Leonard was the skinny boy

It wasn't long before I discovered that Jase was made of the right stuff for the two Tests with the Pumas when he survived a brush with the Clockwork Orange - the name given to the Tucaman provincial rugby team in Argentina. They welcomed us onto the field by burning the Union flag.

From my vantage point - well away from the carnage - it seemed that Wade Dooley was enjoying himself, using many of the crowd-control methods that are second nature to a serving police officer.

At one particular line-out, Wade decided he had been barged enough by the lock standing opposite him.

Wade tapped Jase on the shoulder and said: "I am going to hit him on the way up, you hit him on the way down." The plan worked perfectly and the prone body of the Tucaman lock was testament to the double whammy he received.

Of course, no one condones violence on the pitch, but on that tour you either stood your ground or ended up horizontal.

After the Tucaman match, I sought out some of the old hands like Wade, Jeff Probyn and Winterbottom to get their verdict on the new boy at loosehead prop.

The general consensus was that Jase had what it takes and he won the first of his caps in that Buenos Aires Test. We won to give Jase a memorable debut and although the series was drawn, we had discovered a new loose-head prop for the 1991 World Cup.

He also became a Harlequin - after extensive elocution lessons - following the tour and is still a hugely influential figure at the club and I hope they ensure the experience of three Grand Slam wins and three Lions tours is utilised when those boots are finally hung up.

Because Jase had come through the England junior system, he was up to speed with the new training techniques and the way the fitness experts monitored your progress in 1991.

When it became clear on a training camp in Lanzarote that callipers would be used to "pinch the fat", the front-row union came up with a counter plan.

When I say union, I mean Rendall and Probyn. They told Jase that to beat the calliper test you didn't have to do all the training stuff he was religiously following, all that was needed was a good supply of mineral water. Rendall and Probyn had convinced themselves that the water would expand their skin and lessen the area that could be pinched.

Jase could see the basic flaw and he passed the test with flying colours, but Rendall and Probyn were found out and then spent ages running off to the toilet to get rid of all that liquid.

This commitment to training was one of the main reasons he was able to play so quickly after delicate neck surgery in 1992. He didn't miss a match, which seemed highly unlikely when I visited him in hospital.

There was Jase, lying on the bed with a scar across his neck. The surgeon had taken a piece of his hip bone and attached it to his damaged neck.

When you consider where Jase plays and the enormous pressure his neck is put under every match, that surgeon did a remarkable job. He did get a huge amount of help from the patient, who followed every step of the rehabilitation process to the letter.

This willingness to put in the hard work has underpinned Jase's entire career and was never more evident than in 1997.

Having been a Lions Test prop in 1993, Jase went on the tour to South Africa but failed to impress. He could have sat back and just accepted his lot. However, that's not his way. Jase returned from the tour, worked harder than ever with a new training schedule and became an even better player.

It was a reaction that many of those players who complained about this year's tour to Australia would do well to repeat. But then again, Jase is a wonderful one-off and Twickenham will let him know that against Romania on Saturday.