I regret not fighting for future at Exeter
LOOKING back on my playing career, I think I can handle missing out on a Cardiff Blues contract to Sam Warburton! Dai Young was the DoR at the time and he called me into the office and said, ‘I’ve got two guys going for one contract’. Clearly, I had no chance as the other guy was Sam.
Even though he wasn’t playing much, you could tell he was going to be brilliant and Dai’s decision to go with him was obviously something I couldn’t argue with given what he has gone on to achieve in the game.
Other than a handful of PE lessons in rugby at my school in Reading, I’d never really played the game until my second year at Cardiff University. While I was there I played for a Valleys side called Llantwit Fardre and we were involved in a brawl every week. With the university team, I remember going down to Tenby, where my wife is from, for a Cup tie and they just wanted to beat up the students. We managed to give as good as we got and I quite enjoyed that side of the game.
Dale ‘The Chief ’ McIntosh was a good role model in how to look after yourself. My first game for Pontypridd was his last; it was away at the Gnoll against Neath and they gave him a really good shoeing at the bottom of a ruck as a send-off. He just peeled himself up off the floor and had a massive smile on his face. I was lucky to play with a number of inspirational players in my position, from Paul Tito, who commanded so much authority, to Tommy Hayes, my first captain at Exeter, and Dean Mumm, also at the Chiefs. Tommy had the trust of all his teammates, while Dean’s signing was probably the catalyst for the change in Exeter’s style from a set-piece orientated side to one that liked to run the ball as he was so athletic.
While I didn’t get the game time or the pro contract I was after at the Blues, I did get some quality coaching from the then academy manager, Danny Wilson. He’d sit down with me and we’d study the mechanics of the lineout. Before that, if you were any good at the lineout, you’d just call to yourself regardless of what the defensive setup was. I also got to play quite a lot at blindside in the Welsh Premiership with Cardiff RFC which I enjoyed as you had more opportunities to run around the pitch with ball in hand.
Fortuitously for me, it wasn’t long after Dai made his decision to choose Sam over me that the option of the Scarlets came up. I went to have a look around Parc y Scarlets and the setup was firstclass, just like the coaching team. It was the Nigel Davies/Gareth Jenkins era and Robin McBryde was coaching the forwards. John Muggleton, the defence coach, is the most-blunt guy I have ever met, which I liked. He’d write down his review notes on a sheet of A4 paper, with the time and whatever he thought at that time… things like ‘42 minutes, Welchy, what the f*** did you think you were doing here?’
To be travelling back and forth from Cardiff to Parc y Scarlets, with the likes of Matthew Rees and Stephen Jones, guys I’d been watching on TV, was an amazing experience for someone so new to the full-time professional game. Experiences like playing Toulon away and some epic games against London Irish in the Heineken Cup are ones I’ll never forget.
Rob Baxter had made a few enquiries about me earlier in my career, even before I joined the Blues, and Scarlets were fairly good about letting me go to Exeter, despite the fact there was a year left to run on my contract. Unbelievably, Gareth Jenkins actually bumped into me at Exeter Services when he was on his way down there to talk to a player. I’d just met Rob but, luckily, I had my mate with me who lives locally, and I used visiting him as my excuse for me being in that part of the world on a random day in midweek!
The first couple of years at Chiefs (2012-14), was my favourite time in my entire career. I’d never worked harder as a player, but everyone was encouraged to enjoy their rugby and the atmosphere around the place was so good. Winning the LV=Cup, against Northampton in 2014, was the first big step on the journey to where the club is now and it was great to be a part of that, especially as it was alongside teammates who are now lifelong friends. I played in the Premiership final defeat to Saracens but was in the stands for the one we won, against Wasps in 2017. I was delighted for everyone, but it would have been nice to have been on the pitch.
With time knocking on in terms of my age, contracts were starting to be awarded yearly rather than in two-year blocks and I decided to go back to the Blues, where Danny Wilson was head coach. On reflection, I should have stayed and fought for more contracts at Exeter. It wasn’t long before Geoff Parling went to Australia to join Melbourne Rebels and freed up a spot in the second row.
Everything at Chiefs was geared towards making the team successful, whereas that wasn’t really the case at the Blues. Even with all the financial shortcuts, we still managed to win the European Challenge Cup in Bilbao, which is another career highlight.
My final season as a player was with Merthyr, where I had some good friends, but sadly that was interrupted by the coronavirus. I also did my ACL around Christmas and I think that was my body telling me it was time to stop.
Coaching wasn’t entirely new to me as I’d been part of the team that led Exeter University to the BUCS Super Cup title, and I’d had the fortune of being able to pick the brains of Rob Baxter and co. at the Chiefs. When the Plymouth Albion head coach job came up, Rob Gibson (Chiefs academy manager), rang my agent to say I should go for it. Albion’s vision of what the club was about and mine were very much aligned and I was delighted to get the position. Now, we just need meaningful rugby to start again so I can put into practice all I’ve learnt over the years.
“Dale ‘The Chief’ McIntosh was a good role model in how to look after yourself”