Will Carling2013-05-26T01:28:25-04:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=will-carlingCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Will CarlingGood old fashioned elbow grease.Rugby's Fight to Differentiate Itself and Be Heardtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.29981162013-04-02T19:00:00-04:002013-04-02T18:13:27-04:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
A brief explanation as to why I loved playing, and started playing rugby, was down to the challenge that it presented above all the other sports. I played most sports, and enjoyed them, but it was the physical nature of rugby that really hooked me, the challenge for me of the fear that it induced, and how you dealt with that. Fear of being hurt, yes, but also fear of not performing because of that, of letting team mates down. So the challenge of building yourself up to deal with the physical challenge, the collisions, but ensuring that you stayed calm enough to think, to play, to plan to win.
None of the other sports offered that challenge. I enjoyed cricket, was okay at it, enjoyed football and was similar but in neither sport was there the fear factor and, for some bizarre reason, that appealed to me!
I love watching other sports. Big sport is special, so some of the huge football games are just superb, as are all the big sporting encounters, from the Olympics to Ryder Cups to Ashes Tests.
So when it's competing against such variety, such choice, how does rugby survive?
It's a tough ask, let's be honest, and tough for any sport competing with the giant that is football. And yet there are opportunities, weaknesses in the football armour, and that is what rugby needs to focus on.
Families can go along to rugby matches, from international to club games, and feel safe in the knowledge that there will be no violence, no threatening behaviour and by and large no moments where they have to shield their kids ears or explain away some behaviour. It is a safe environment, an inclusive environment, and one that rugby should be proud of.
Alongside that is the example that players set in terms of respect for a referee and, for the vast majority of time, their fellow players. As I have said I am a football fan but the two areas that really let it down for me are the abuse it still allows players to hurl at the referee and the pretence at injury.
I know I am going to sound all old-fashioned here, and even chauvinistic, but how can a man pretend to be injured? Where is his pride, his dignity? Rolling around on the floor as through you have broken your leg in 59 places, and then two minutes later getting up and carrying on?? That for me is just pathetic. They need to grow some.
So, rugby should shout out about the respect referees are still afforded, and also that despite the ferocity of the collisions, very rarely, do players pretend to be injured or have any desire through pretence to get an opposing player into trouble. The game is still underpinned by admirable conduct, not perfect don't get me wrong, but in the main still hugely admirable.
The other defining factor for rugby, especially in its draw for corporate world, was the eloquence and conduct of the players away from the pitch. And no, this was not solely down to the fact that a large percentage of rugby players were middle class or privately educated. It was more to do with the amateur nature of the sport, and the fact that players had a perspective on life, and hence their sport, that professional players do not have. The likes of Jason Leonard, soon to be President of the Rugby Football Union (allow me a little smile here), was as captivating to captains of Industry as the Oxford University-educated Simon Halliday, back in those days! And why? Because he had stories to tell, he had an ability to mix, and ability to talk, to listen, and be interested in a whole variety of company.
This is one area that I worry rugby might lose its advantage over football and some other sports. As the players have become supremely fit and as their days have become so finely organised and planned, by others, the players are in danger of losing the ability to engage, not only with fans but with the corporate world. Rugby is one of the favourite sports in the boardrooms across the city, across the IT and telecoms worlds and this has given it a much needed calling card with sponsors and benefactors.
Somehow rugby, the clubs, the unions and the players need to find a way to sustain this.
I am still lucky enough to meet many of the current players, from all the countries, and it is fascinating but slightly concerning to see how they have all coped with the professional world. New Zealand leads the way, without doubt, on and off the pitch. They are a class act when playing and a class act with corporate guests. Bloody impressive. And not far behind are the Australians and South Africans but, worryingly, some way behind are the northern hemisphere, and England.
Leaving the on-field performance aside, the southern hemisphere seem to have managed to maintain players who are still able and confident enough to mix and mingle with fans and corporate guests alike. The brutal truth is that the some of the English players can, but not enough, and not as well? Why? If it was just about the progress and effect of professionalism, then the southern hemisphere players would be exactly the same. They are not.
And bizarrely I do believe it has an effect on their ability on the pitch too. Rugby players need to develop interests and focus away from the game alone, firstly to give them some perspective on life but also to start to prepare them for life after rugby. It can be all too short a career, and even those lucky enough to have a long career, still need another career afterwards...
So my hope is that the unions, clubs and players start to understand the importance of investing in interests outside of rugby, to help develop the players as characters as well as rugby players. And as I said, this development in them as people will benefit them as rugby players and team mates.
Alongside this development needs to be an understanding that rugby has to go far and beyond football in terms of marketing the character that plays the game. To do this, my belief is that rugby needs to look at American sport, and particularly how American sport has allowed access to TV. Access to training, to team hotels, to changing rooms, team coach, medical room etc, etc, etc. Rugby needs to let the cameras in to get the message out.
Allow the cameras to show the character, the qualities that rugby players have, the bravery, the focus, the work, the humour, the bond within a team. All are hugely popular to the world and to the sponsors, and rugby has to fight in order to get those messages out there.
Rugby is far from perfect, as we all know, but it does possess some great qualities, and yet it still seems too shy to shout about them? In the current climate and in the fight to differentiate itself from other sports, it needs to start doing just that. Allowing greater access, being proud of the product that is being delivered and developing the players are just three areas that need working on.
The Olympics not only showed us great sport, great achievement, it all showed the appetite there is for a family friendly sport that can capture the qualities of sportsmanship. I hope rugby is one of the sports that puts it's hand up... very high!]]>England's Season - A Headmaster's Reporttag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.29064012013-03-19T19:00:00-04:002013-05-19T05:12:01-04:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
You can read all sorts of technical reviews elsewhere, the papers and websites are full of them and some are actually quite astute. So yes, England missed a ball carrying eight in the last two games, the lack of pace in the back three was exposed, as was the lack of creativity in the midfield. All those points are valid and important, but I want to look at it from the angle of the team, the characters, the experience, as I think this will be even more vital in the long term.
The first thing to say is that I think captain Chris Robshaw has been outstanding, his performances have been consistently high and he even managed to sustain that in the turmoil of Cardiff. He has led by example on the field quite superbly. What I suspect is that he might now need to develop his confidence in leading off the field.
