MY LIFE IN RUGBY
Ihad to get permission from school before I could make my Premiership debut – I was only 18 and doing my A’ Levels so needed to take a few days off for training.
Luckily the headmaster at Watford Grammar, Martin Post, was very supportive. In a school of over 1,000 pupils he seemed to know everyone and something about them. At Saracens, we have a similar culture where every person is just as important as another.
Along with my family, John Williams, the school’s rugby coach and long-time England U18 team manager, have been key people in my life along with Les Simpson of Harrow RFC, my junior club.
My debut came away at Northampton amid an injury crisis at Sarries. I only got about 10 minutes off the bench but I pulled off an important cover tackle on Oriol Ripol.
Physically, I was way off where I needed to be and it took a while to understand what I needed to eat and how often I needed to eat to put weight on. Now, I’m still trying to adjust to the fact I don’t need six meals a day in a bid to avoid taking after my surname!
It was a while before I pulled on a Saracens first team jersey again. I had three ankle ligament ruptures and I went out to the Junior World Cup with England injured. My whole leg was black and blue and I was on pain killers. I had an MRI when I got back and the hospital specialist was horrified that I’d been running on it.
At this stage I was on a two-year academy contract while doing a degree in Anthropology. Combining the two was tough at times as it involved a lot of commuting in and out of London. But I’ve no regrets about continuing my education. I think it’s vital players use spare time productively, because your working career is going to be a lot longer than your playing career.
Replacing the buzz that you get from playing rugby is hard, and I certainly had quite a few moments in a black shirt that I’ll never forget. Scoring the decisive try when we came back from 16-5 to beat Bath at Vicarage Road is up there among the standout memories. Originally, I was down to be 23rd man and had had my usual fill of pre-match pancakes fully expecting to do the warm-up, get showered and then watch the match from the sidelines. But one of our players wasn’t fully registered and I was drafted onto the bench.
With a few minutes to go, Gordon Ross threw out a huge miss-pass and I had about an inch of space to work in but I managed to get around Butch James and score in the left-hand corner. As good as it was, I think I scored a better try whilst on loan at Esher. I beat about four defenders and went in from halfway.
In my final season at the club Saracens won the Premiership title. While I didn’t play much that season, it was great to be part of the squad and the special environment that Brendan Venter had created. I was actually playing for England Sevens in Edinburgh when Steve Borthwick lifted the trophy.
On leaving Sarries, another Premiership club put an offer in for me, but my wife and I had just married and we didn’t fancy relocating. It suited me much better to play part-time at Bedford whilst coaching at the academy and heading up the rugby side of things at Mill Hill School. I’m someone who likes to keep busy!
Once Mike Hynard left to join Premier Rugby Limited I stepped into my current role as Saracens academy manager, aged 26. For a while I continued playing and the Blues got into the Championship play-off final which was a great achievement. Combining the two was knackering though, even for a restless soul like me, and I decided to throw all my energy into my job bringing through the next generation of Saracens.