» Jamal has his eyes on England
I’m not sure Mr Ackermann would appreciate me being put through a table Jamal Ford-robinson on his love for wrestling
JAMAL Ford-robinson thinks that a fresh start at Gloucester can help him get back to the level that saw him play for England two years ago.
After a frustrating spell at Northampton Saints, the newest prop on the Kingsholm scene is relishing a new challenge and has already announced himself as one of the biggest characters in the squad.
He was part of an England training camp in 2017 - at the same time current Gloucester captain Willi Heinz earned his first call-up - and he came on as a replacement in a non-cap international against the Barbarians.
That summer he left Bristol following their relegation from the Premiership to join Northampton but a change of coaches as Jim Mallinder was sacked halfway through his first season and a bad run of injuries in his second season at the club restricted his game time.
Ford-robinson believes he has much more to offer than he showed at Northampton though and get back to the form that earned him an England callup following his move back to the West Country.
“I feel like I can get back to where I was there and I feel like this will be a great environment to do that,” he said.
“Mainly it comes from staying injuryfree, getting my head down and getting some proper graft in.
“I think getting that experience made me realise it is attainable so although I’d say it’s not necessarily an aim and it’s not something I want to set as my beginning and end, I believe if I can replicate the things I was doing in the season leading up to that there’s no reason why I can’t be back at that point.”
» Aims at Gloucester
With Gloucester finishing third last season, one place above his former club Northampton, Ford-robinson is aiming to help the club keep pushing forward.
“There was a bit of frustration and just annoyance with the whole situation of being out injured and then not being able to get back into the team so be able to come here and start new and feel relatively fit - although I probably don’t look like it - is good,” he said.
“I guess with how last season went with being injured for a long time it would be great to come here and be injury free, one, and, two, start getting some regular appearances in and start contributing to what they’ve already got here.
“It’s a club on the up, similar to what I left, and that’s obvious with finishing third last season so if I can add even one per cent to that success it would be good.”
Ford-robinson, who can play at tight-head or loose-head, is well aware of the fierce competition he faces at Kingsholm for a starting spot though.
Fraser Balmain and Josh Hohneck plugged away for the whole of last season, while Val Rapava Ruskin, who has recently spent time with England, and South Africa international Ruan Dreyer will be hoping to put injury-ravaged campaigns behind them.
Ciaran Knight and Alex Seville have also broken through from the academy to put pressure on those above them.
“You look at Hons and Balmain who basically did the whole season on their back, it was incredible to see from the outside,” said Ford-robinson.
“If I can contribute even half of that I’d be very happy, they were truly a credit last season.
“It’s one of those things that injuries are part of the game and if you’re fit you’ve got to be ready to take the mantle and carry it.
“I’ve just got to stay fit, keep pushing in pre-season and see what happens come October.”
» Training for the milk challenge
Ford-robinson has settled into his new surroundings nicely with most of the emphasis in pre-season training so far on fitness, although Gloucester did get the ball out this week to do some skills work.
Before the season begins with the Premiership Cup games in September the 25-year-old will likely be put through the milk challenge, Gloucester’s traditional initiation for new arrivals which involves drinking eight pints in 20 minutes - with the punishment of getting their head shaved if they fail.
When one fan on Twitter asked if he liked milk, Ford-robinson’s response was to post a video of him sinking a pint.
“I’m pretty sure there’s a 20-minute time limit so that could be a bit of a challenge,” he said.
“I went through a phase of trying to put on weight believe it or not. I used to do eight pints of milk a day as like a gomad diet, like a gallon of milk every day, but 20 minutes might be a bit of a push.
“I’ll give it a test run. That’s really the most important thing, you can do what you want on the field but if you don’t win the respect of the lads it’s not worth anything is it!”
» Wrestling background
By his response, you can get a sense of Ford-robinson’s larger than life personality that is likely to gain him popularity with the fans and he certainly has an interesting background.
During his younger days playing for Cambridge in National One, he trained in London with Progress Wrestling, which has links with WWE, and took part in a one-off amateur show to tick off something from his bucket-list.
Competing under the name Krisys against Tyson James, the video of his victory can be watched on Youtube with fans chanting his stage name.
“It was just a one-off but I enjoyed it immensely,” he said.
“I’d love to do it again but I’m not sure Mr Ackermann would appreciate me being put through a table.
“I still watch it regularly, I watch AEW rather than WWE.”
If it was not for the progress he made in his rugby career, Ford-robinson admits he might have kept wrestling.
“I only stopped because I moved to Cornish Pirates at the time,” he said.
“I think it would be quite cool to do. Maybe when I hit 35 and can’t lock down a scrum I can go into that if my body is still in two pieces by then.”
Gloucester head coach Johan Ackermann has been known to get the players wrestling as part of his pre-season regime so that is something for Fordrobinson to look forward to.
He said: “I’ve heard that we’re splitting it up into three blocks and from the second block onwards there might be some wrestling involved so maybe I can do some DDTS or some piledrivers, something to get an edge.
“All hearsay obviously, but I’ve heard some socials can get quite physical. Follow my Instagram and my back might be covered in drawing pins or something and you’ll know what’s happened!”
» Big hobby away from rugby
Ford-robinson also has a gaming hobby and live streams on a platform called Twitch under the username jfordrob, which fans could find entertaining.
“Gaming has always been part of who I am,” he said.
“More so when I was younger, I spent way too much of my free time gaming.
“Now, I do a little bit on Twitch, which is obviously the main one. I go on there maybe twice a week.
“It’s nothing scheduled but if you want to follow me on there I may be on there at some point!
“It doesn’t tend to be the conventional Call of Duty or Fifa, it’s like proper gaming, none of this surface stuff. I’m underground.
“You can probably tune in more for the entertainment factor, it’s mainly just me and a couple of guys I’m good friends with so we go on and play Counter-strike at the moment and have a bit of fun. Mainly it’s for the comedy.”