I wish Conor had been in charge when I was at Quins
So, maybe the first time I thought I might be all right at this amazing game that I had loved playing so much from the moment I made my first tackle at the age of five – that is correct, back then there was no tag! – was when my school coach at Haileybury College called me into his office and asked me if I would captain the 1st XV. As it happens, it turned out that I wasn’t actually the best rugby player that came out of that experience!
The coach in question was Ian George, father of England hooker Jamie George. After matches, of which I only actually played one as captain due to injury, we would head back to Ian’s house for a few cheeky beers and some Baywatch but the highlight was being greeted by a six-year-old Jamie, who was champing at the bit to
wrestle all-comers. It was clear then he had something special about him, limitless in his belief and already incredible strong. We were honoured to
have seen the start of a journey that has led to the all-rounded player he has become today.
That being said, I am proud to say I still had something to offer the rugby world. After a couple of years with Sarries’ academy/U21s, I went to Oxford, winning three Blues, which came with my first chance to play at the Twickenham. My first Blue, in 1999, in which I scored the winning try, may still be my favourite career memory.
Going into that game we’d lost the previous five Varsity matches and Cambridge were bidding to win six in a row for the first time in well over 100 years. Rather arrogantly in my view, they invited the previous five winning captains to the game, assuming they would want to be there to recognise the achievement. It wasn’t until our 20th anniversary dinner that I learned this from our coach Steve Hill, who had lost three of those five.
By his own admission his job was on the line, and he took even more pleasure in individually shaking the five Cambridge captains’ hands to congratulate them on a good game. It is the realisation that your time on the pitch gave other people some of their favourite memories that makes being a professional athlete so humbling.
After a brief spell with England Sevens, when I played in Hong Kong, I had seven eventful years at Harlequins. It’s amazing how teams breed a culture that reflects them and Quins were still living with a reputation of being a good Cup side, playing champagne rugby, but without the grit to grind out wins to compete regularly for trophies. We won two European Challenge Cups and reached the final of the Powergen Cup, but never really challenged for the League, finally resulting in relegation, leading to my least favourite memory.
With the squad we had, there was no reason why we should have been in relegation danger let alone actually go down. But that’s what happened in 2005. Mark Evans is a smart bloke and his heart was definitely in the right place but for him to be CEO and also in charge of the rugby operation just didn’t make sense.
We started to do things differently, to try and get ourselves out of trouble, like staying at hotels the night before home games. The trouble was no-one really bought into it. I remember one time Peter Winterbottom was brought in for a motivational talk and it clearly didn’t have the desired effect as we were relegated after losing to Sale at home on the final day of the season. Not long before, someone on the management team had said, ‘no-one has gone down with 38 points’. We did! Again, it was entirely the wrong message to send out.
Of all the irrelevant things in the world, sport is the most relevant. In reality it’s not life or death yet weekends can be made or broken by a team winning or losing. I was personally very upset after that game and was in tears for a long time afterwards as the realisation of what had happened to the club sunk in. It was definitely a wake-up call that a club like that could be relegated and thankfully we bounced straight back up and moved forward.
This experience led me to reflect on how this happened to such a ‘big club’. It seemed to me that the desire to be seen as a ‘big club’ created a huge gap between young developing talent and big names. They didn’t seem to have a plan to develop the younger talent, instead bringing in players to try to fill the gap.
I played with over 75 in the time I was there. There were brilliant signings like Andre Vos, but more often you had players coming in that just didn’t feel like they were in it for the long haul. It led to players leaving and enjoying great careers elsewhere, Kai Horstmann and Max Evans among others.
If people ask if there was anything I would have changed about my career, for me, personally, I’d have loved to have been in the squad when Conor O’Shea was in charge. From what I’ve heard, he seems to pick on performance over reputation and is far more academic in his approach compared to some of the coaches I had. That said, it was the early days of professionalism and everyone was still finding their feet.
After being part of the promotion-winning season, I stayed at Quins for another year before enjoying four of the most amazing years at Nottingham. Glenn Delaney did fantastically well with the budget he had at his disposal and created a brilliant team environment. Because we didn’t have a massive squad, everyone had to pull their weight and play week in, week out which was great for me because game time had been
hard to come by down at Quins. We genuinely played for each other and managed to finish second in the Championship behind eventual champions Exeter, and we know where they went from there.
Being part-time, I was able to start venturing into the business world and it’s very satisfying how things have worked out. My wife and I now own two companies, Pinks Boutique and Proverb Skincare. Created to help people make better decisions for their health and the planet. A lot of our business revolves around networking and meeting people, and rugby often comes up in conversation. I am very proud and very grateful to have gone through that experience. I’ve never wanted to be that person who says it is the best sport in the world and look at it through rose-tinted glasses, but the more that I see of other sports, through my kids competing in them, you can’t help but think that. The rugby family is a real thing.
Knowing how hard you have to work when you own your own business, I’m really grateful to have had 11 years of my life where it was really easy and where you get most things done for you. Relegations take their toll but practically and financially, it is an easy life by comparison.
Even though I am 10 years into retirement from rugby, I do miss playing the most. As a flanker, the feeling of turning over the ball is hard to replicate. It’s the biggest buzz when just as the opposition are in full flow you manage to get in, strip the ball, and completely flip momentum on it heads. That was priceless and reminds me that however tough business is, and things might not being going your way in your life, one great decision can turn your fortunes 180 degrees. Just one of the many lessons this amazing game has taught me.
“After matches we’d have a few cheeky beers and some Baywatch”
“The feeling of turning over the ball is hard to replicate”