Alongside Dan Carter Mike Phillips tells all
son I’d speak to after and I think a few people didn’t really understand that about me.
“It was never personal with anyone. You just want to win so much you use anything you can.”
Despite Phillips’ insistence that there was no bad blood, the pair weren’t exactly going out for candle lit dinners when they became teammates at the Liberty Stadium.
“I didn’t really speak to him that often but what I did see was that he was an absolute winner, a competitor,” remembers Phillips, who represented the Ospreys 60 times over four seasons.
“Even though he was at the end of his career, he wanted to start every game.
“He wasn’t always great in training on a Tuesday or Wednesday, maybe a bit stiff, but come Saturday he was easily one of the best players on the field.
“That’s what I took from him really. Tuesday is important but it’s all about Saturday. That’s when it matters.
“I remember I got picked against Gloucester in the Heineken Cup.
“As soon as it was announced, he threw his toys out of the pram a little bit and that surprised me.
“But the era that he came through was dog eat dog and that’s what made him so good.
“I never saw myself as competing against him because we were at different stages in our careers.
“But what blew me away was just how much he still wanted to win and how good he was on game day.”
Neither Phillips or Marshall were ones to shy away from a bit of verbal jousting but the greatest piece of trash talking Phillips has ever been subjected to? Enter Bakkies Botha.
Phillips, a two-time British and Irish Lion, recalls the series against South Africa in 2009, when the giant Springbok lock denied him a try by knocking the ball out of his hands with the line at his mercy.
“I’m gutted now and I look up and he’s standing there smiling at me with all his mates, who were all about 7ft tall,” recalls the 37-year-old.
“I’m thinking I can’t let him just smile at me, so I made some comment about them all being on steroids.
“At this point, I’m expecting a punch in the face or at least a push of some sort.
“But, in his thick accent, he’s come back with: ‘Oh, you have sexy blue eyes’.
“I was so confused. Fair play to him, I didn’t have any comeback for that.”
In a professional career that spanned 16 years, Phillips shared the field with some of the game’s greatest players.
But, perhaps, none will eclipse his Racing 92 half-back partner and All Blacks legend Dan Carter, who the Welshman rates as a thoroughly decent chap both on and off the field.
Phillips was donning the No.9 jersey for Carter’s French capital.
“He was exceptional,” insists Phillips. “He never made a mistake and always made the game look effortless.
“He’d nail every kick from the touchline. At times he didn’t even look bothered and suddenly he’d do something extraordinary.
“At the end of the day, he’s Dan Carter.
“I remember playing in the Paris derby and I was chasing him down the touchline and I could see his foot went into touch so I stopped.
“But the touch judge didn’t put his flag up. So I’ve stopped and had a go at the touch judge: ‘He was in touch, mun!’
“The flag didn’t go up just because it was Dan Carter, it did my head in! I used to think they [All Blacks] used to get a lot of decisions.
“But he was great to play with, comfortable on the ball and very cool in every situation. He was pure class.”
I’ve taken up enough of Phillips’ time but there is still time for one more question.
The coronavirus pandemic is being viewed by the game’s administrators as a giant opportunity to hammer the reset button and make some seismic changes in the sport.
There is chat about the Six Nations moving from its traditional slot to April or May in a bid to better align the playing calendars in the northern and southern hemispheres. first year in the
It’s a move that Phillips fully supports, hoping that it could lead to games like England’s turgid 13-6 win against Scotland in this year’s tournament being a thing of the past.
“I’d be massively in favour of that, anything to get away from that horrible patch of weather that we can get during February and March. I think it holds us back,” he insists.
And, for the sake of enjoyment, he would also be strongly in favour of mini and junior rugby in Wales following suit, becoming more of a summer sport.
“Kids love it, rolling around in the mud, but I just think we could upskill players around the ages of 13 or 14 a bit better,” he says.
“It’s about making sure their skillset is better than it is now.
“We’ve improved massively in terms of strength and conditioning but we still have work to do to improve our skill sets all the way down to the grassroots.
“You might get that one player, that future Shane Williams, be put off the game but he could rip it up if he was playing in more favourable conditions.
“Surely we don’t want to be losing these youngsters.” And with that, our time is up. What’s clear is Phillips’ desire for the game in Wales to thrive at all levels burns as brightly as ever.
Any player who gets the opportunity to tap into that should count themselves very lucky indeed.