Rugby teams have played before queens, princes, actors and celebrities but a private audience with Welsh singer Tom Jones is surely a top 10 touring hit.
Friday night’s bumper crowd of 23,164 at Suncorp Stadium for the Queensland Reds clash against Wales enjoyed the theatrical buzz of a Tom Jones impersonator crooning pre-match and at half-time.
You know, the famous voice which belted out hits like It’s Not Unusual, the Thunderball theme song from the Bond movie, What’s New Pussycat, Green Green Grass Of Home, Delilah, Kiss, Sexbomb and many others.
It stirred the question, “have the Reds ever met the real Tom Jones on their tour travels?” It turns out they have.
A touring Reds development team was in Newcastle in northern England in late 1996 when they discovered they were sharing the same hotel with the famous Welsh singer.
It was some team with the young Elton Flatley, Matt Cockbain, Brendan Cannon, Shane Drahm, Nathan Grey, Barry Lea and Co on board with coach John Connolly.
Lea is a treasure trove of classic tales but this is right up there. The flashy winger was sidelined with a broken thumb and enjoying the hotel pool when he thought he recognised a figure in his 50s.
Lea headed to the sauna and it finally clicked when the same figure waltzed in: “You’re not Tom Jones?”Jones nodded.
“Hi, I’m Barry Lea from Australia. I’m here for the rugby,” was the start of the classic exchange.
Unfortunately, the Reds were playing England A the following day so the players were early to bed. They still captured a few classic photos of the meeting.
The injured Lea and Reds High Performance chief Damian Mednis, now Head of Performance at The Southport School, were under no such curfew.
Mednis was at the bar when Jones and his manager returned from his gig for a nightcap that night. Lea chimed in.
“One of the nights of my life,” Mednis said.
“Tom Jones came into the bar late and I know we finished after 7am because there’s a time stamp on my old photo.
“We got to 2am and the female duty manager of the hotel said she’d have to close the bar.” Mednis did some quick thinking, got heart throb Jones to write a lovely note on a bar menu to the duty manager and passed it on.
“She came back through the bar and said, ‘Oh boys, the bar can stay open as long as you like’.
“He drank Hennessy X.O cognac through the night. The longer the night went, verses from the songs started coming out. His voice was outstanding.
“I counted him to sing ‘I think I’d better dance now’ from Kiss.”
Mednis and Jones started dancing in the bar.
“He loved his rugby and travelling and told us all about which songs went well in which countries," Mednis said.
“It was one of the great nights. I had him autograph bar menus for my mum which she still proudly keeps.”
The punchline?
“I said I’d put the drinks bill on my room. What’s my name? ‘John Connolly’,” Lea laughed.
“’Knuckles’ was filthy but more so because he missed a night with Tom Jones.”
A few priceless photos captured a one-off night of tour fun.
The Queensland v Wales game at Suncorp Stadium left us with more memories, 11 tries, a thrilling 36-35 scoreline and a rousing Reds fightback from another classic meeting.
