Big for your boots: rugby stars get hyped to Stormzy
RUGBY sevens captain Tom Mitchell and teammate Alex Davis have revealed the England squad will be getting “pumped” ahead of their match this Saturday — by listening to Stormzy.
The team are “into their UK grime” and use the award-winning artist to bond and prepare for the pitch — with one of their number as pre-match DJ.
Mitchell, 28, said: “Richard de Carpentier is DJ. It is a big responsibility to get the team pumped up before we go on.” On their musical tastes, he added: “Most of the time they will take anything but at the moment the team are all into their UK grime and underground. Stormzy. We are listening to him a lot.”
England will play Jamaica, Samoa and Australia in their pool matches. On confronting the home side, Davis, 25, said: “Just because we’re here doesn’t mean they can’t be beaten in their own back yard.” With Sevens one of the last events of the Games, the squad only arrived in Gold Coast this week.
The centre from Gloucester said they have had to acclimatise quick: “This is my first experience of a multi-sport games and it is about dealing with the distractions and sights that come with the athletes village. Sevens is a brutal sport and the heat makes that worse.”
Mitchell, from Cuckfield, West Sussex, captained the GB team who won silver at Rio 2016. “It is an experience that will never really be replicated, a time I will never forget,” he said. “We will use that experience to help us this time.”
The squad are rooming together at the Gold Coast athlete’s village and the captain said Davis “is very chilled and relaxed. We often room together. We have similar tastes in music. We think of ourselves as the DJs of the squad. I think of us as educators.” The women’s team play today, taking on Fiji and Australia. Both finals are on Sunday.