As far as I think England have come in developing a new culture, which coach Stuart Lancaster deserves huge praise for, I still sense areas that need improvement and attention. A number of England players still have over-inflated views of their ability and their worth. Some still convince themselves that they prepare as thoroughly as the best in the world, and yet in the area of personal preparation, and I am talking mainly mental here, I think many are way behind the best.
A very famous ex-All Black captain told me that within the current team there is a real drive to be a 'student of the game'. To analyse the games being played, to understand the requirements of your position as much as you can and the others around you. To study rugby! To study opposition players and teams, so that you can see how they operate and why. Sadly I think that might sound tedious to a number of current players, as the All Blacks do this in their own time...
I am sure I sound like an old has-been, or even an old never-was, but I do feel that in the professional world, players abdicate the responsibility for mental preparation to the coaching team far too readily. England got it right in Dublin and I was really impressed with their focus when they went down to fourteen men, in fact they won the game in that period - great effort. But a huge part of the Six Nations is understanding that you have to get the mental preparation and mind set right for each game. Even more so when you are English.
To enjoy a win such as the one in Dublin is compulsory (otherwise why the hell are you doing it?) but wiping your mind clean and being able to focus solely on the next team with exactly the same intensity and respect again is bloody hard. Really bloody hard not to soften slightly, not to take short cuts in anyway and not to convince yourself that due to your win, confidence will carry you through. It does not, it never will, because each team presents such a unique challenge, and each team wants to beat you so much, so so much.
And this is where I think there are probably times when Robshaw needs to ground players, to push them harder in training. Not physically but from the mental point of view, the precision, the intensity, the visualisation. There were many times I had to do this, intimidating as it was with the likes of Brian Moore, Dean Richards, Peter Winterbottom, Wade Dooley and Mike Teague, but it had to be done. We would coast in training, go through the motions and balls were dropped.
It might not sound important but for me a dropped ball in training is a dropped ball in the game and if you allow it in training, you will replicate that in a game. And the same for any lack of precision in training - all of it manifests itself in a game, especially when you are under pressure. There has to be a purpose to every training session, there has to be an edge to every session, a goal, a reason, and a lot of the time there should be an underlying fear. The fear that if we don't get this right, if we are not sharp enough, we lose and we have to walk off a pitch with that sickening feeling in your stomach and the knowledge that you are going to have to live with this for a very very long time.
We all like to operate in a comfort zone, none of us relish the idea of constantly pushing the envelope, but that is what is needed to win and I think Robshaw and his leadership team need to bollock players who are coasting, needle the players, visualise worst case scenarios, and do whatever will evoke the desired reaction from those particular players.
It does not make you popular - quite the opposite - but it needs to be don. It is one of the responsibilities of leadership that you want to avoid. But England need to have a focus and intensity on the training pitch and when preparing in the team room that gives them an edge over their opposition.
And the other realisation for me, and this is not a cop out, is that until you have walked out into Cardiff and experienced that wall of emotion, no one can describe it to you. Ten of the England boys had not played there, and none had been in the final game of the Championship going for a Grand Slam. They received a very painful injection of experience and, let's be honest, none of us like injections, none of us ask for them, certainly not painful ones, but they often do us the world of good.
Even the great World Cup winning side had to receive a few painful injections along the way... So a painful dose of experience, that needs to be banked and then evoked in a year's time, alongside a realisation that we need to include players who offer a real threat in attack. I know defence is vital, but so is scoring points and having more than one way to do that.
But my overriding feeling is that England are moving in the right direction, and that is not something I have felt as an England fan for far too long. The likes of Joe Launchbury, Tom Youngs, Tom Wood, and Billy Twelvetrees have all developed well and I believe there are some new faces that will add some edge to England's attack next season.
If I were a headmaster (some thought really!) my report would be predominantly positive, with underlying concerns about being too defensive and encouragement to take the risk and blood some attacking talent. But a pat on the back for the captain and maybe even a gold star.]]>An Englishman in Cardifftag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.28830562013-03-15T19:00:00-04:002013-05-15T05:12:01-04:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
My earliest memories of the Welsh was supporting them (shock horror). They were my rugby heroes when I was seven years old and why not - the likes of Edwards, Bennett, Gerald Davies, Fenwick, Gravell and, of course, JPR. They were brilliant, they won and I loved them. Getting to meet Phil Bennett, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, and I got to meet JPR at Newcastle airport half way through my England career and it was still a huge privilege.
However the crushing realisation not too long after this period that I really needed to support the guys in white was quite hard to accept but over a period of time I have become quite passionate about it!
My first game against Wales was dominated by Jonathan Davies' hairstyle, the greatest mullet of all time. I was obviously so impressed that I grew one soon after! So I had his hair, just not the skill, pace or accent.
My first trip to Cardiff ended in disaster in the rain, when Robert Jones's box kicks that pinned us to the touch lines and eventually destroyed us. I drove back from our hotel the next morning and, in a daze, stopped at a service station on the M4. Still in my defeat-induced daze I staggered into the shop bought whatever it was and failed to notice the commotion building outside.
Having paid, it suddenly became all too painfully apparent what the commotion was, a coach loads of Welsh fans had stopped off too and had now made a tunnel back to the exit for me! Very kind indeed. Although safe to say the sentiments they showered on me were not quite so kind.
I distinctly remember sitting in my car smouldering afterwards. Not only had we lost but I had just seen up close and personal what it meant to Welsh fans. And it made a lasting impression on me, one that I recalled in vivid technicolor two years later!
Having reviewed our defeat, and the 30+ years of defeats England had suffered in Cardiff, we decided that in 1991 we would do things just a little differently. We gave up staying at St Pierre Golf club (just over the bridge in Wales where you could still actually see England). Instead we decided to stay right in the centre of Cardiff, to make a statement to ourselves as much as anyone. We weren't going to hide out in St Pierre anymore, we were in town, we were here to hear your comments and this time we were here to win.
We also decided no coach to the ground. We could see the bloody stadium from our hotel, it was a few hundred yards away! So we walked in! I stayed very close to the likes of Wade Dooley and Dean Richards (not sure why). Even in a state of high focus, I still remember the looks on many faces as we walked past.
Towards the end of the game, my other vivid memory is of a granny in the first row of the stand waving an umbrella at me and informing me of her view on my parentage. Passion, she had. And plenty of it!
