I was part of historic British and Irish Lions Tour before quitting rugby in stunning career change

Tony Underwood swapped flying down the wing for England and the British and Irish Lions to flying into the air in an extraordinary career switch.

Rugby fans across the globe will remember Tony, along with Rory, his brother and fellow Lions wing, for lighting up English rugby in the 1980s and 1990s with 62 international tries between them.

Winning 27 England caps over six years, Tony gained his first taste of Test match rugby against Canada in 1992.

And he quickly made his mark on the international stage, earning selection for the 1993 Lions Tour of New Zealand.

Two years later, he played a crucial role in securing England's Grand Slam title in 1995. 

Off the back of hugely impressive international and domestic performances, Underwood became a Test-capped wing for the Lions in 1997 on the iconic Tour of South Africa – their first and only series win there since 1974.

At this time Underwood, was playing domestic rugby for Premiership side Newcastle Falcons, and this is where he discovered his love for flying.

While still playing for the North East outfit, Underwood began taking flying lessons, ultimately kick-starting a 20-year commercial pilot career for the world's biggest airlines.

Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT.com, Underwood opened up on why he decided to make such a dramatic career change, as he said: "Rugby went professional in 1995 and I had my eye on what came next. 

"I was playing at Newcastle Falcons and the flight path to the airport goes over the pitch and I was stood, bored one day at a training session just watching these planes going over, and it suddenly dawned on me that it could be an option.

"So, I started doing some flying training on and off for about a year and the intense stuff for about six months – so it took about a year-and-a-half [to qualify as a commercial pilot].

“I was very lucky to get my first job with EasyJet. When I say lucky, most people don't understand the role as you've usually got to build your way up to that opportunity.

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"I worked for EasyJet, then Virgin Atlantic in South Africa, and finally Emirates in Dubai flying the A380, which was a big move aviation wise and family wise."

Operating an Airbus A380 – the world’s largest passenger aircraft – is the pinnacle of a pilot's commercial flying career and Emirates came calling for Underwood to captain the King of the Skies in 2013.

Recalling his first day on the job at Emirates, the 56-year-old remarked: "Your first time [flying an A380], everything is new and those nerves are always going to be there, just like it was on the rugby pitch.

“The beautiful thing about that airplane is sitting in the flight deck because it is more roomy than your usual one, but not much more, it's still a little cabin.

"Once you close the cabin door you don't see what's going on behind you, out of sight and out of mind, you forget that you're in charge of a 575 tonne beast with up to 600 plus people behind you.

"If there's anything I miss about the flying it's getting into the flight deck and being in charge of something like that. It's special and something most people don't get the chance to do and I had the privilege of doing it." 

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With older brother Rory serving in the RAF, flying appears to be in the Underwood genes although Tony admits becoming a pilot was something he came to later in his life. 

He explained: "I was born in Malaysia and that capability flying brings to take you around the world was something that I always liked doing.

"One of the reasons for the decision to go into flying was the ability to have a job that took me to some of the amazing places in the world but I didn't grow up wanting to be a pilot.

"Most kids would say that they would love to do that, but I don't think I had a burning desire to do it – I  just thought it was a cool thing to do.

“I think we've created some confusion with [Rory] doing the military stuff and me doing the commercial. People must assume that it's the same brother, but he stopped and I started."

Following seven years in Dubai and after the pandemic seriously affected travel, Underwood and his family chose to return to the North East in 2020, where he co-founded a new coaching and consulting business – Believe Solutions – based in Middlesbrough.

Underwood, who has the title of Chief Care and Challenge Enforcer, added: "There are lessons that I have learnt from rugby and flying that have put me in a position to help others.

“At Believe, we try and support organisations to internalise care in terms of having that environment that allows people to excel in a fiercely challenging environment with fierce care."

Underwood recently lost his mother, Annie, who is fondly remembered throughout the rugby world as the smiling, cheering, proud parent jumping for joy at Twickenham as her sons became the first brothers to play together for England since 1938.

Annie starred alongside her sons Tony and Rory, and the great Jonah Lomu in Pizza Hut's iconic 1995 advert. 

That was the year Lomu changed the face of the sport, swatting aside Tony and his Red Rose teammates while scoring four tries in the extraordinary Rugby World Cup semi-final in South Africa.

The hilarious advert ends with Mrs Underwood knocking over Lomu with a textbook tackle.

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Underwood featured 13 times for the Lions across two tours – scoring nine tries[/caption]

Reflecting on being involved in the advert, Underwood explained the profound and important message he has taken from the experience and how the recent loss of his mother has impacted the way he approaches helping others with his new business.

He said: "The way I unpick it is; here is an opportunity to say it's just a game and you have to experience challenges and you have to experience failure and what you learn from it to pick yourself up and move on. 

"The poignancy about Mum for me with that advert is, when you look at it, well I couldn't tackle Jonah. Rory is stood by the doorway and it was mum who tackled our Jonah.

“What a wonderful message that there are these quiet forces of nature who stand up and help support you and take on your challenges, and a lot of times they are fiercely caring individuals who come to save the day.

"This work [Believe Solutions] is like a legacy homage [to mum] and a way to honour the environments I was lucky enough to be involved in, which allowed me to become the best version of myself.

“I'm very passionate about [Believe] because I am honoured and privileged to have a way through this vehicle to continue that legacy."

As the Lions head to Australia for their three Test series with the Wallabies – broadcast live across the talkSPORT network – Underwood reflected on his strongest Lions memory.

He stated: "Maybe it was a try that I scored in 1997 which somebody put on X recently.

“I think it was an Englishman to a Scotsman to a Welshman and then to me. It's not just rubbing shoulders, but actually wearing the same shirt as some icons.

"You want to play in the Test team and I did that in the third Test [in 1997], but one of the great things about the Lions is playing with some unreal players."