He began his rugby career playing for Cambridge City when he was 17, where he was “immediately enveloped in the club and team camaraderie, spirit and joie de vivre”, before signing for Northampton four years later.
Over the next 13 seasons he made 273 appearances for the Saints and scored 48 tries.
Unusually, Jeeps played for the Lions before England, representing the former in 1955 for their tour of South Africa and forming a formidable partnership with Wales fly-half Cliff Morgan.
Dickie captained the England rugby team 13 times
This was the first of his three Lions tours. Following his second tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1959, he became England skipper at the start of 1960 and led his country for the next two seasons.
It was a far cry from his early days with England, when he made a woeful debut against Wales at Twickenham and was then dropped in favour of JE Williams.
It would take another year before Jeeps could reclaim his place but in 1957 he was part of the England side that won the Grand Slam.
Dickie played for the British Lions before he appeared for England
Dickie's team mates called him the hardest player around
His last appearance before international retirement came in August 1962 when he captained the Lions in the final Test of four versus South Africa.
He later went on to serve as Rugby Football Union president between 1976 and 1977 and was awarded the CBE later that same year.
The following year he was appointed by Labour’s sports minister Denis Howell to be chairman of the Sports Council.
He died of Alzheimer’s and is survived by his three daughters.