That night we had the beautiful moment of introducing Neil Jenkins to profiteroles. The dinner as always was a pretty dire drawn-out affair, although mine had started quite differently. Peter Winterbottom and I were late and, as we rushed through the Angel foyer, I said good evening to an elderly gentleman in his black tie. The next thing this gentleman grabbed me by my lapels, and shouted in my face
"Good evening, GOOD EVENING?! I tell you CARLING, in the 70s we would have given you a bloody good hiding!"
I looked over his shoulder (I was taller than him, which is unusual for me) and could see Winters killing himself laughing.
I managed to prise his fingers off me and made it into the reception, where all the players were. I was standing with Robert Jones when I saw the crazed gentleman again and pointed him out to Rob, asking: "Who the hell is that guy?"
"Oh, he is one of the ex-Presidents of the Welsh Rugby Union, Will". Enough said!
But the highlight of the evening was getting to see and hear the excitement on Neil's face when he realised there really was cream inside the profiteroles! He picked them up, looked at them from every angle, showed all his teammates, and most of the Welsh committee men, before the great line back at our table.
"I love these, but I really don't get it. How does the cream get in there, I really don't understand how the cream gets in there..."
The old Arms Park was a pretty magical place for me and I suppose there aren't many Englishmen who ever say that - and it is not really because we managed to win there. It was far more to do with the fact that so many of my rugby heroes had played there. The first time I walked into the changing rooms, I looked across at the Welsh dressing room and thought of all those great players and looked at the tunnel and tried to come to terms with the fact that I was going to run down the same tunnel that they did.
It probably seems slightly bizarre to many that I thought like that, but I would like to think all players are still the same kids when they first play, just in older bodies! And I certainly loved the history that went with being in Cardiff and the challenge also.
When I first stood for our anthem, you could not hear a word of it for the whistling and boos in the stadium. We are not popular visitors. Having walked out on the pitch before changing, you could not but help notice the saliva on your blazer when you took it off having come back. Being an Englishman in Cardiff was interesting; being an English rugby player in Cardiff was meant to guarantee defeat.
But there must be something in my makeup, because the more I sensed the emotion and the noise, the more I wanted to fight back, to win, to show that I was just as proud of my shirt as they were rightly proud of theirs. The guys I stood alongside in the team were special men, and I wanted us to be in the right frame of mind to say "**** you" to the crowd, to the Welsh players, to history! For the simple and only reason, that this was the team I played for, these were my team mates, this was a shirt I had always dreamt of wearing, and I hated losing in it, and I mean hated.
And when people ask me about this England v Wales game, one of the biggest challenges for the England players is understanding how much this means to the Welsh players, to the Welsh supporters and the country as a whole. To respect and accept that, and then to make sure that you are prepared for experiencing it as you walk out into the stadium. To find in yourself the desire and pride to feel the same for your shirt and your team, and to find the steel to look the players in the eye and make sure they realise that you are as intent on winning as they are... and showing them that in the first encounters of the match.
I certainly feel Wales are favourites, they have improved steadily all championship, they have some great match winners in the backs and they are in the best rugby viewing stadium in the world. So no mind games here, I would be surprised if they did not win. But, I was surprised England won in Dublin, delighted but surprised and I am just hoping that the same happens against Wales.]]>Mon expérience avec les "Lions britanniques"tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.28513862013-03-11T00:00:00-04:002013-05-10T05:12:01-04:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/ des Lions en ce moment, certes de façon un peu prématurée, mais néanmoins amusante! J'ai estimé qu'avec tous ces bavardages, je devais répondre à certaines allégations concernant ma propre opinion sur les Lions et mon manque d'implication à leur égard.
Revenons en 1989, la tournée à propos de laquelle Ian McGeechan estime que je me suis montré mauvais joueur: je n'ai pas la même version des faits. En janvier, l'Angleterre est partie s'entraîner sous les chaleurs de Lanzarote en Espagne, et c'est en chemin que j'ai ressenti une grosse douleur au tibia. Bien sûr, j'ai continué à m'entraîner et à jouer, je venais juste d'être nommé capitaine d'Angleterre et je ne voulais laisser cette place à personne!
Le problème est que cette douleur n'a pas disparu, bien au contraire, elle est devenue de plus en plus intense jusqu'à ce que ce que finalement, je fasse une radio qui a révélé une fracture de fatigue au tibia. J'étais bien déterminé à continuer à jouer jusqu'au Cinq Nations (comme cela s'appelait alors) et j'ai continué de m'entraîner comme un fou entre les matchs. Hélas, le chirurgien de l'équipe d'Angleterre m'a signifié que je n'avais aucune chance de faire la tournée avec les Lions si j'étais sélectionné, parce qu'il fallait que je laisse cette grande fracture de tension guérir, sous peine de risquer une grave blessure.
Je trouve étrange que McGeechan ne soit pas au courant de ces faits, alors qu'il est très probable que les sources officielles lui en ont fait part. Bref, je ne boudais pas en 89, j'étais juste un jeune homme en rogne à qui on avait interdit la tournée.
1993, c'est une autre histoire. J'admets avoir vraiment beaucoup fait la tête à cette époque, mais pas pour les raisons qu'on croit en général. Pour vous remettre dans le contexte, quand j'ai été nommé capitaine d'Angleterre, les joueurs qui m'ont accompagné étaient les héros de ma jeunesse - des gens comme Winterbottom, Teague, Dooley, etc. Ils ont toléré ce jeune homme de 22 ans qui n'avait aucune idée de ce qu'il faisait, ont couvert mes faiblesses avec leur expérience et leurs capacités et m'ont permis de survivre au niveau international.
Les mots me manquent pour expliquer tout ce qu'ils représentaient pour moi -et ce qu'ils représentent toujours. Il suffit de dire que j'ai été dévasté quand une grande partie d'entre eux ont annoncé qu'ils prendraient leur retraite après la tournée des Lions de 93. Cela m'a mis sens dessus-dessous, car je n'étais vraiment plus certain de vouloir continuer à jouer pour l'Angleterre s'ils ne faisaient plus partie de l'équipe. Je sais, c'était très puéril, très immature, mais j'étais toujours assez jeune à l'époque!
