Richard Eric Gautrey Jeeps (born 25 November 1931), known as Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 player who played for Northampton

Northampton Saints

Northampton Saints are a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The Northampton Saints were formed in 1880. They play in green, black and gold colours. They play their home games at Franklin's Gardens, which has a capacity of 13,591....

 and represented and captained both the England national rugby union team

England national rugby union team

The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...

 and the British Lions

British and Irish Lions

The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...

 in the 1950s and 1960s. He subsequently became a sports administrator.

Biography

Born in Chesterton (England), Jeeps played scrum half 24 times for England including all four matches of the Grand Slam

Grand Slam (Rugby Union)

In rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship manages to beat all the others during one year's competition...

 season of 1957. Jeeps was selected to join the British Lions party to tour South Africa in 1955

1955 British Lions tour to South Africa

In 1955 the British Lions rugby union team toured Southern and Eastern Africa. The Lions drew the test series against , each team winning two of the four matches. They won the first test by a single point and the third by three points and lost the second and fourth matches by wider margins...

 and is one of that select group of players capped for the British Lions before being capped by his country. Jeeps felt that his selection for the Lions was due to playing an invitation match with Cliff Morgan

Cliff Morgan

Cliff Morgan is a former Welsh rugby union player who played for Cardiff RFC and earned 29 caps for Wales between 1951 and 1958.-Rugby career:...

 in Cornwall shortly before the Lions party was announced. "I think Cliff got me in the party because he liked my service." Despite being originally the third choice scrum half in the 1955 squad, he played in all four tests of the drawn series.

He was also selected for the 1959 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand

1959 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand

In 1959 the British Lions rugby union team toured Australia and New Zealand. The Lions won the two test matches against but lost the international series against the All Blacks by three matches to one. They also played two matches in Canada, on the return leg of the journey.Although New Zealand...

 and the 1962 British Lions tour to South Africa

1962 British Lions tour to South Africa

In 1962 the British Lions rugby union team toured Southern and Eastern Africa. Overall the tourists played twenty-five matches, winning sixteen, losing five and drawing four....

, bringing his Lions test appearances to 13, a record at the time.

In 1959 Jeeps' ability to serve up decent possession from apparently any angle led New Zealanders to dub him "the India-rubber Man". They also rated him the most complete footballer of the Lions backs, high praise indeed when the Lions party included Bev Risman

Bev Risman

Augustus Beverley Walter Risman is a former rugby union and rugby league footballer, a dual-code international, who later became a coach....

, David Hewitt, Tony O'Reilly

Tony O'Reilly

Sir Anthony Joseph Francis O'Reilly is an Irish businessman and former international rugby union player. He is known for his involvement the Independent News & Media Group, which he led from 1973 to 2009, and as former CEO and Chairman of the H.J. Heinz Company. He was the leading shareholder of...

, Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson

Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...

 and Ken Scotland

Ken Scotland

Kenneth "Ken" J.F. Scotland was a Scottish rugby union player. He played for Scotland a number of times between 1957 and 1965, and for the British Lions on their 1959 tour of New Zealand; he was a full-back...

.

In 1962 the South Africans also rated him amongst the best of the visiting backs, although this time he caught the eye as much for his astute marshalling of his pack as for skill as an instigator of flashing attacks. He captained the Lions in the final test.

Jeeps played his first match for England in 1956 and his last in 1962. He captained England 13 times with a captaincy record of played 13, won five, drawn four, lost four. His twenty-four caps remained a record for an England scrum-half for twenty years, until Steve Smith

Steve Smith (English rugby player)

For other rugby players of the same name see Steve Smith and Steve Smith Stephen James Smith is a former international rugby union player...

 surpassed it.

In later life Jeeps was President of the Rugby Football Union

Rugby Football Union

The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...

in 1976-7 and Chairman of the Sports Council for seven years.