I jumped in lineouts and out of planes! MY LIFE
ITHINK I landed in the sweet spot when it came to the changing of the law surrounding lifting in the lineout in the mid to late 90s. All the second rows back then were not much more than tall props and it was a struggle to get them in the air. With me, it was different; I was tall and relatively skinny having not yet ‘grown into my body’.
Don’t get me wrong I could still look after myself, even as a 17-year-old playing men’s rugby for Truro. In my first-ever senior game, South Moulton’s prop took exception to me stealing a load of their ball and we had a dust-up in the middle of the field. There were plenty more battles ahead, in rugby and as a staff sergeant in the Paras, and plenty more jumping – out of a plane and at a lineout.
I’ve been lucky in a way. I’ve done the full military aspect which you have if you join up as a soldier. I’ve been to war in Iraq and two tours of Afghanistan but then running alongside that I’ve had the rugby as well, and I’ve been very privileged to achieve what I’ve achieved. I’ve played professional and semi-professional rugby at Harlequins and for Worcester, both in the Premiership, as well as Cornish Pirates and London Scottish. And I’ve gone all the way to the highest level you can in the Forces, playing for the Army and for the Combined Services against the Barbarians, Argentina and Romania.
Initially, I was stationed in Aldershot and played for the neighbouring club, Camberley RFC, as well as the Army. It was a real privilege to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Rob Wainwright, Tim Rodber and Mattie Stewart. Then, Quins spotted me and invited myself and Andy Dawling to train with them. I made my Premiership debut against Bristol and at the end of that season I signed for Worcester. The facilities at Sixways were phenomenal and I was on a full-time contract. But when the Twin Towers got smashed, I was in the clubhouse watching the horror unfold with John Brain, and I said, ‘I better get my kitbag packed’. He said, ‘what do you mean?’ And I said, ‘I’ll be going somewhere because of this’. For a while, I contemplated leaving the Army to throw my lot in with pro rugby but Worcester released me and, a year or so down the line, I was flying out to Kuwait to fight in Iraq. I remember telling Dean Shipton the news that I was off to the Middle East, and he said, ‘how long are you going for, a few weeks?’ To which I replied, ‘no mate, I’m off to war, and all I want to do is get back in one piece!’
On returning from Iraq, I had a shedload of weight to put back on because serving out there really drains you physically. We were in heavy protective suits, it was boiling hot, in the middle of the desert, and you were living on Arctic rations. I went from 18 stone to 15-and-ahalf stone. When I went to see the lads prepping for Army Navy and then the Cornwall lads ahead of the County Championship,
“I’ve been to war in Iraq and two tours of Afghanistan and had the rugby as well”
you could see the shock on their faces, especially when you’re someone who’s 6ft 6ins! When you lose that kind of weight you turn into a beanpole! It was like being 17 again at Truro!
I kind of shared my time between the Pirates and Launceston during that crazy period in my life. At Pirates, they still talk about the 40-38 win against London Welsh, where I scored the match-winning try. My mum got the video tape from BBC South West and the clip is on my phone.
London Scottish’s DoR Rowly Williams called me in and asked me to sort out their lineout, and to also give them a bit of Championship experience. I had a wonderful four years there; we bonded so well as a squad and had some great games. We won the league (the old National Two) the second year I was there, in what was a weird end to the season. There was us, Ealing and Worthing all going for it. We all lost to each other in this three-way horse race, but we clinched the title at Staines.
The warmth towards my family and me from everyone at Scottish, when I deployed to go out to Afghanistan in 2008, was unforgettable. It took me about two hours to walk the length of the clubhouse once the club had announced what I was about to embark on. Throughout my tour there, I received so many letters of support from Scottish members and team-mates; it was just wonderful. I wrote a letter back while I was out there to wish them all the best for the new season and I later found out that (coach) Jim Kelly read it out to the squad before the match, and that meant a lot to me.
Andy Hickling had a new vision for the Army rugby squad, and I was part of the new guard. Of all the Babcock Trophy games I played in, if I had to pick one out as the most memorable, it would be the one in 2002 when I stole a lineout five metres out from our try line five minutes into stoppage time. I’d been studying the Navy’s lineout whenever I could that season, and I said to Mattie (Stewart), ‘trust me, put me up in the air’. Thankfully, they did and I held onto that ball like it was like the last piece of gold on earth. I knew if they had won that lineout, they’d have scored, and would’ve had a kick to draw the game.
As a player, my last run of games was five seasons ago, in National 3 for Colchester, who I now coach. We’d just got promoted from London 1 into the National
Leagues for the first time and we had a bit of injury crisis in the second row, and I thought ‘bugger it’, I’ll be okay. My shoulder soon told me otherwise!
Coaching-wise, there have been many memorable moments. In the last ArmyNavy game, the team secured a crucial lineout in the same corner of Twickenham as mine all those years ago. That was a long time in the making, I can tell you, as I’d designed the move three or four years before but had never had the opportunity to put it into practice.
I also take immense satisfaction from seeing all the U23 lads who’ve move up into the senior team and, in the cases of Siva Naulago and Lewis Bean, become Premiership players. But, above all else, coaching the UKAF (formerly Combined Services) team to the final of the International Defence Rugby Competition (IDRC) in Japan in 2019 is probably my proudest achievement. We only had a limited amount of time to pull the three services together and none of the Prem/Champ players were available, yet we pushed what was basically the Fijian A team all the way.
It’s been a long road from being a 19year-old from Cornwall to being head coach of the British Military to a 43-yearold bloke leaving the Army, but a very rewarding one in so many ways.