C'est dans cet état d'esprit que j'ai abordé le tour de 1993. Pour être honnête, je n'aurais pas dû être sélectionné pour le premier match, et je n'avais rien à redire quant au fait d'avoir été mis sur le banc pour les deux suivants. Mais ayant toujours été gâté et n'ayant jamais été écarté d'une équipe sportive jusque là, je n'étais pas très content!
Mike Teague m'a emmené prendre un verre et alors que nous étions assis au bar, assez silencieux, Peter Winterbottom est entré. Il est venu s'asseoir près de Mike, sirotant tranquillement sa bière. Finalement, j'ai demandé:
- "Bon allez, Wints, c'est quoi le problème? Tu ne m'as pas adressé la parole depuis au moins deux semaines, alors qu'est-ce qu'il y a?"
- Il a attendu une minute avant de répliquer :"Tu joues comme une merde". Il avait toujours parlé à la façon franche du Yorkshire, mais même pour lui, c'était plutôt direct!
- "Oh merci beaucoup, c'est exactement ce que j'avais envie d'entendre", ai-je grincé.
- "Désolé, mais c'est le cas".
- Il s'est tu de nouveau avant d'asséner le coup de grâce: "Et j'ai dit à ces gens que tu étais bon. Je leur ai dit que tu les impressionnerais et tu as joué comme une merde".
Et c'était le cas. Aucun doute. J'avais vraiment mal joué, je m'étais comporté comme un ado de sale humeur et j'avais laissé tomber plein de gens. Ma seule défense est qu'une fois remis à ma place, j'ai joué les deux matchs à fond, et j'ai envie de croire que c'était les meilleurs que j'avais fait depuis longtemps. Nous n'avons pas gagné mais au moins je pouvais être fier, et pour la première fois, j'avais tout donné pour l'équipe.
Et le meilleur moment de cette tournée a eu lieu lorsque après le second de ces matchs, alors que j'étais affaissé contre le mur du vestiaire, Peter Winterbottom est venu s'asseoir près de moi.
"Mon pote, je pense que tu as gagné aujourd'hui plus de respect de la part de tes coéquipiers que tu ne l'as fait lors de tous tes matchs pour l'Angleterre".
Ces mots ont beaucoup compté pour moi, et c'est toujours le cas, un peu plus que les commentaires de McGeechan, puisqu'ils venaient de quelqu'un qui me connaissait vraiment. Non pas que je sois en position de discuter de l'opinion de McGeechan concernant ma tournée de 1993. C'est mon plus grand regret au rugby, et ce regret n'a rien à voir avec le fait de n'avoir pas été plus sélectionné lors de cette tournée, c'est le regret de ne pas m'être montré à la hauteur, aussi bien comme joueur que coéquipier. Les deux sont inexcusables,
Enfin, voici ma réponse à l'avis de McGeechan sur la tournée de 1997 et au fait d'être accusé de l'avoir refusée. Pour ceux qui ont bonne mémoire, j'ai démissionné de mon poste de capitaine d'Angleterre en 1996, et j'espérais ainsi que j'aurais peut-être l'occasion de jouer une saison aux côtés de Jerry Guscott et d'en profiter sans la pression du poste de capitaine.
Jack Rowell a alors rapidement annoncé Phil de Glanville au poste de capitaine, me laissant penser que je n'aurais pas d'année supplémentaire pour jouer avec l'Angleterre, encore moins avec Jerry! Jack a surpris tout le monde en choisissant Phil et moi; du coup j'ai eu droit à ma dernière année, mais sans Jerry. Et durant cette saison, j'ai senti que je décompressais peu à peu à tous les niveaux et mon dernier match pour l'Angleterre à Cardiff a été le plus détendu de toute ma carrière internationale.
Alors quand j'ai reçu un appel de Fran Cotton pour parler des Lions, cela m'a fait beaucoup réfléchir. J'étais toujours douloureusement conscient d'avoir été une grande déception lors de la tournée 93, et je savais très bien alors qu'aux yeux du rugby international, j'étais fini. Il était question du poste de capitaine, il n'y a pas vraiment d'honneur plus grand pour un joueur de l'hémisphère nord, et tout cela était très tentant. Mais je revenais sans cesse à la dure réalité, à savoir que j'avais perdu la flamme, et si j'avais perdu la flamme pour l'Angleterre, comment je pouvais espérer qu'elle brûle de nouveau pour les Lions? Ca peut ressembler à une excuse, mais je vous en prie, considérez ces faits. J'aurais pu participer à la tournée des Lions de 1997, j'aurais pu être le capitaine, et ça aurait été une façon superbe d'achever ma carrière. Mais, et c'est un gros "mais", je savais que je ne serais d'aucune utilité. Je fais partie de ceux qui croient que quand l'envie disparaît, elle ne revient plus et rien de ce que vous ferez ne la ramènera - regardez la longue liste des sportifs ayant raté leur come-back.
J'ai aussi essayé d'agir de la bonne manière pour les Lions et pour moi-même, ayant fait si mal les choses en 1993. Alors, oui, ça fait mal de lire les commentaires de McGeechan à propos de la tournée de 97, surtout quand j'ai exprimé en détail mes craintes et mes sentiment à Fran Cotton à ce propos, et la presse n'en aurait jamais rien su si cela n'avait pas fuité - des fuites qui, bizarrement, ne venaient pas de moi.
Faire une tournée des Lions est une expérience vraiment unique, et malgré ma propre débâcle sur le terrain, je m'y suis fait de très bons amis, et j'y ai appris beaucoup sur moi-même et le rugby. C'était exactement le coup de pied au cul dont j'avais besoin pour réaliser que je voulais toujours continuer à jouer et que je n'étais pas le centre de l'univers (une chose que j'ai toujours du mal de temps en temps à croire !).
Le rêve de ma vie était de jouer pour l'Angleterre et lorsque j'ai été nommé capitaine, mon seul but était de nous apporter le succès, que l'on gagne, et que l'on efface cette étiquette de perdants dans les Cinq Nations. Je suis persuadé que cet objectif et cette obsession sont loin de m'avoir rendu populaire parmi les joueurs et les supporters des autres pays. Mais l'Angleterre était ma priorité, c'était pour elle que j'avais l'honneur de jouer et d'être capitaine, et c'était pour elle que j'aurais fait n'importe quoi.
