Mike Nicholas says his Warrington Wolves second-row soulmate was a steadying influence on him

Nicholas, a Wales international, said in a tribute to a man he will miss greatly that he and Martyn had a great connection – despite not being able to understand each other’s accents.

“Although I was sent off 15 times, if it hadn’t been for Tommy’s steadying influence on me it would have been 25 times,” said Nicholas.

“He’d say ‘calm down’ in his Leigh accent and his was the only voice I’d listen to when things were going off in the pack.

Mike Nicholas, left, and Tommy Martyn, right, and former player-coach Billy Benyon at a reunion in 2003.

“He was like my soulmate in the second row. He didn’t say much, but I had a communication with him through playing – not through talking. I couldn’t understand him and he couldn’t understand me but we got by.

“I knew if me and him played, we had a chance. As long as I was getting amongst them and Tommy was being creative, I knew we had a chance and we proved it when we beat the Aussies in 1978. And that’s especially if Parry Gordon was running through the gaps off him too.”

Mike Nicholas and Tommy Martyn, far left, about to pack down in the Wire second row back in the 1970s. Front row, from left, is Brian Butler, Tony Miller and Bobby Wanbon

Martyn was tough, too.

“I remember him telling me that he’d got in his car one morning and he went to adjust the rear-view mirror and his shoulder came out. He was stuck in the car in the garage for ages,” said Nicholas.

“He then got his shoulder fixed. But I also remember him playing for about four years with a broken wrist. He had a scaphoid injury that never healed. It's remarkable when you think about the fact he was a ball-player.

“He was a proper Leyther and a great man and I’m going to miss him dearly.

“With his personality, he played things down. So I didn’t realise how poorly he was until the late stages of his illness.”

Wire 1978. Mike Nicholas is stood far left, Tommy Martyn is knelt down second from left