I’M BIGGER, HEAVIER AND FITTER THAN EVER!
Now Sam Underhill wants his England place back
AT THIS point, Sam Underhill is looking for a slice of luck. He has not played a competitive match since February 24, when England surrendered the Calcutta Cup to Scotland, and made only four league starts last season for what was his new club Bath.
Two nasty concussions at the start of last term were followed by a torn tendon in his toe during the Six Nations camp. And having also had major shoulder surgery earlier in his short professional career, Underhill, 22, is hoping for a clear run going into the new season and has a message for those who run the game.
‘Men’s rugby has got to lead by example with how we treat people with concussion injuries,’ he says. ‘Hopefully that can make it easier for others to see how to manage it.
‘If kids watch the Premiership on the weekend and then they play at school in the week, they’re going to take whatever a professional rugby player has done and if they see something sensible, they’ll be less likely to try to run it off. It’s just about showing there’s nothing wrong with coming off the pitch.
‘Ending the stigmatism around it is the big thing.’
In fairness, at Bath he has been treated well. The club took the view it was better to let Underhill recover fully, rather than rush him back from concussion.
Whenever Underhill speaks he does so with a self-assurance and thoughtfulness than belies his age — but like any youngster, he just wants a game.
‘I am only 22 so I am hoping I have a fair bit more rugby to play,’ he adds. ‘The biggest thing is the impact injuries have on the rest of your life.
‘I’ve only been in the game for a couple of years but already I know someone who has had to retire — 27-year- old Ben John from my former club Ospreys.’
At the moment Underhill’s economics degree is on hold. He should have graduated this summer, but being busy playing for Bath and England is not the worst excuse for why he did not.
He has completed one year at Cardiff University — when at the Ospreys — but his move back across the border and rise to prominence means the mortarboard will have to wait.
Politics and languages tickle his fancy too, but sitting in the plush surroundings of Bath’s Farleigh House training ground he cannot complain about missing out on the student life. ‘I’ve paid off half my student loan and I’d quite like to end up with a degree because I’ve got nothing at the moment other than debt — thanks Lib Dems,’ he jokes.
‘All of my mates from first year graduated this summer. Most of them are unemployed now. I’m not upset that I wasn’t graduating this summer and that I’m here instead but I would quite like to do it. It’s something to keep you engaged. I’ve got a bet on with one of my sisters and I’ve got five years to get it done, otherwise I’m going to have to give her some money.’
The last memory most will have of Underhill is of him performing a great try- saving tackle at Twickenham against Wales, flipping Scott Williams on to his back when he seemed sure to score.
Underhill did play in the following game, picking up a yellow card against Scotland at Murrayfield, but has not featured since.
While Eddie Jones’ men have slumped alarmingly, the man who many think is the answer to the conundrum at No 7, as a destructive tackler and breakdown beast, knows he faces a fight to regain his shirt. He has spent hours honing skills with new Bath attack coach Girvan Dempsey ahead of the season’s curtain-raiser at Bristol on Friday, fully aware he must become more than a tackling machine to make the World Cup squad next year. ‘I am under no illusions as to how hard it is going to be,’ Underhill says. ‘ But it is something I am looking forward to. I am fitter than I was last season. I am bigger, heavier and moving well. To be honest, I just want to play.’