J'ai essayé de donner une idée de mon état d'esprit lors de la tournée de 93, et si vous y ajoutez beaucoup d'immaturité et de mauvaise humeur, le résultat ne s'est révélé guère surprenant. Mais McGeechan a tort de penser que je n'ai pas "compris" les Lions et que je m'en fichais. J'étais nul en 1993, mais ce n'était pas par manque de respect envers les Lions, mais plutôt parce que je me suis laissé distraire par d'autres choses.
Et je répondrai à McGeechan, que la raison pour laquelle je me suis montré honnête en ne souhaitant pas mener la tournée de 1997, n'était pas due à un désintérêt de ma part, mais à ma peur de ne pas me montrer à la hauteur. Si je m'en fichais vraiment, j'aurais bien sûr pu tirer ma révérence en tant que Capitaine des Lions, et bien que probablement perdant, je n'en serai pas moins resté un Capitaine des Lions. Je pense que j'ai justement grandi assez lors de ces quatre années pour savoir que tout ce que j'aurais aimé leur donner s'en était allé; hélas, je n'avais plus rien d'autre à leur donner.]]>Me and the Lionstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.28369152013-03-08T19:00:00-05:002013-05-08T05:12:01-04:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
To give you a starting point, this piece seems to sum up Ian McGeechan's view on my Lions career.
Go all the way back to 1989 - the tour Ian McGeechan thinks I might have taken my bat home from - and the explanation is very different. England had gone warm weather training in the January of that year to Lanzarote, and there on the track I first felt some real pain in my shin. Obviously I kept training and playing, I had only just been made captain of England, and I wasn't going to give it up for anyone!
The trouble was the pain did not go away, in fact it kept getting stronger and eventually I went for an x-ray to find that I had a stress fracture of the shin. I was determined to carry on playing the Five Nations (as it was then) and did so with the help of bugger all training in between matches. Sadly I was told by the England surgeon that there was no way I could tour with the Lions if selected as I just had to let the large stress fracture heal or risk serious injury.
I find it strange that McGeechan ignores that fact, when it is certainly the case that he would have been told this through the official channels. So no sulking in '89, just one pissed off young man who was not allowed to tour.
1993 was a different story. So much sulking it was frightening, but possibly not for the reasons that many of you are thinking. To give a little background, when I was made captain of England, the players who got me through it were my schoolboy heroes - the likes of Winterbottom, Teague, Dooley etc. They tolerated this young 22-year-old who had no idea what he was doing, covered up most of my weaknesses with their experience and ability and allowed me to survive at International level.
It is impossible for me to explain what they meant to me - still mean to me - as my vocabulary is nowhere near sufficient. Suffice it to say, I was distraught when a large group of them announced that they would be retiring after the '93 Lions tour. It put my mind in turmoil, as I really was not sure whether I wanted to carry on playing for England if they were not in the team. Very juvenile I know, very immature, but then I was still quite young!
So it was in this frame of mind that I headed out on the '93 tour. My honest opinion is that I should not have made the first Test, and was certainly in no position to argue being dropped for the next two tests. But being spoilt and having never been dropped from a sports team in my life up till then, my dummy ricocheted around my hotel room!
Mike Teague took me out for a drink, and we were sitting at the bar, pretty silent when in walked Peter Winterbottom. He wondered over and sat next to Mike, quietly drinking his beer. Eventually I spoke: "Come on then Wints, what's your problem? You haven't spoken to me for the last two weeks, so what is it all about?"
It took him about another minute before he eventually replied: "You've been shit".
He has always been a straight talking Yorkshire man, but even for him that was quite blunt!
"Oh thanks a lot, just what I needed to hear", I squealed.
"Well you have been".
Further silence, and then the killer line: "And I had told people down here that you were good. I told them that you would impress them, and you have just been shit".
And I had been. Absolutely no doubt about it. I had played really badly, I had behaved like a petulant teenager, and I had let all manner of people down. My only defence was that having eventually found my dummy in the corner of my hotel room, I played two games for the 'dirt trackers' and I would like to think they were my two best games for a while. We did not win, but at least I had some pride in the shirt, and had for the first time given my all for the team.
And the greatest moment of the tour for me, was when after the second of these two games, I was slumped up against a wall in the changing room, Peter Winterbottom sat down next to me.
"Mate, I think you have earned more respect from your teammates today than you have in countless games for England".
It meant a huge amount and still does, slightly more than McGeechan's comments, as it is from a man who actually knew me. Not that I can argue with McGeechan's view of my '93 tour. It is my biggest regret in rugby, and the regret is not that I did not get more test caps on that tour that in a way is totally irrelevant, it is the regret that I did not do myself justice, as a player or teammate. Both are inexcusable, hence the deep regret.
And lastly to answer McGeechan's view on the 1997 tour and the accusation that I just turned it down. For any with long memories, I resigned as England captain in 1996, and in my mind, I hoped that maybe I would get one season to play alongside Jerry Guscott and enjoy the possibility of playing without the pressure of captaincy.
Jack Rowell promptly went and announced Phil de Glanville as captain, so in my mind there went any chance of playing for England for one more year let alone playing alongside Jerry! Jack surprised everyone by picking Phil and myself, so I got my last year, just not alongside Jerry. And during that season I could feel I was on wind down, it was all just losing it's vice like grip on my life and my world, and my last game for England in Cardiff was the most relaxed that I have ever been on an International rugby field.
So when I got a call from Fran Cotton to talk about the forthcoming Lions, it really made me think long and hard. I was still painfully aware that I had been a huge let down on the '93 tour, and now I knew deep down that I was done as far as International rugby is concerned. There was talk of captaincy and there really isn't a greater honour than that for a Northern Hemisphere player and it was hugely tempting. But I kept coming back to the stark truth that I had lost the fire, and if I had lost the fire with England, could I really expect it to burn again for the Lions. It might well sound like an excuse, but if it does, please consider this. I could have gone on the 1997 Lions tour, I might well have been the captain, and what a great way to end a career. But, and this was the big but, I really knew that I would not be of any use. I am a believer that once the edge has gone, it is gone and nothing you can do will bring it back - look at the long list of failed comebacks by sportsmen and women.
