The former England and British & Irish Lions outside half Phil Horrocks-Taylor has become the latest Cambridge Blue to pass away following the announcement of his death at the age of 86 earlier this week.
He becomes the fourth Cambridge international to have died this season and the third this year. The others lost to the club were:
1 February – Bob Wilkinson (69)
22 January – Nick Drake-Lee (78)
1 November – Jim Roberts (88)
Born in Halifax on October, 1934, Phil came up to St John’s from Heath Grammar School and via the No1 Training Regiment Royal Signals (Catterick). He played with such outstanding players during his National Service at Catterick, including rugby league legends Billy Boston, Brian Gabbitass and Phil Jackson, as well as British Lions Russell Robbins and Reg Higgins.
The Signals side carried all before them, winning the Yorkshire Cup and the Army Cup. They were so good at their best they had to slow down their scoring in some games not to raise offence.
He entered Cambridge life in 1955 having already had trails for Yorkshire and found himself playing outside a future Wales No 10 in the Freshmen’s trial, Bryan Richards. The headline in The Times, while claiming John has showed promise, stated “Nothing Outstanding” in their appraisal of the overall action.
Having missed the Varsity Match in 1955, he made up for lost time by playing in the next two years. He scored 11 of his side’s points in the 14-9 triumph at Twickenham in 1956, but had to stomach a 3-0 defeat in 1957.
He earned an England trial in 1956 and was one of the stars of one of the Light Blues’ greatest victories when they beat the touring Australians at Grange Road in 1957. He scored a try and made another for wing Phil Copus as Cambridge won 13-3.
Grange Road - Wednesday, 13 November, 1957
Cambridge 13-3 Australia
Cambridge: David Millard (St Catherine’s); Arthur Smith (Caius), Geoff Windsor-Lewis (Trinity Hall), Barry Thomas (St Catherine’s), Phil Copus (Queens’); Phil Horrocks-Taylor (St John’s), Andy Mulligan (Magdalene); Bill Downey (Emmanuel, captain), R.M Wilson, John Vaux (Clare), David Marques (Queens’), Bryan Loveday (Downing), David MacSweeney (Christ’s), Francis Walker (Clare), Richard Scott (Trinity)
He won the first of his nine England caps later that season against Wales at Twickenham and then notched another win over the Wallabies in his second international appearance. In 1959, while playing for Leicester, he was called up as a replacement for the British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand.
His Cambridge half-back partner, Andy Mulligan, was another replacement and they took the total number of current and former Light Blues on the trip to six with Ken Scotland, Gordon Waddell, David Marques and Roddy Evans. He played in the third Test against the All Blacks and made four appearances in all, one in tandem with Scotland as his scrum half partner due to injury.
He returned to New Zealand with England in 1963 and played in the two Tests and another in Australia. He also played against the touring Springboks for North Eastern Counties in 1960.
He joined Leicester in 1958 and made his Tigers debut against Coventry. The other star recruit that season at Welford Road was Irish wing Tony O’Reilly. He made 92 appearances for Leicester before moving back to Yorkshire.
A notable player in his day, he was immortalised by Irish rival Mick English in an after dinner speech in which the Munsterman told of the day he had to play against Phil - “Horrocks went one way, Taylor the other and I was left holding the bloody hyphen.”
Mick used to tell the story against himself and claimed it was as Phil was scoring a try in an international match against Ireland. The only problem with that is that Phil never played against Ireland!
Phil actually replaced the injured Mick on the 1959 Lions tour and played with him for the Irish Wolfhounds on a number of occasions. But they never played against each other on an international stage.
His career also saw him play for Wasps, the Barbarians and Middlesbrough. He was a company director in the building industry during his working life.
Everyone connected with Cambridge University RFC offers their condolences to the family and friends of Phil Horrocks-Taylor.