When Richard Hibbard pitches up at Headingley on Sunday, he will get the chance to reunite with British & Irish Lions teammates and playing rivals, as well as doing his part for old friend Ed Slater.
Now, 40, Hibbard’s playing days may be behind him, but he still wanted to be in attendance for The 745 Game, a charity clash of the codes encounter which is the brainchild of Slater and Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow, before he passed away in June.
The numbers of the game reflect the jersey worn by the three men who inspired it: Rob Burrow (#7), Ed Slater (#4), and Lions great Doddie Weir (#5).
And with the opportunity to raise money and awareness around Motor Neurone Disease, Hibbard is honoured to get involved, with fellow 2013 Lions tourists Tom Youngs – with whom he shared Test starting duties at hooker – and Billy Twelvetrees among the other star-studded attendees.
Hibbard said: “It’s incredible to be a small part of this amazing event. The biggest thing that stands out to me is that these boys are warriors. They were warriors on the pitch but you don’t see their true strength of character until they go through something like this.
“I have nothing but the utmost respect for them, to go through the battle themselves. They could do it alone, they could do it with family, but they go through the battle with everybody to raise awareness and the strength they are showing is incredible. I more than tip my hat to them, I’m delighted to be involved in a small way.
“Unfortunately, those (playing) days are long gone, I’ll have a hard enough time just getting the water on, let alone playing but it’s going to be such a special event and I’m absolutely honoured to be there.
“I love Ed, I loved him when I first met him. I played against him, that was the first part. He’s a true warrior, he’s one of my best memories from my Gloucester time, him and his best mate Fraser (Balmain). Seeing him go through the start of it, all the way to now, and still be Ed, is brilliant.
“We saw him on the pitch and he’s an even bigger warrior now, going through this battle. To see that smile on his face is incredible. I’m lost for words when trying to describe the strength he shows. It’s superhuman almost.”
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Hibbard spent four years playing for Gloucester, where he got to know Slater well following the second row’s move from Leicester Tigers.
The Wales hooker’s move to England came a year after he played a leading role in The British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia.
It remains one of the highlights of his career, and yet it came off the back of one of the most difficult.
Wales ended 2012 on a run of seven successive defeats, before kicking off the 2013 Six Nations with a home defeat to Ireland.
At the time, the thoughts of a Lions Tour could not have been further from Hibbard’s mind, but that all changed over the following six weeks.
He recalled: “We went through the autumn and had a horrible spell there. Then in the Six Nations, I think we were 20 points down to Ireland at half-time (23-3), we came back and lost it 30-22 and it was one of those moments in sport, the way we galvanised as a team, not just the players, the coaching staff, the backroom staff, everyone came together and it was us versus everyone.
“We went out to France and got a win there, George North’s dad got a bit too excited and came onto the pitch. It was amazing and we rolled on, went to Italy, won out there, we beat Scotland and so it came down to the England game.
“They were in some seriously fine form, going for the Grand Slam. It was great, that week leading into it, it was never about us winning the Championship, it was about spoiling the English party. That game, the build-up, the stadium, the roof was closed. You could feel the moment we went out to warm-up, there was anticipation in the air, it was thick. You don’t feel the stadium or the crowd like that very often. It’s my most treasured memory on the pitch. The atmosphere was incredible, and the game didn’t disappoint.
“The 50/50 selections going into the Lions, they were made on that day, a lot of them. If you’d asked me before the tournament how many Welsh boys would go, it would have been a different answer because of the streak beforehand.”
While the Welsh contingent heading to Australia looked like it would be much smaller prior to the Six Nations, there were still the logistical requirements as every player in the home nations squads was measured out for a Lions suit.
Hibbard said: “I was always one of those players who doubted myself. I never thought the Lions and myself were in the same conversation. They come around in the Six Nations and measure every squad. I thought ‘this is a complete waste of my time, why are they doing this?’.”
And yet when Warren Gatland named his squad in London in April, Hibbard had started to dare to dream.
He explained: “When the Lions selection is made, you don’t know. It’s live on TV, you haven’t had the heads up. You watch like everyone else, I watched in the bedroom with my wife, two of the other hookers were called out and it’s in alphabetical order, my name starts with H and after the two others had been called out (Dylan Hartley and Tom Youngs), I thought, I’ve not made it.
“You always have that hope in you, and then it came out. It was a whirlwind.
“My phone died twice that day from all the texts. Normally you only get texts when you do something wrong so it was a nice change.”
Hibbard had no idea what to expect prior to the first Lions get-together, but Gatland quickly made his charges feel at ease.
And ahead of a demanding Tour, it did not take long for the hooker to learn to appreciate time spent with some of his trickiest opponents.
He said: “My first roommate, they don’t put you with someone from your own country. The first day, I thought to myself, just don’t let it be that Irish git who always steals my lineouts.
“Don’t be that cheating ginger git, and my first roommate, who was it? Paul O’Connell. I thought ‘great, here we go’, but within minutes, the Paulie I know now was the Paulie I didn’t know on the pitch. He’s a great person, one of the best leaders on the pitch, one of the best players on the pitch but what a human.
“Not many people get injured on a tour and stay out there, but that was because of his influence and support to the squad. He was one of the biggest surprises to me, from what I’d built up in my head, he was more and a better person than I thought he could be.”
Once he was on Tour, Hibbard was kept very busy, appearing in nine of the 10 matches, including all three Tests.
After backing up Tom Youngs in the first two Tests – Lions and Wallabies won one apiece – Hibbard got his chance as a starter for the decider in Sydney.
He recalled: “When I found out I was starting, it was one of those moments, you think ‘Wow’, but then it’s a big responsibility. On the bench, you don’t have to worry about the first 60 minutes, you come on and either help the win or try to get the win. With the start, you’ve got a huge responsibility, I’m always one of those players who plays better with fear. There’s no bigger fear than starting the final Test for the Lions in the Australia series, it was quite a moment.
“The build-up was great, Gats took us down to Noosa after the second Test. We went to this holiday camp, it was just us because it was winter. We had a couple of days on the beers and that was the best moment of the Tour. Us, on our own, in a hotel. The boys had a really good time together and I think it made a big difference in that third Test.
“That wasn’t just a Lions team with players from different countries, it was a team that had gone out and bonded.
“We came together, we were Lions. It’s testament to the way Gats built the squad. That comes into account for coaches, who is good for the environment and who isn’t. They nailed it with selection.”
More than a decade on, Hibbard will be able to catch up with some of the friends made on that Tour, while toasting some of the greatest warriors either code has known.
For more information on tickets for The 745 Game, click here: https://www.therhinos.co.uk/rob-burrow-cbe/the-745-game
