Brendan Gallagher

Brendan Gallagher: Fran Cotton recalls the ‘indestructible’ Tony Bond

Sport is full of sliding doors moments and that was certainly the case with former England centre Tony Bond, who died earlier this week aged 72.

by
Brendan Gallagher
4 January 2026

Sport is full of sliding doors moments and that was certainly the case with former England centre Tony Bond, who died earlier this week aged 72.

Bond was a rollicking powerhouse centre who by the late 1970s was making an unanswerable case for England selection before experiencing the bewildering highs and lows that rugby can offer up in the space of weeks.
His long-time colleague and friend Fran Cotton takes up the story.
“His career highlight will always be his superb display for the North in our win over the All Blacks at Otley in 1979, but it wasn’t just his two tries that day; he terror...

Continue reading...

Access all our premium content from as little as 14p per day!

Already a subscriber to our website? Login

Click to comment

Read our latest news on any of these social networks!

Tackle the News

- Sign Up for our weekly Rugby Newsletter

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.