He became a crucial part of the England pack of the early 1990s, forming a formidable back row alongside Peter Winterbottom and Mike Teague, as they dominated the Five Nations.
That forward dominance by Gloucester, whose mighty front row of Scottish prop Alasdair Dickinson, France cap Olivier Azam and former Brive tight-head Pierre Capdevielle dominated their opposite numbers, told before half-time.