On the 6th June 1998, England suffered their heaviest defeat in Test match history against Australia, losing 76-0 in Brisbane.
Without several injured or unavailable big names, England coach Clive Woodward named five new caps. But it was boys against men.
Here's what happened to that youthful XV:
Fullback: Tim Stimpson
Stimpson enjoyed a varied and highly successful club career, although he made a less forceful impact on the international stage. During an international career that ran from 1996-2002 Stimpson won 20 England caps and was included in the tour squad for the 1997 British and Irish Lions series in South Africa, winning a Test cap as a replacement in the final Test. He's now golfing, speaking and saving companies time and money.
Winger: Spencer Brown
Won both his caps during the infamous tour. He is now Director of Peak Performance Centre of Excellence Ltd, a Strength & Conditioning and Injury Rehabilitation Centre based in Rugby, Warwickshire, and is a consultant in strength & conditioning at the Derby Nuffield Health Hospital. Spencer, along with fellow rugby player Mark Dunkley, are co-founders of RugbyFestUK.
Centre: Matt Perry
The Bath legend ended his international career with a more respectful defeat against the Wallabies, starting as the British & Irish Lions lost 29-13 against the Aussies. A bulging disc in his back resulted in spasms in his left leg, and he retired from playing rugby on 27 March 2007. Perry now works for a management consultancy company based near Bath.
Centre: Steve Ravenscroft
The Saracens centre was another one of the main casualties of the 'Tour from Hell' as he won his only two caps during the trip. He is now a solicitor and plays occasional rugby for the SpoonAAs, formerly Anti-Assassins team, the rugby team of the Wooden Spoon charity.
Winger: Austin Healey
Healey continued to be a regular for Leicester and England up until 2003. However, being dropped from the World Cup squad would gnaw at Healey to the end of his career, and he never played for England again following the World Cup warm-up with France in August 2003.
His retirement came at the end of the 2005-06 season following several damaging injuries. The former speedster is now a vocal and sometimes a little controversial pundit for BT Sport.
Fly-half: Jonny Wilkinson
Making his first start for his country, the 19-year-old missed two decent penalty opportunities early on and cost his side a try when his attempted clearance kick was charged down. It proved to be a learning experience for Wilkinson, and by the end of 2001 he had eclipsed the England Test points record of 396 held until then by his mentor Rob Andrew.
He will forever be remembered as the man who kicked England to Rugby World Cup glory in Australia in 2003 - slotting a last-gasp drop goal in extra-time to edge out the hosts in a thrilling tournament finale.
Scrum-half: Scott Benton
Prop: Graham Rowntree
A rugged and reliable loose-head prop, Rowntree won a total of 54 caps for England in an 11-year international between 1995 and 2006 and appeared three times for the British & Irish Lions. He was England Forwards coach between 2012 and the 2015 Rugby World Cup before joining Harlequins.
Hooker: Richard Cockerill
Prop: Phil Vickery
A key member of the side that won the 2003 World Cup, the tighthead was then the Captain of the (almost successful) 2007 World Cup squad. Retired in 2010 due to neck injuries. Won the 2011 series of Celebrity Masterchef before working as a co-commentator at the 2011 Rugby World Cup for ITV.
Lock: Danny Grewcock
Went onto become a World Cup winner before eventually hanging up his boots in 2011. He won 69 caps for his country during a career that has spanned 15 years. He started out with hometown club Coventry before joining Saracens in 1998, with a move to Bath following in 2001. After joining Bath's backroom staff, he left to become director of sport at Oundle School in Northamptonshire in 2016.
Lock: Garath Archer
He retired in 2004 at 29, because of back injury, and has since taken up rowing. He has had notable success in indoor rowing, winning his age group and coming third overall in 2008, and beating international rowers to win overall in 2009 at the British Indoor Rowing Championships.
Flanker: Ben Sturnham
In 2002 his playing career was ended by a knee injury, winning all three of his England caps on the 1998 Tour of Hell. He is now currently working as a Head Hunter in the London Residential and Commercial property sectors
Flanker: Richard Pool-Jones
This was the back-rowers one and only cap. Spending his career in France, Pool-Jones retiring from rugby, Pool-Jones began a media career in France. He also served as a vice-president at Stade Français, and was credited with helping broker a deal that saved the club from bankruptcy before the 2011–12 season. He was named the new head coach of Stade Français in 2012.
Number 8: Tony Diprose (c)
Diprose won 10 full caps for England and has a reputation for being one of the most talented footballing forwards of his generation. He captained the side during the 1998 tour after Matt Dawson was forced to withdraw due to injury. The number eight retired at the end of the 2005/06 season and joined the coaching staff at Harlequins as the Academy Manager.
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- Jordie Barrett over Damian de Allende is far from being correct. The hype around Dupont is also overreaching, he's probably 4th in the world and has been since the 2023 WC. He also avoids certain matchups which is strange. The rest of the list is pretty good apart from minor subjective biases.JasonMarlow16-09-2026
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