Welsh fitness guru pumped for big clash
HE is the Englishman in the Welsh camp plotting his former employers’ downfall in the Six Nations — and Paul Stridgeon is more up for it than any player.
Bobby — as everyone calls him after Adam Sandler’s character Bobby Boucher in the film
The Waterboy — is the former England Commonwealth Games freestyle wrestler who is head of physical performance with Wales.
The fitness guru, a proud Wigan man, had a dual role with Toulon and Wales during the 2015 World Cup. He previously worked with England and has been on the last three Lions tours, so has insight on those coming to Cardiff on Saturday.
But when asked if he had split loyalties ahead of the crucial clash, Stridgeon, 38, replied: ‘Are you having a laugh!? Me and Shaun Edwards are more mental to win than anyone. We want to win more than the Welsh boys, if that’s possible.
‘When we beat England in 2015, I went into the dressing room and I couldn’t breathe. Honestly. I have never had that in my life. It was like having a panic attack. I needed a bag to breathe into.
‘On the coach on the way back I’m there with my top off, and my suit trousers on, dancing!
‘Me and Shaun were happier than anyone to have beaten England — because it’s your old team.’
At the famous rugby pub in Twickenham, the Cabbage Patch, there is a picture of an old England squad gathered at Pennyhill Park in the gents’ toilets — and Stridgeon is with them.
‘Lucky no one has filled me in with permanent marker!’ he said of the poster. ‘Jon Clarke, who is their conditioning coach, was a player of mine at Warrington. A mate from rugby league.
‘I still speak to them, there are some good boys there. But there will be no friends on game day.
‘With France we had insight on their psyche and how if they get on top you’re in for a tough game, but if you score first you get into them and the confidence might drop.
‘We saw that on the opening weekend. They got momentum, but we worked, chipped back and it quickly changes. England is massive. I will be on fire. I will be ready.’
Stridgeon (above) went to the same Wigan school — St John Fisher — as Owen Farrell.
‘I’ve known him since he was young,’ he added. ‘A good kid. A winner. Works hard. On the Lions he was a great player, works hard, a general.
‘He was very mature from a young age. He gets that from his dad, watching him speak in meetings. He was bossing boys around when he was 22. That’s why he is well respected and one of the best No 10s in the world.’
Although he has worked for Warren Gatland’s dominant Wasps team of the noughties, the Toulon side who won three European Cups on the spin, and England, he is having the time of his life with Wales.
‘This is the best squad I’ve worked with. There isn’t one person who you would be unhappy with if you had to sit next to them at dinner. They’re all absolutely brilliant.’