'I'm 67 and they've finally given me a cap'

In 1982 and 1983, John Gadd took to the field for England in games against Fiji and Canada. But he was never able to call himself an international.

Now, 44 years on, Gadd is one of 47 players who were not recognised for international honours at the time to be awarded retrospective caps by the Rugby Football Union (RFU).

"For any player in any generation, the ultimate is to play for your country and to get a cap, and now the nice thought is that my son and my grandchildren will be able to look in the records and see that I got a cap," Gadd, 67, told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"My mother and father aren't with us anymore, and I would have liked them to have seen that day, and I had a rugby-mad uncle, uncle Mike, and he would have loved to have seen it."

Gadd played as a flanker for Gloucester during from the late 1970s to early 1990s, in a back row that also included England and British and Irish Lions international Mike Teague.

Gadd represented England B early in his career and went on a summer tour to the United States and Canada with England.

Then, in October 1982, he played against Fiji at Twickenham - the only uncapped player in the squad - and a year later faced Canada, again at England's home stadium.

For today's players, both games would involve an international cap, but back then it was not the case.

"In our day, playing against Fiji was never a capped game. It was more or less the home nations games and usually Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and then anything else was considered not capped - it's changed," Gadd said.

"I knew that, but in this day you get the younger people playing those games and getting a cap. In those days you played the full 80 minutes, you weren't taken off at half-time, and I feel I earned my cap at least."

The RFU initiative has sought players dating back to 1945 to award retrospective caps to if they played in England's 'best available' men's team fixtures against another nation's best XV, and if they were uncapped before or after the matches.

A ceremony is due to take place later this year, while the RFU has issued a call-out for help reaching families of another 28 players they have been unable to contact.

Gadd added he thought the time "had passed" for his England honours.

"It's more than 40 years now. I thought the opportunity had passed by. I didn't think I'd get a cap, but how wrong was I," Gadd said.

"All these years I've thought about it and now it's come to fruition, so it's a bit unreal. Surreal.

"I'm 67 and they've finally given me a cap."