Bill Beaumont looks back at England's best six games from the 80's - from England's Grand Slam of 1980, their first for 23 years, to the epic 28-19 victory over Australia in 1988, Will Carling's first game as captain.
5th November 1988 - England 28-19 Australia: An incredible performance and convincing victory for England under the new captaincy of Will Carling. It was a magnificent match with some of the most exciting running with ball in hand that English supporters had seen for many a long day. 9-9 at half time, Australia went 13-9 up with a Campese try before England blew them away with two Rory Underwood tries and a third by Simon Halliday to add to Dewi Morris' first half effort.
19th November 1983 - England 15-9 New Zealand: This was the first time that England had beaten New Zealand at Twickenham since 1936, with flanker Maurice Colclough the hero with England's decisive try. A bruising match with several England players requiring stitches induced by various devious Kiwi means, but it was a victory to savour for England.
28th February 1982 - France 15-27 England: Several days before the game Bill Beaumont, having been reappointed England captain, accepted medical advice to retire from rugby football. Steve Smith took over the captaincy and a great game saw two excellent first half tries from Clive Underwood for England and Pardo for France, before Dusty Hare's kicking and a Jamie Carleton try in the corner put the game beyond the French in the second.
2nd January 1982 - England 15-11 Australia: A very tight match saw an inspired performance from England. The hero of the day was back row Nick Jeavons who rolled off a maul near the Australian goal-line to score in the 70th minute. Marcus Rose increased England's lead to 15-7 with two minutes to go and, in spite of an injury time try by Moon, England hung on for a famous victory.
15th March 1980 - Scotland 18-30 England: One of English Rugby's most famous days and enduring images as Bill Beaumont was chaired off the Murrayfield pitch having secured England's first Grand Slam since 1957. A great game of rugby and an inspired performance by Clive Woodward whose runs mesmerised the Scottish defence and were responsible for first half tries by Carleton and Slemen. In a match that had everything Jamie Carleton scored the first hat trick by an England international since 1924 with an unchallenged 40 metre sprint to the Scottish line.
2nd February 1980 - France 13-17 England: Remorseless pressure by the English forwards during the middle half of the match created the platform for victory - England's first in Paris since 1964. The pack controlled the tight play to such an extent in this vital period that England were able to force their way back into a game they looked like losing, transforming a 3-7 deficit into a convincing 17-7 lead. Beaumont again was an inspiring leader and much of England's success was due to his mobility in the loose and strength in the tight. As a bonus this programme also includes Dusty Hare's points as England beat Wales 9-8, on 16th February 1980, with an injury time conversion to break Welsh hearts and set up their famous Grand Slam.
Introduced by Bill Beaumont here are the highlights from six of England's greatest matches of the 1980's.!!