SAM: ‘LIFE AFTER RUGBY’
FOR the last three months, Sam Warburton has been adjusting to life as a normal bloke.
Of course, being a two-time British and Irish Lions captain and having led your country a record 49 times means there’s only so normal life can ever be. He was recently ranked him the greatest Welsh captain of all time .
He’ll still be stopped on the street and the usual requests for selfies and autographs will persist, not that they’re ever too much trouble for him.
But training twice a day, carefully monitoring calorie intake and adhering to a strict supplement regime are all things of the past for the former Cardiff Blue.
Or at least they should be. Some of the old habits lingered in the days that followed his retirement.
“When I finished, I was still training six or seven times a week, I was doing my bag the night before,” he revealed.
“I’ve got my supplement cupboard, I was still eating really clean, I was calorie counting. If anything, I was even more professional.
“I did that for five or six weeks and I lost about a stone straight away because I wanted to lose that weight I had to put on for rugby.”
Warburton has allowed himself the last few weeks off.
“It’s like having a bit of an off-season,” he explains. “Before going pretty hard again in November.”
But it’s not something that has come naturally to him.
Though he has had problems with injury – ultimately, they ended his career – few would argue that he was, and still is, an incredible physical specimen.
Life as a professional athlete requires sacrifice in almost every facet of life – total dedication to training, nutrition and a healthy lifestyle.
So allowing himself the occasional treat is something that’s taken a bit of work.
“Since about the age of 15, I’ve always found it hard to have something like a bar of chocolate without any guilt,” he says.
“I opened up the cupboard the other day to get a bar of chocolate and I stopped myself.
“But then I thought ‘Why can’t I have it? I’ve got no reason not to have it anymore’ and then I ate it.
“It sounds so trivial, but they’re the really weird things (I’ve noticed). I can eat that and not worry about having a skinfold done. That routine is really hard (to break).
“I’m still not used to being out of that routine. I enjoy it ,but I’m still not used to being out of it.
“I’d think I can’t play golf on a Wednesday because I’m resting my legs or I can’t walk the dog up the woods because I can’t have a strenuous walk.
“But now I can do that and it’s those little choices.”
But now that time has passed since his shock retirement from the game, he’s getting to grips with things and loving it.
One of the benefits of retirement – and one of the biggest factors behind the decision – is that he now has more time to spend with his family.
Warburton lives in Cardiff with his wife, Rachel, and their two-year-old daughter, Anna, and when he talks about his loved ones, the 30-year-old beams.
“I love it. I absolutely love being a dad,” he says.
“When I was becoming a dad I had a lot of people telling me that I wouldn’t be able to go out anymore and I wouldn’t be able to sleep.
“But it’s the best thing that could happen, it’s amazing. I wouldn’t say I’m a deep person, but I perhaps have a different outlook on life compared to other people.
“I’ll always do whatever is best for me and my family over what people want me to do.
“You only live life once and you should do what makes you happy. That’s why I’m really taking the time to enjoy this period.
“I was saying to my wife the other day, my two-year-old is a good laugh at the minute and if I could freeze time for six months, I’d want to do it now. I just love the stage that she’s at right now.
“She’s not in full-time nursery, but she’s not a baby either. She’s home all the time so I can spend a lot of time with her and I just love it.”
What spare time Warburton has left he’s been using to carve out a career in the media, playing a starring role in BT Sport’s punditry team for their European Heineken Champions Cup coverage.
He began life as a pundit whilst taking a break from the game due to injuries and he’s quickly adapting to life behind a microphone.
So used to being the one under scrutiny, Warburton is now using his expertise to educate fans at home and he’s earned widespread praise for his early work in what’s destined to be an accomplished career in media.
But like other parts of his new life, there was a teething period and he was worried about how his old teammates might now perceive him.
“I actually met George North for breakfast not long after I retired and I was just asking about how training had been or whatever, probably the same kind of things journalists are interested in, but I just wanted to know as a mate.
“And I had to stop and say ‘Mate, before we carry on, I’m not going to get behind the microphone and say things.’
“He just said ‘Of course, I know you wouldn’t do that to me.’
“Then I saw Ellis Jenkins about a week later – I knew he’d had some sort of injury – and I asked him how his injury was and if he’d be playing on Friday. Just the same thing I’d ask if I was still involved.
“He paused for about three seconds and I thought ‘He can’t tell me because I’m one of them now!’
“It was weird but I know now that the boys can tell me things naturally.
“I was the same, you have your guard up a little bit all the time, but I think the boys do trust me.
“I’ve been doing games and having banter with the lads.
“But I do accept that it’s a little bit different now because I am perceived to be on the other side of things which is obviously really unusual.”
Warburton is enjoying his new life in front of the lens so much that, despite not being scheduled as a pundit for last weekend’s Champions Cup match between Cardiff Blues and Glasgow, he offered his services anyway.
Criticising your mates is something that didn’t come easy to him but he knows that he has to be able to do it.
“Last year, I was looked after pretty well by guys like Martyn (Williams ),” he revealed. “I was doing a game and a player who I know pretty well did something wrong and he looked at me off-camera and told me he’d comment on that bit.
“But I know now that I have to be able to do that.
“Sometimes players can get hammered and people say they should never be picked – I’m not going to go down that route.
“You can do it in a constructive way, which the players are used to – the players are constructively criticised all week, every week because it’s part of the job.
“If what I say is correct then I know they won’t take issue with it.
“But I love the challenge of trying to get my point across.
“At regional level, you get a lot of die-hard fans who watch the game, but when you get up towards European and international level, where there are higher viewing figures, you get more casual fans and I love trying to break the game down and helping them understand what’s going on.
“I like being at the coal face and I enjoy it, which is the main thing. I’m in a really privileged position to do things that I want to do as opposed to things that I have to do. For that, I do feel really lucky.”
This interview took place on the same day Wales’ 37-man squad for the autumn internationals arrived at their Vale Resort training base.
It’s the first time they’ve done so since Warburton called time on his career.
The former openside wasn’t aware that Gatland’s men were arriving for ‘Messy Monday’ and an air of nostalgia set in as he, unprompted, reels off what would be going on.
“So right now the boys are probably getting their kit,” he says.
“Having their headshots, moaning to the kitman that the T-shirts are too big, getting all the admin done, playing a bit of touch in the afternoon just to loosen all the boys up after Europe.
“I’ll miss walking in on the Monday, meeting the new players, seeing friends.
“You stay together overnight, go out for a nice meal as a team on a Monday and then later in the week you get into the nitty gritty.
“Yeah, I’ll miss that, but that’s why I quite like listening to some rugby podcasts. It’s just the random, useless banter, but I don’t get that anymore and I miss that.”
■ Sam Warburton was speaking at a workshop put on by BT Sport in collaboration with Google Garage. ■ The aim is to help publicans grow their digital skills, focusing on how to make their business more visible online and optimise social media.