Lamb wants new chance to prove he’s a No1
“Dean Ryan picked me out as a scapegoat whenever Gloucester lost a big game”
Fly-half Ryan Lamb left Worcester last summer for a new life in La Rochelle and a reunion with an old team-mate. He had happy memories of one-time French flanker Patrice Collazo and their days of European triumph and Premiership finals together with Gloucester.
Immortalised, in fact, by a picture of heavyweight Collazo – coach of La Rochelle on his arrival – grabbing him in a celebratory headlock after a Gloucester triumph.
“He probably wanted to strangle me a few times last season, too,” says Lamb with a rueful smile.
So making light of unhappy months earlier this year when Collazo, since sacked and taken on by Toulon, dropped him to the bench when not leaving him in the stand and excluding him from training with the squad.
Lamb, now 32, was just a week beyond his 20th birthday when he helped Gloucester win the European Challenge with a sense of adventure he adored.
He was called up by England Saxons as a prodigy who twice finished on top of the Premiership only to be deprived of the titles by Leicester.
And, though he never reached the international heights to which he once seemed destined, he built an extremely respectable career over a decade with Gloucester, London Irish, Northampton and Worcester with a brief hiatus at Leicester.
“Things had begun to feel a little stagnant in England after such a long time,” he told The Rugby
Paper. “And, though I had some problems in my first Top 14 season, I am raring to go now.
“I feel five years younger in terms of motivation and ambition for the move I have made. This is an awesome time in my career. There is a different atmosphere this season.”
Some of that optimism is down to the appointment at La Rochelle of backs coach Xavier Garbajosa, as boss until the arrival in November of Aussie director of sport Jono Gibbes.
Lamb explained: “At the end of last season, I had a long talk with Garba, who opened up quite well. He told me what he expects of me and I have told him what I expect if I play well. There is a real dialogue there.
“That wasn’t the case last season even though I have a lot of admiration for the way Patrice brought La Rochelle out of Division Two and turned them into one of the best teams in the country.”
Locals say Collazo was not happy with the defensive part of Lamb’s game, even replacing him for a while with winger Jeremy Sinzelle.
“I didn’t really get a look-in from January on and yet I had a good preseason,” said Lamb. “I played a lot of rugby and we were flying when I first arrived.
“It was fantastic playing in front of a full house. The 18,000 sounded like 30,000. We were all over Clermont whom we beat heavily.”
Lamb was unlucky to have a rib fractured late in that game and later twisted a knee in a Champions Cuptie against Ulster. He was on the sidelines for many weeks.
He added: “That was a real shame. As for my defending, my tackling percentage was not too bad and I play in the most attacked position in the game. I have been working intensely on this and I think I will get more of a chance this year. “The expansive, attacking style of this team is made for me. It was a no brainer to accept their offer of a contract. “All I have asked for is, if my form is good, a sequence of games to get into the rhythm that is so vital for a flyhalf. I have not had that so far.” Lamb accepts that problem has dogged him for most of his career. “Even during all the success I had with Gloucester, Dean Ryan picked me out as a scapegoat whenever we lost a big game.
“I felt it was a bit bizarre he signed me again for Worcester. To be honest, I have always had the feeling people were waiting for me to fail.
“I have never felt accepted as a true No.1 even if I played 20 games on the bounce. Alesana Tuilaga ran over me a few times and I was not allowed to put it behind me.
“I felt I did not get a lot of credit for things I did well but got lots of stick when things did not go so well. My mistakes were always highlighted more. When I look back, the happiest time of my career was spent with London Irish.”
Lamb was signed by La Rochelle in the wake of the departure for Toulouse of popular Aussie fly-half Zack Holmes. Now his compatriot Brock James has joined BordeauxBegles.
To strengthen the post occupied by Lamb, the club has signed Kiwi Ihaia West, 26, who deputised well for All Black megastar Beauden Barrett when required for Hurricanes, and Maxime Lafage, 23, from Division Two club Colomiers.
Former French international hooker Olivier Azam, who played with Lamb at Gloucester, has likened him in style to Frederic Michalak.
“That’s what I was brought here to do,” concluded Lamb. “If I play to my potential, I will make a success of it for La Rochelle and myself.”