It’s great to play with real Lions!
FORMER Wales hooker Scott Baldwin has revealed how moving to Harlequins has rekindled his love of rugby as he targets Premiership and Champions Cup glory.
Baldwin, 31, was capped 34 times by the Red Dragons before a foot injury on the eve of the 2018 Six Nations condemned him to eight miserable months on the sidelines.
He recovered to star for the Ospreys last season but failed to reclaim a Wales spot and, with his World Cup hopes over, he opted for a move to London instead.
Now fully integrated at Quins, where he is being coached by former Ospreys teammate Adam Jones, Baldwin told The Rugby
Paper: “It’s new and fresh and it’s like a new lease of life for me at Quins – a new challenge and new opportunities to impress.
“I’ve really got to recreate myself now and start again at a place where no one really knows who I am, but I’m determined to get back to being the player I was.
“When I made my decision to leave Wales last season, I started playing some of my best rugby, probably because I was enjoying it again and just playing for my club team without having to think too much about getting into the international set-up.
“It can become a bit oppressive when you’re fighting for international places and every game becomes like a trial. Once I’d made my decision really early, around Christmas time, it was a huge relief. “Much as I enjoyed the honour of playing for my country, I felt I had to make a decision based on the rest of my career and I needed this new challenge.
“I’d been ten years at the Ospreys and after talking to players like Bradley Davies and Paul James, who played in the Premiership, they both said it would suit the way I play.
“After speaking to Paul Gustard and getting the deal done, my wife said she hadn’t seen me as excited about my rugby since the World Cup four years ago.”
Baldwin faces fierce competition for the Harlequins No.2 jersey from experienced trio Rob Buchanan, Elia Elia and Max Crumpton, but is determined to stake a strong claim as he aims for a rare title double, having won the PRO12 with Ospreys in 2012.
“That’s definitely my target and when you look at the squad we’ve got this season there’s no reason why we can’t do it,” says Baldwin.
“I kept a close eye on Quins last season and they were unfortunate not to make the semi-finals, so we want to build on that and aim for silverware in the Premiership and Champions Cup.”
Baldwin arrives at Harlequins with a reputation as a character after being involved in one of rugby’s more bizarre incidents when he was badly bitten on the hand by a lion as he went to stroke the beast during a trip to South Africa with the Ospreys two years ago.
Given rugby director Paul Gustard’s propensity for bringing wild animals into the training environment, Baldwin said: “He did mention to me about potentially bringing an animal in from time to time so I’ll need to be a little bit more careful there.
“He sent me a video of a crocodile and asked if this was where I got my inspiration to stroke a lion, but to be fair I’d probably still do it.
“In fact, we’ve got two Lions in our front row in Joe Marler and Kyle Sinckler so I’ll see if I can give those boys a tickle when they get back from the World Cup. It was unreal at the time but at least my after-dinner speaking is now sorted!”