I was also trying to do the right thing by the Lions, and yes myself, having done such a wrong thing by them in '93. So yes it does hurt when I read McGeechan's comments, especially as I explained in detail my worries and feelings to Fran Cotton about the '97 tour, and the press would never have known if it had not been leaked, and the leak was strangely not from me.
There is something very special about a Lions tour, and despite my on-the-field melt down, I made some great friends, and learnt a huge amount about myself and my rugby. It was exactly the kick up the arse that I needed to realise that I did want to carry on playing and that I was not the centre of the Universe (something that I still struggle with from time to time!)
My lifelong dream was to play for England, and when I was made captain, my total focus was on wanting us to be successful, to win, to lose that tag of also-ran's in the Five Nations. I am sure that this focus and obsession made me less that popular amongst other countries' supporters, and the players. But my priority was England, that is who I had the honour to play for and captain, and that is who I would do whatever it took for.
I have tried to outline my mental state for the 93 tour, and add a large spoonful of immaturity and petulance, the outcome was not a huge surprise. But McGeechan is wrong to think that I did not 'get' the Lions and that I did not care. I was crap in '93, no doubt about it, but not down to lack of 'Lionship', down to a whole host of other reasons that I allowed to cloud my playing ability. And I would say to McGeechan, the reason that I was so honest and frank about the 1997 tour and my view that I just was not good enough anymore to go or captain, was far more to do with not wanting to let the shirt down again rather than not caring. If I had not cared, then of course I could have swaggered off into the sunset as a Lions captain, albeit probably a losing one, but a Lions captain none the less. I do think I had grown up enough in those four years to know that much as I would have loved to do it, to have gone; very sadly I just did not have anything else to give for them.]]>Bring on the 15 Eric Cantonastag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.27313712013-02-21T19:00:00-05:002013-04-23T05:12:01-04:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
France in my mind were the most dangerous side in world rugby, when in the mood and when given the opportunity, they could attack you from anywhere, with such speed, such skill, such brilliance, that you just ran around open-mouthed trying to catch the bastards!
I won my first cap against the French, in Paris at the Parc des Princes, against Philippe Sella - then the best centre in the world. It was meant to be just the one cap, as the guy who played my position was injured, and we were due to get a right hammering. Well we lost, but by one point and it was just the most amazing experience. Wearing an England shirt, a police escort to the ground, a noise and intensity in the stadium that I have never experienced and a speed and power on the pitch that was brutal.
That stadium was special, it was compact and close to the pitch, very reminiscent of a Coliseum (or is that me just pretending to be in Gladiator again!) and it produced an atmosphere far more exhilarating than the bigger Stade de France. I remember standing on that pitch before one of our clashes with Peter Winterbottom, a player who was rated by New Zealanders, South Africans and all the Home Unions, a man of few words (a Yorkshire man!) and he turned to me and said:
"You know Will; this is the place to win, the place."
And during the early 90s England V France was to become some game! I do not know why or how it started, I think it was our audacity to win a game or two that upset the French, but they became so emotional about the game it was incredible.
In the late 90s when Laurent Cabannes, a great French player, came to play at Harlequins and we talked about the games and he revealed just how deeply we had got under their skin. In 1992 he said, their forwards were fighting and crying in the changing room before the game!
I remember facing them, waiting to turn right down the tunnel and out onto the pitch, and as always the French sent their forwards to the front of the line to eyeball me, and on this occasion, as I looked at them, trying to show no emotion (very English) I noticed some were bleeding already, all were sweating profusely and many were shaking.
We ran out and lined up for the anthems, sung ours and as we waited for theirs (which I love by the way) I leant forward to look at them past the referee and touch judges. Philippe Sella, captain, was first in their line, waiting proudly for their anthem, and next to him the three front row players, arms around each other, sobbing their hearts out... I straightened up and leant over to Rob Andrew who was next to me:
"Look at them."
He leant forward and saw what I had seen.
"Bloody hell, this should be good..."
They had two sent off that day, and being honest it could have been a lot more. They were violent games, vicious and ferocious, and yet some of the best games that I played in. When it really gets going that is when you learn about yourself and you learn about your teammates. And when you have gone through those experiences and watched each other's backs, that is when you become a tight team and that is when the moments in the changing room afterwards are priceless.
We were far from saints during that period - we realised how talented they were and how dangerous they could be if allowed to play to their strengths - so we calculated that getting them wound up and fighting stopped them from fulfilling their potential. I remember Brian Moore bouncing around like some oxygen starved baboon after one training session, stating:
"Got a brilliant line for Press Conference, bloody brilliant it is, bloody brilliant."
Eventually we coaxed it out of him.
"I'm going to say playing the French is like playing 15 Eric Cantonas," (he had just launched himself at the fan in the stands.
Off he skipped to the press conference chuntering his line to himself...
But he got under their skins, as did all the forwards. And when I look back, I do think 'bloody hell, our pack was immense'. They knew the game would be violent, they knew they had to play right on the edge and they also knew that discipline was absolutely critical - and their discipline was superb, despite everything they faced.
And let's be honest, my leadership was very special too. One moment encapsulates it very well I think. Half-time in the Quarter Final of the 1991 World Cup, game is very close, crowd in the Parc des Princes are nearly hysterical. It has been and continues to be the most violent game I have played in and was also the best. I am talking to the team, and no one is listening - nothing new! So I have to try to get their attention.
"Guys, we have to score next. If we do, you know what they are like, they will crack, start arguing with each other and then they are finished. We have to score next. If they do, we are in the shit, finished, their confidence will rocket, they will start to run everything and we are out of the World Cup."
Silence and even some nodding!
Five minutes into the second half, the French winger Lafond scores in the corner, the stadium erupts, the French players go crazy, and we are standing under the posts. I call them in for a really close huddle as the noise is just unreal. Just as I am about to speak, Mike Teague whispers in my ear:
"Another fucking pearl of wisdom skipper?"
As I said - special!
But on an almost serious note, there are still aspects of that period against the French that this England team can use on Saturday. The French thought of us as cold, mechanical, basic and one dimensional. We tried not to disappoint them. I wanted us to be cold, completely in control, so that having hit them as hard as we could in tackles, scrums, breakdowns, we never showed emotion, just looked them in the eye with the understanding that there was plenty more to come.
