MY LIFE IN RUGBY

Inever envisaged that my career would come to an end during a preseason friendly against Nottingham, but that’s how life can be. Now I just want to make a success of my new job as an academy coach at Saracens, the club I joined as an 18-year-old straight from school.

I’ve lived and breathed rugby for as long as I can remember. When I wasn’t playing for my local club Romford and Gidea Park I’d watch as much rugby as I could. One minute I was cheering on the likes of Thomas Castaignede as a fan from the stands, the next I was rubbing shoulders with him and others like Taine Randell in the changing room.

I was thrown straight in at the deep end and played about 15 games in my first season after being petrified sat on the bench for the season opener. My big chance came the following week against Sale when Richard Haughton got injured half an hour in. To score on my Premier-ship debut was a nice feeling but we lost 32-40.

Kev Sorrell, another Essex boy, and Glen Jackson were a massive help during those early years. Things really started to change at Saracens when Edward Griffiths and Brendan Venter became involved. The run to the 2010 Premiership final against Leicester was a great adventure, perhaps even more memorable than when we won the title the following year.

A lot of long-serving guys had been released and the media scaremongering about a big South African takeover caused unrest. But I think that is when the seeds of Saracens’ collective culture were first sown when guys from all over the world were thrown together. Given the style of rugby we played, everyone hated us, and that helped us grow tighter.

One of the standout games during my time at Saracens was the victory at Northampton in the 2010 Premiership semi-final. A win on the road at that stage of the competition is still a rarity to this day so to achieve that against a very good Saints side was special. There was a bit of beef between the clubs at the time over Sione Tonga’uiha switching clubs, so that gave the match even more of an edge.

Once again, we played some brilliant rugby in the final but Leicester nicked it at the end. Neverthe-less, that season had put us on the map and there was a sense of relief more than anything else when we won the 2011 final.

Another unforgettable occasion was the 2008 Heineken Cup semi-final against Munster at a packed Ricoh Arena. Munster were one of the dominant teams in Europe at the time but we pushed them all the way, losing by a couple of points. I still remember the last play to this day. We tried to fashion a drop-goal chance for Glen but Richard Hill was penalised for holding on after taking a pass from Moses Rauluni.

I moved to Newcastle in March 2013, just in time for the Championship playoffs. My role in the Saracens squad was backup to Brad Barritt and I just wanted to play every week. Also, I fancied a new experience outside of London. Helping the club win promotion was a nice feeling but the biggest achievement was staying up the following year considering how big a disadvantage the ridiculous play-off system put the promoted team under.

Since then, the club have made steps forward year-on-year and I hope that they continue to progress because I have a lot of good friends there. Sadly, I won’t be a part of it due to the knee injury in that pre-season friendly last August. I’m proud of what I achieved in the game, playing in the best part of 150 Premiership games and also representing my country at all age groups and England Saxons.

Now it’s time to help bring through the next generation of Saracens.