Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

28 to say. A word in the right direction no doubt helped and that autumn Brace arrived at Allaway’s own University College to take a diploma in Social Studies. Once Brace had proved himself in a freshmen’s trial, Allaway gave him the chance to weave his special brand of magic for the university team. ‘Credit to Roy,’ says Mike ‘for recognizing that this bloke was something different.’ At first, his colleagues struggled to adapt to Brace’s unorthodoxy, but it helped, Mike feels, that he was playing in a strong team. ‘Take the back row,’ he says, ‘two internationals, Peter Robbins on the open side, Robin Davies blind side, and at number eight Robin Plumbridge, a South African who certainly didn’t suffer in comparison with the other two.’ Starting the season at centre, Mike had not felt sure of holding his place, but moving him to fly half was to prove the key that unlocked the genius of Brace, providing the Welshman with a partner who relished the chance to make the most of openings created by a style of play that paid scant attention to the mantra of the coaching manuals of the time. Roy Allaway looks back over nearly 60 years to reflect on how well his bold decision worked out: ‘Their combination as Oxford’s half backs went from strength to strength in our successive weekly fixtures leading up to the Varsity match. Little did I know that my decision would result in a unique, unorthodox and dazzling half- back combination that has never been seen again in rugby union at any level.’ ‘I was never a slave to a fly half in terms of passing,’ David Brace explains. The hallmark of his game was that his fly half should not be expecting the traditional long pass to set the three-quarter line moving. Instead, Brace’s speciality was to hare across the pitch, sometimes running backwards, and leaving the opposition wondering what would happen next. As the distinguished commentator and former Welsh international Vivian Jenkins explained, the key to Oxford’s success was ‘not only the efforts of Smith and Brace but also of the entire Oxford three-quarter line with centres and wings cutting inside and in criss-cross patterns for the inside pass instead of automatically passing outwards in the normal flanking movement. On top of this came the dummy scissors to complicate the whole weaving interplay.’ ‘I think we must stress that without Brace there’s nothing,’ Mike says with characteristic modesty. ‘He was the originator and the key, the orchestrator.’ ‘From my point of view,’ says Brace, A cricketer’s hands on an oval ball