After all, the technical rugby preparation and all the tactics are taken out of that period, I honestly believe that it was our control, our intensity, our discipline that completely fazed them for all those games. They could not deal with that control, from our tactical kicking strategy to close them down, to our defensive patterns, all were aimed at closing them down, allowing them no space, no counter attack opportunities etc. etc.
All underpinned by our discipline.
And on Saturday, England will need plenty of the same. The French play is very different, far more relaxed and cosmopolitan, so the edge is not the same. Their potential is though, as shown against Australia, and hence England must not underestimate them for one second and I mean one second, you don't need to remind me that taking your eyes of Blanco under his own posts can lead to one of the greatest tries Twickenham has seen!
They come with no pressure, no expectation, and that is when they are at their most dangerous. If England take to the field with the right attitude, then they have the ability to win, if they lose focus at any time, then the French could start smiling.]]>England Vs Scotland - The History, The Love, The Scarstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.25796842013-01-30T19:00:00-05:002013-04-01T05:12:01-04:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
It was after this game, this first win, that the Calcutta Cup became the Calcutta plate for a short while, after Dean Richards and John Jeffrey took it for a tour of the bars and train station of Edinburgh. I do vaguely recall seeing them enter the bar I was in with some University mates, as I was still a student, but thought they were hitting people on the head with an ice bucket!
However the one Scotland game that everyone still seems to want to talk about - that Grand Slam decider in 1990. What a day! Scarred me for life!
If a script could have been written, to caricature all the supposed traits of the English and the Scots in a rugby encounter, then someone wrote it superbly. We had played well in the three previous games, our forwards were superb and Geraldine Guscott was on fire. The Scots had been less emphatic, but still impressive, which was a point sadly lost on us.
Most people forget that there was still a huge undercurrent from the successful Lions tour in 1989, and that undercurrent was to define the game. I had missed the tour with a fractured shin, and hence missed the nuances and the relationships that it had created. Not an excuse, just a fact. The Lions had lost the first Test and when the pack became mainly English for the second, success was achieved but strong feelings were born.
So in the peaceful build up at Peebles Hotel, Brian Moore was reminding us that their forwards were sh*te, they had been sh*te on the Lions tour, and they would be sh*te on Saturday. To be fair it was not just Brian, we all lapsed into the belief that we were a stronger, more skilful side who were on form. The training sessions were sharp, no issue there, it was our minds that were wrong. We were the arrogant English. I honestly think we thought that we will turn up and win, we were better for God's sake, and at no time in our preparation did we consider what they might do to disrupt our rhythm, our game plan. We strutted around Pebbles, chests out, a confidence and swagger about us, we were good, and we knew it.
So we trundled into Murrayfield on our bus, dreaming of Grand Slam celebrations, and encountered one of the great ambushes - arse kickings - from a bloody good Scottish team. We got what we deserved. And I can tell you it hurt, really hurt, and I mean really really hurt!
I do remember hearing Jim Telfer that evening say to someone, "I hope we don't live to regret this". And it was the only crumb of comfort that I could take away, the hope that they would. I would never underestimate them again.
I had to get up unbelievably early the next morning to fly to Birmingham to co-commentate on a ladies' international, for expenses only of course, but as I walked through a near-deserted Edinburgh airport, one worker there decided to tell me exactly what he thought of me! And tell me he did.
I think I would be correct in remembering the words arrogant, smug, soft, useless, pompous and sh*te, alongside quite a few that I should not mention. And I remember opening my mouth to answer him back, and realising that I couldn't really argue with most of what he said.
I never did lose to Scotland again. We came bloody close in 1994 when that skilful little git Townsend dropped a superb goal to put them ahead with two minutes to go. My stomach was all over the place, until Callard won the game with the last kick of the match. I was lying on the changing room floor next to Dean Richards, players strewn around, very little being said, apart from the odd 'sh*t !' as we knew how lucky we had been and how badly we had played.
The silence persisted, for at least another four or five minutes, with no one in the mood to break it, until one of the crew walked back in and said "bloody hell Gavin Hastings has just broken down in tears on TV". Still no one spoke. I slowly turned my head to Deano, who slowly turned his head to me, a very slight smile and then we both leant forward and opened a beer - the changing room came alive!
My scars from 1990 were still evident when we had another Grand Slam decider in 1995 but this time it was at Twickenham. I clearly recall the team meeting the night before, as always it was a players-only meeting and everything was running well, until I got a sense that a few of the younger players were just too relaxed!
I stood up, eyeballing Mike Catt at first, and launched into a tirade about the following day and what they/ we would have to live with if we lost to those *******s from up there. I ranted on about 1990, the devastation, the arrogance we had shown, the shock, the pain and I was in full flow! But even as my eyes bulged and the spit flew, I noticed a completely bemused look on Mike Catt's face, so a took a deep breath and stopped.
"What the **** is that look for?' I demanded.
To be fair, he just replied "1990?"
"1990?" I bellowed "1990? What the hell do you mean 1990?!"
"Well I was at school, sorry Will, just I have no idea what you are going on about."
Safe to say I was speechless! But at the same time, in the murky depths of my mind, it did register that I need to let go of 1990!
We did manage to win a free flowing extravaganza of a match.
England vs Scotland is the oldest rugby international. It oozes history, stories, experiences and emotion and that is why I love it. It is special - very, very special. And the history between England and Scotland does play a huge part in that, a vital part in that, and when I say history, I mean History!
I remember sitting in the lovely Balmoral Hotel on Princess Street reading a Scottish broadsheet the morning of the match and I was being compared to Edward Longshanks - and yes it was a serious article. But underpinning my view on the 'relationship' between us and them, has always been humour. I love the baiting, I love the insults - although I prefer dishing them out for some reason - and I love the intensity. But above all I love the underlying humour and friendships that I have (Mr David Sole will be receiving no end of abuse from me this week!)
But when I am being really honest, that passion the Scots have for their country, that fire, has always made me slightly jealous. I would love England to be like that, I would love us to be as passionate, as fiery and hysterical about our country and shirt. I listen to the Scots anthem, and I love it, it has emotion, it has edge, it is amazing when Murrayfield hits you with it, full volume. When we played Scotland, we just didn't play the team, we played the country and we played hundreds of years of history. And it was tough!
