IT’S A BIT ANNOYING WATCHING ENGLAND ... I WANT TO BE PLAYING
APPEARANCES can be wildly deceptive. Billy Twelvetrees comes across as a laid-back character, but not when he talks about a home defeat making him ‘head-butting-a-wall angry’ — and not when he talks about his lost status as a Test player.
The 30-year-old centre has been at the heart of Gloucester’s surge into the Premiership play-offs this season. He has formed a potent playmaker alliance with Danny Cipriani and is thriving in Johan Ackermann’s transformative regime at Kingsholm.
From the outside he has had the look of a man at peace with the balance of his career these days; all about his club and no longer about his country.
Wrong. It turns out that, despite describing himself as ‘chilled-out’, the fire still rages in Twelvetrees. His often easy-going demeanour masks layers of ambition. He wants to help Gloucester end years of under-achievement by becoming a title- chasing force again. But he hasn’t stopped thinking of England, even though his last game was in August 2015.
‘I miss it so much,’ he said. ‘Representing your country is the best thing you can do. I still have a burning desire to do that again. Whether the man in the street says “you’re good” or “you’re rubbish” or whatever, my goals are still my goals. I will just keep going as hard as I can and keep hoping.
‘I really struggle watching England matches. I would try to avoid them altogether but there’s a part of me that wants to watch because I know a lot of those guys and I want them to do well. I always end up feeling a bit annoyed because I just think “I’ve been there and I want that again”.’
Twelvetrees concedes that being overlooked for national service is no longer quite as raw and painful as it once was — especially now that he has the ‘distraction’ of two young children and another on the way, plus accountancy studies. But it doesn’t take much prompting to resurrect memories of when he was forging a Test career.
When England toured New Zealand in 2014, Stuart Lancaster’s squad arrived at Dunedin airport for the second Test and there was a special reception for Twelvetrees in the arrivals hall.
He remembers it clearly, saying: ‘The security guys gave me the heads-up. They said, “There’s a guy down there with a camera crew, wearing a local rugby shirt
— he’s got 12 trees to give you as a gift, so just be polite when n you see him”. I just said, “But t what am I going to do with the trees?”! They said, “Don’t worry, we’ll get rid of them”.
‘I was just this young guy and I didn’t know how to handle it. I thought it was quite funny. I managed to say thanks, then we got ushered d on to the bus, so they followed ed us back to our hotel! I said to the security guys, “Can’t I go and talk to them?” but they said, “No”.’ .’
What happened at the endd of that week is etched into Twelvetrees’ mind too. He was a dominant figure as England stormed into a 10-0 lead against the All Blacks, only to make an error which marked the beginning of the end of his prospects of taking part in tthe World Cup the following yeyear. Halfway through a question tia about that match, he is already answering. ‘ Oh bloody hell… It does my head in,’ he said. ‘I played well in the first half. I made about 10 line-breaks, then I mmade a similar break on the iinside, I was tackled and I trtried to off-load the ball. ‘ IIt was never on, but I thouthought, “I’ve got this”. It went wrongwrong. I remember getting up and ssprinting back, but they scoscored.ed I just thought, “Why did you do that? Why?” It was classic All Blacks. You make a mistake and they punish it. If I’d done that for Gloucester, I might have got away with it. But at international level, you get labelled.’ The label that stuck was that
Twelvetrees was not consistent enough for England. He was labelled as liable to make costly mistakes. He was labelled as a risk not worth taking.
But in recent years he has become a reliable asset to Gloucester and Ackermann claimed that he has perhaps been a victim of perception.
‘Looking at Billy, how he plays for us, I don’t see inconsistency,’ said the South African coach. ‘I see him constantly doing things well. If he does make a mistake, it’s nothing that I haven’t seen other players make.
‘You must sometimes look more at the positives of what a player does, rather than the one or two errors that they make.’
This season, Twelvetrees’ playmaker alliance with Cipriani has given Gloucester an extra dimension in attack. ‘It’s been brilliant,’ said Twelvetrees. ‘We should have made the play-offs last year but we just didn’t quite believe in ourselves. Danny has come in with a belief in his ability and a belief in the other boys here and it rubs off.’
Yet Twelvetrees is refusing to become excited about the position Gloucester find themselves in. He will start against Newcastle at Kingsholm today knowing that another win would confirm a thirdplace finish, which is likely to bring the dubious prize of a semi-final against champions Saracens in Barnet on May 25. The club’s leading points-scorer won’t take stock — or any real satisfaction — until the work is complete.
Twelvetrees is adamant that he is a far better player than he was when being picked for England. ‘In the last two seasons I’ve been more consistent, and that comes down to being 30, not 20,’ he said. ‘I would say I’m the best I’ve ever been. Knowledge- wise I am. Understanding-wise I am. Physically I am.
‘But people put you in a box. You get put in that older-age category. There are so many older players doing well in the league now and if they are fit enough, why would you not play them? If you’re good enough when you’re young, you should play — and if you’re good enough when you are older, you should play too.’
He won’t give up on one day being good enough for England again.