While we are on the subject of arresting cover shots, Rugby World used this excellent action study of England scrum-half Roger Pickering on its May 1967 cover.
Pickering, bearing more than a passing resemblance to Bill Owen, or Compo in ‘Last of the Summer Wine’, had featured regularly for England during the Five Nations earlier in the year with reports from the 16-12 defeat to France and the 27-14 win over Scotland, both at Twickenham, included in the magazine.
The cover image of Pickering in full flight was a staged shot given the limitations of cameras in taking such swift action in the heat of battle nearly 60 years ago, but it doesn’t suffer for that, a perfect encapsulation of the scrum-half’s art.
Take a closer look here.
