MY LIFE IN RUGBY

BATH COACH AND EX-SARACENS, LONDON WELSH, NEWPORT, LONDON IRISH AND LEEDS SCRUM-HALF

Winning back-toback Cup Finals, in 2001 and 2002, with Newport and then London Irish, made for probably the most memorable 12 months of my career. While the result was the same, the approach taken before each game was very different. The Principality Cup Final against Neath was really nerve-wracking because we were heavy favourites, but we came through to provide Gary Teichmann with the perfect send-off.

I enjoyed the Powergen Cup Final a lot more, though. Northampton had some great players, but we focused heavily on ourselves and what we needed to achieve in the game. It was a ‘light bulb’ moment for me as it showed me the importance of controlling your own environment and filtering out any outside distractions. There was no war and peace chat before the game, we just said, ‘let’s do this’, and the result spoke for itself.

We also finished fourth in the Premiership, qualified for the Heineken Cup and made the semis of the Parker Pen that year. It’s funny how many of that group of players have gone on to become coaches. I think the fact that everyone in the team knew their jobs and how they fitted into the overall system made us tactically very aware.

My first season at London Irish couldn’t have been more different than my very first year as a professional down at Saracens. I was all set to go to Cambridge to do a masters and possibly get a Blue, but Mark Evans approached me after seeing me play for Wales Students. Once I heard what they were offering, I jumped at the chance. Being in the same dressing room as the likes of Francois Pienaar was great but, unfortunately, I dislocated my shoulder and it needed surgery. I was loaned out to Bedford after that.

Clive Griffiths gave me the opportunity of regular first team rugby at London Welsh and I really enjoyed my time there; however, Graham Henry had just taken over as Wales boss and I decided to join Newport in a bid to further my chances of playing international rugby. In the end, the commute to South Wales from London got too much and that’s when the good times with London Irish began. Most people were completely unaware that I had grown up in Transvaal, South Africa so there were quite a few surprised looks when I started speaking to Brendan Venter and Naka Drotske in Afrikaans!

After five seasons, I left Irish with a year still to run on my contract. I was conscious that I needed to put things in place for when I retired. Coaching was a path I wanted to go down, so I did all my badges and finished my masters in psychology. I thought that Stuart Lancaster would be a good guy to learn from, because he had a massive interest in the coaching process, and after we’d had a chat I decided to join Leeds.

Moving to a different part of the country with an eight-month-old boy was difficult but we loved living there. From a rugby point of view though, it was the toughest two years of my life. At Irish, I’d prided myself on being the chess player, controlling the game from nine but I quickly came to realise at Leeds that my reactions weren’t as sharp as they once were.

Helping the club back into the Premiership was great but I was a bystander for most of the following season and only played six games off the bench. After my last game against Wasps, in May 2008, I came off the pitch, took my boots off in the changing room and left them there. That was me done, at 35 and after 14 years as a pro. I haven’t played a game since.