Career Record for Featherstone
Appearances			Tries	Goals	Drop Goals	Points
Total	Start	Sub
376	376	0	82	3	0	252

There follows an extract from the Batley v Featherstone match report on 20 September 1949: 'How he got himself into the forward melee which produced the try and finally barged over was as big a mystery as it was credit to his enthusiasm.' It describes the senior debut of Cliff Lambert, signed that month from the juniors, as a loose-forward but playing in the centre. Indeed, in his early days, his position could not be determined as he featured at centre, wing, second-row and loose-forward. An injury to Alan Sinclair prior to the start of the 1952 RL Cup campaign gave him the opportunity to stake a permanent claim on the number 13 jersey at Hunslet on 5 January and he never looked back. What was significant, was the match report comment that 'the introduction of Lambert at loose-forward seemed to produce more football than of late'. How prophetic!  His try at Batley in the second round gave Rovers a plum draw against mighty Wigan, a game in which he played a significant part.  After twenty minutes he failed to cover a bouncing ball and Hilton nipped in to score the opening try. Almost immediately, he atoned for his mistake with a spectacular forty-yard burst which paved the way for the try by Norman Mitchell. From then on, he completely outplayed his international loose-forward opponent, Harry Street, and Cliff Lambert had arrived.

Wembley 1952 was the first of many famous cup runs by the Rovers. The semi-final stage was reached in 1955, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1962 and Lambert had the distinction of featuring in all but the 1959 campaign, when he had a cartilage operation. Against the cream of RL opposition, his presence was always significant and he invariably responded to the challenge. In March 1955, his try at Bradford in the second round disposed of one of the cup favourites. In the snow affected third round tie with St Helens in March 1958, he scored the solitary try (ironically created by former opponent Harry Street) which knocked out another cup favourite. At Swinton in the third round in March 1960, his famous 'back pocket pass' put Fawley through for the winning try and, two years later, he was the architect of the third round win over Leigh.

Whilst there was disappointment that his hopes of returning to Wembley were thwarted on so many occasions at the final hurdle, there was some consolation in a Yorkshire Cup final medal against Hull in October 1959 when he again scored a vital try in the 15-14 victory. By then he had moved into the second row to accommodate the young starlet Terry Clawson, and his partnership with Mick Clamp was one of the most stimulating second rows in the club's history. He enjoyed a well-deserved testimonial in that season and continued to excel with his special brand of football.

He scored 82 tries in his career, which was a club record for a forward until it was surpassed by Peter Smith in January 1987.  The tries he made for colleagues probably exceeds that total. In 1953/54, he was the leading forward try-scorer in the Rugby League with 13 tries, and he scored 9 tries in 10 matches between November and January.  To follow this with 12 tries in 40 appearances in 1954/55, 10 tries in 36 appearances in 1955/56 and 13 tries in 33 appearances in 1956/57, underlined a consistent quality.  What amazed many people was that the nearest he ever got to representative honours was a solitary 'travelling reserve' for Yorkshire.  His efforts and talent deserved more.

Cliff ended 1961/62 playing as well as ever with a typical performance propping against Wakefield in the Championship semi-final, when Rovers were deprived of victory by a controversial decision to lose 13-8. Surprisingly, this was to be his last match. As he prepared for his fourteenth season with the Rovers in the close season, the club accepted an offer from Hunslet for his transfer. In his second game with his new club he dislocated his collar bone and, in fact, he only played three games, the last being the 1962 Yorkshire Cup final between Hunslet and Hull KR.

Cliff Lambert was one of the finest forwards ever to grace the blue and white jersey. In a remarkable record of consistency, his whole success could be attributed to his exceptional natural football ability, which for him as a forward could even be described as classical.  His characteristic dummy, his sudden accelerations, his subtly disguised reverse passes and his long quick decisive passes, served to open up the best defences in the rugby league and were all part of the neat quality football touches so uncommon in a player of such build, upon which his great reputation was built. He created so many memories for the fans to savour.

 

Biography by Ron Bailey