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Nice article by Wayne smith
Mind you it probably will motivate the Reds more
Salutes a good rugby guy , now claimed as ours
Article in the Oz—
Only this week he was named in a World XV. OK, it was a World XV selected entirely from footballers who had played in the 2007 Rugby World Cup and are still making a living from the game. Nonetheless, it was still quite a tribute.
Tributes don’t come readily to Greg Holmes. He is a prop. And unless one bench presses 200kg, runs 40m in 4.2sec and can destroy an opposition scrum single-handedly — think Taniela Tupou — props don’t get a lot of kudos. That might not be apparent on Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium, however. For once, Holmes will step into the limelight, head typically bowed in embarrassment, to accept the applause of the Queensland crowd for joining the elite band who have played 150 Super Rugby games.
The applause will be long and sustained, despite the fact that Holmes is now wearing a Western Force jumper. He would presumably have been treated just as generously had he registered the milestone at HBF Park in Perth, with the Sea of Blue there to hail the occasion. But, by a quirk of the Super Rugby AU draw, he will reach that marker in Brisbane, his home base for 144 of those caps, while playing against the Queensland Reds. Sometimes the rugby gods do get a tad sentimental.
Western Force’s veteran prop Greg Holmes. Picture: Getty Images
Western Force’s veteran prop Greg Holmes. Picture: Getty Images
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Chances are you won’t recall many of Holmes’ career highlights. Oh, you will recount with great enthusiasm how he scored a long-range try against Ireland in Perth on June 24, 2006 but then everyone remembers that. Otherwise, it is just a grey blur in which Holmes, surrounded by teammates, getting his hair tousled and, in that cute boyish way of his, always managing to look proud and humbled all at the same time.
Granted, that try does take some topping. At last count he is said to have run 80m. That is a complete exaggeration. It is no more than 70m. He is coming in to join a ruck when suddenly the ball squirts out at his feet. It is as though he has been waiting his whole life for this moment. He doesn’t dither, he doesn’t tarry. Four strides take him to the 10m line, so from there it’s another 60m to the line. He sets straight off on what, in Australian rugby, has come to be known as “the Pilecki line”.
Big Stan was once asked how he managed to be there in support of a linebreak in the Barbarians match of 1984. Andrew Slack was beating rival after rival but when he was finally cornered who should come to his aid, lumbering out of the gloom, but 37-year-old Pilecki. “That’s what I do,” he said later, between puffs on his cigarette. “Run from goalposts to goalposts any time someone makes a break.”
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Some might question Stan’s use of the word “run”. Still, on that night in Perth, that is assuredly what Holmes did. He pinned his ears back. Halfback Peter Stringer couldn’t catch him. Winger Shane Horgan finally did but by then it was too late. Holmes flopped over the line in his tackle next to the uprights, a giant grin on his face.
“The best try in world rugby, ever,” pronounced commentator Phil Kearns, though in his next breath he instantly revoked Holmes’ membership of the Front Rowers Union. “You can’t run more than three metres to score. It’s in the by-laws.”
Greg Holmes strains for the tryline with Nathan Sharpe in support
Greg Holmes strains for the tryline with Nathan Sharpe in support
Probably only his fellow Queensland players would fully appreciate the role Holmes played in delivering their only Super Rugby title in history. The Reds were hit by front-row injuries but as coach Ewen McKenzie searched around for someone to fill the all-important tighthead position, his gaze settled on Holmes.
At that point, he was pretty much a loosehead specialist. That’s where he had played against Ireland. But there was something about Holmes’ Warwick-born “aw ‘shucks” attitude that convinced McKenzie he could stand up to the Crusaders’ All Black prop Wyatt Crockett. And that is precisely what he did in the final, scrumming Crockett to a standstill. The following day, McKenzie – himself an old Test tighthead – singled out only one Queensland player for special praise. Holmes.
He came off the bench for his second Test against England at Twickenham in 2005 as Australia was trounced 26-16. That was November 12, 2005. Precisely 201 days later, he was picked for his first starting role in the Australian front-row with Rodney Blake and Tai McIsaac against a formidable England trio of Julian White (51 Tests), Lee Mears (42 Tests) and Graham Rowntree (54).
The day before the Test, new Australian coach John Connolly was nervously pacing the streets at Subiaco when he chanced upon his new front-row, all dressed in T-shirts and thongs and with seemingly not a care in the world.
“Oh God, what have I done?” he asked himself. The next day the Wallabies turned around that Twickenham defeat by 41 points before winning the second Test 43-18. And the Australian front-row stood resolute throughout.
These days, Holmes has reached the same age as Pilecki back in 1984, 37. And he is starting to make very much Pilecki-like noises when it comes to giving it away. “I have definitely, definitely, definitely retired … I think,” Pilecki announced at the airport on his return from that historic Grand Slam tour. And sure enough, he stretched his Queensland career out one more year before eventually pulling the pin in 1985. Holmes is now making similar statements, indicating that he might play on in 2022. As they say, you’re a long time retired.
It probably helps him that he is only playing the last 30 minutes of most Force matches but he has demonstrated repeatedly that he is a “finisher” in every sense of the word. And his lungs are remarkable good. That comes from free diving spear fishing which he took up in 2010. All those times McKenzie used to shake his head as Holmes and Liam Gill headed off to spear fish in “Shark Alley” … it turns out they were actually putting in “extras” in training, after all.
Still, the shadows are lengthening now for the remarkable fresh-faced warhorse. His name perhaps won’t be the first to come to mind when Australian rugby during the period of 2005-21 is discussed. But the deeper the conversation goes, the more the contribution of Greg Holmes will come to the fore. That is the way it should be for a front-rower who spent his whole career avoiding the limelight.
Except for those 9.15sec over in Perth.
WAYNE SMITHSENIOR SPORT WRITER