Tony Underwood | Flying High: A Story of Resilience

08/11/21 • 63 min

A British & Irish Lion, international rugby player and producer of some of the most memorable moments in English Rugby.

Coming off the back of a Grand Slam win in 1995, in which Tony Underwood and his brother, Rory, scored 7 of the 9 tries their team scored all tournament, England entered the World Cup of that same year full of confidence. The highlight of that campaign for England would be a quarter-final win over Australia – a side who had beaten them in the final four years earlier - with Tony scoring one of the most memorable tries in English rugby history, out-running the reigning world-champions’ defence from his own half.

Weeks later in the semi-final, Tony Underwood had the job of marking Jonah Lomu. After the 80 minutes, Jonah Lomu had announced himself on the world stage with four devastating tries, while Tony understandably had one of his lowest moments in the game. With New Zealand beating England 45-29, Tony had by his own admission under-performed on a big stage. However, as you will see in the podcast, he is far from someone who lets setbacks define them. Tony focussed on controlling the controllable, and rather than ruminating on past mistakes, he focussed on what constructive actions he could do to ensure he got back to his best.

Testament to this was Tony gaining a place on his second Lions tour two years later– one of the most memorable Lions tours of all time – which many will know from the documentary ‘Living With The Lions’. That tour, Tony would get a full Lions cap in the third test, which he refers to as a ‘symbol of resilience’. From one of the lowest points of his career in the semi-final in 1995, to achieving the ultimate honour in British rugby, Tony is proof that resilience and self-belief are some of the key components in maximizing your potential.

Since retiring from rugby, Tony has gone on to captain the largest commercial aircraft in the world - navigating an A380 across the globe. More recently though, in his role with Wordplay, Tony is helping organisations and individuals drive performance through better relationships and teamwork. As can be heard in our podcast, he has a set of proven methods to help people achieve their goal, and to help people facing their own Jonah.

A British & Irish Lion, international rugby player and producer of some of the most memorable moments in English Rugby.

Previous Episode

Ed Jackson | Millimetres to Mountains

Ed Jackson had a ten-year career in rugby. A proud Bath lad, and someone who had grown up watching Bath at the Rec, Ed’s dreams came true when he was signed by the club in 2007 at 18 years old.

Surprisingly, it was a day off the rugby field though that would bring Ed’s rugby career to an end. On 6th April 2017, at a family party, Ed chose to jump into a pool and unfortunately the depth was much shallower than expected. Ed was rushed to hospital immediately – along the way having to be resuscitated three times – when in the Spinal Cord Injury unit at Southmead Hospital he received the devastating news that he would never walk again. However, as we write this message, Ed is getting ready to walk Mont Blanc – one of the numerous mountains he climbed in the last 4 years.

He is the living example that in life we cannot change certain things that happen to us. What we can control, however, is how we perceive these events, and therefore our responses to certain setbacks. Since jumping in the pool, Ed has defied the odds to walk again, has climbed mountains in Nepal, has been recruited to commentate on the Paralympics in Tokyo and – as of yesterday – has become a Sunday Times best-selling writer. These are all feats that– to Ed’s own admission – he wouldn’t have done when still a rugby player. However, Ed’s ability to find purpose in his life and to practice daily self-improvement, gratitude and perspective has allowed him to achieve. Often in life it’s the post-traumatic growth we need to become who we always had the potential to be, and Ed is testament to that.

Ed has also co-founded Millimetres to Mountains, a platform that helps individuals redefine their limitations and take steps towards a brighter future. Alongside this, Ed has recently released his book, entitled “Lucky: From Tragedy to Triumph one step at a time.” The book, which is available on Amazon, is an incredibly personal account of Ed’s journey and the mental and physical challenges he overcame to get to the point he’s at today. The strength of the story has been confirmed by reaching Sunday Times best-seller status recently – another incredible achievement by an amazing bloke.

Next Episode

Adam Hollioake | Grief, Gratitude & Greatness

Having captained the England cricket team, as well as later becoming both a professional boxer and mixed martial arts fighter, there is no one else in the world who has experienced a sporting career like Adam Hollioake has.

Despite having been born in Australia, as well as living in Hong Kong throughout his childhood, Adam Hollioake captained the England cricket team for the first time in 1997. In that same year, he made his test debut playing alongside his brother.

Adam and his brother would go on to share the field together across multiple seasons with England and Surrey C.C.C. In 2002 though, in a piece of news that shocked all sports fans across the world, Adam’s brother Ben tragically passed away in a car crash. As Adam refers to in our podcast, the emotions that the game evoked and the associations the game had with his brother, meant he faced a difficulty of playing the sport and it wasn’t long before he then retired.

Since retiring, apart from a brief return to T20 cricket in 2007, he became a professional boxer and a professional MMA fighter. The ability to not only face the physical fear of entering a ring, but also the fear of entering a new sport completely, is something Adam coped with in a way that not many could. In our conversation he says it's down to a lack of fear - something that, if harnessed correctly, can be incredibly effective.

Adam had stints coaching England Lions and Afghanistan after calling quits on his fighting career, the latter stint of which led him to experience a terrorist attack – which Adam details in our podcast and the reflection and description could not be more timely considering the shocking scenes that we are currently seeing in the country.

He now coaches Queensland Bulls, the Sheffield Shield winners, and the side of Marnus Labuschagne – one of the world’s best test player. It was amazing to hear first-hand reflections of how one of the best performers in one of the world’s largest sports, goes about their daily work. As Adam says, it’s a thirst for knowledge and an unrelenting dedication to improve that lead him to his success.

Adam is an incredibly deep-thinker – which suits what we’re trying to achieve with the podcast perfectly. We talked about everything from the importance of living without fear, the reality that life is a constant learning journey and how success seems more sweet when you’ve experienced failure with it.