So I hope, I really hope that England are not sitting comfortably in Pennyhill Park thinking that Scotland are sending down some sacrificial lambs on Saturday. I hope that we have not lost the tiniest part of the edge that was there against New Zealand, because we will need it. There is nothing more that the Scots love than being written off by those arrogant, pompous English and producing the performance of their lives. Trust me I should know! And now I really do need to get back to counselling to rid myself of 1990.]]>My Hopes for England in This Six Nationstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.25499062013-01-25T19:00:00-05:002013-03-27T05:12:01-04:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
So what do I hope from this 2013 tournament? Well it will come as no surprise that it will be ever so slightly English-biased, but there is a wider hope for the tournament too.
For England there are a number of hopes, and even one demand which I can get out of the way early on - no more coloured shirts for a while! Let's just get into the habit of winning in white before we branch out into Paul Smith-esque kit and dazzle teams with our fashion!
First hope - the Twickenham ramparts become stronger and stronger and the 'fortress' materialises again from the fog of too many mediocre years. When the England team arrive at Twickenham and walk off the coach down the player's entrance, it needs to be with the unflinching determination that whoever has arrived to play them, leaves beaten. There is nothing worse than losing, and the worst of the worst is losing at Twickenham! Walking off that pitch, which is your pitch, having been beaten, that really really hurts!
Second hope is that we have not been lulled into a false sense of importance by that amazing win over the All Blacks. It was one of those afternoons that will live long in the memory, and especially for the players, but the most important thing is that it is consigned to the memory and that the focus is on the present.
I have to admit that I sat with quite a few ex-players, from both sides, and when it got back to 15-14, I turned to them and said: "Oh well, looks like that is that, but let's be fair the England boys have done way better than expected, they have shown some real fight today". Finger on the pulse as ever! So come the final whistle I was stunned, very happily so, but still stunned!
Now, wins like that can have two outcomes. The first is that the players soak up the moment, soak up the memories, the emotion, go out - drink and party hard, and smile at the memory of it for a week or two - then refocus and resolve to improve on it so that they can keep experiencing days like that. The second is that players can soak up the moment, soak up the memories, the emotion, go out - drink and party hard, then keep going out and partying hard on the back of that one win.
Convince themselves that they have beaten the best and that makes them the best, think they have cracked it and so crack open another beer. If the second option has happened with England, our dearly beloved cousins from North of the Border will come down with their young guns and produce the upset of the opening weekend.
With Stuart Lancaster in charge, I am not too concerned that the latter will occur. Looking at that management team - Lancaster, Rowntree, Farrell and Catt - you are hard pressed to spot the stand-up comedian! They are quite focused. Catt can occasionally smile, but to be fair he is never quite sure at what, and it soon passes.
Seriously - they are a good coaching group, and I am sure they will have walked the fine line between sucking all the confidence-boosting memories from the All Black win and beating any signs of arrogance and conceited behaviour hard over the head.
Thirdly we build on the hard running we saw against New Zealand - it has been too scarce for too long. Smiler Catt needs to keep the midfield in that positive frame of mind, we need to run with pace, intent and variety. Easy to say, harder to achieve, but the green shoots were evident in that New Zealand win - keep watering them Catty!
Fourthly, stop getting some supposed pop star to sing the National Anthem! It makes me cringe! This is Twickenham, and I know I am now sounding like an old fart, but there is nothing better for a player than to hear the wall of sound engulfing them from the stands before a game and I am sure the crowd prefer that 'real' noise and singing, rather than the whining of some irrelevant singer. (Rant one over!)
Fifthly - which I always find hard to say - is that discipline is maintained, both personal and team, and that as a result England find it much easier to dominate games. It is a fundamental in rugby that the referee is respected, and it is something that rugby does not make enough of. It is a great example to the fans, to the TV audience, to kids and to parents, that in the midst of such aggression and confrontations, there is still a steely respect and adherence to the law of the whistle. How football tolerates the abuse referees get amazes me, and you can stick as many 'respect' badges on a players arm as you want, if his behaviour flouts that very word with every swear word he utters, what a pitiful scenario it keeps throwing up. (Rant two over!)
Point Six - as I am sure you cannot say sixthly - England keep developing a leadership team around Chris Robshaw. I have said it so many times that far too much is made of captaincy, except during my time as I was genuinely special, but then we all know that! Of course a captain is important, vital at times, but it is the existence of a leadership group that enables teams to be great.
The current All Blacks team have one, the great South African team of John Smit had one, as did Martin Johnson's great side - look at the Back/Dawson/Hill/Dallaglio/Greenwood characters. This England team need to develop a leadership nucleus, to guide Robshaw, debate with him, provide ideas for him and challenge his ones, and to provide reinforcement of the direction that he wants to take them.
So quite simple really. In essence, I want to see that England kick on from the New Zealand game. I want to see that they have not wallowed in the result for too long and I want to see that they have the steel and desire to move on and improve from it. Not too much to ask is it?
And in the wider context, to enjoy great sport, laced with plenty of humour from the fans. The Six Nations provides great stadia, full of passionate fans, and yet not a hint of violence amongst them. Fans can mix, can cheer can berate their team, but not once have I heard of any problems in the stands. What a great environment this championship provides, one where you can go with mates, or even feel safe and confident enough to go with your kids and know that they will have an amazing experience, and a safe one!
To enjoy watching mounted police chat and laugh with the fans on the way in and out of the grounds - what a great relief that must be for them. To listen to the singing in Cardiff, to miss the craic in Dublin, to feel the passion in Edinburgh and to watch the shrugging in Paris, punctuated with moments of sheer French brilliance.
So much to look forward to, and without sounding too much like my dad, so much to be proud of.]]>Cheating in Sporttag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.24393252013-01-09T19:00:00-05:002013-03-11T05:12:01-04:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
Let's start with the furore around 'Bloodgate'! At first it was exceptional for me, in that there was genuine surprise and shock in some quarters that there was cheating in rugby! I had comments that people were staggered, appalled, because they believed rugby was a sport played by gentlemen, good chaps, who played fairly, played in a wholesome way, unlike that horrible grubby game football.
And now there illusion had come crashing down around their dream world - they could no longer look down their noses at that grubby sport football! My view on the whole episode is quite simple; sportspeople will push the envelope as far as they can in order to win, it is in their nature, their make-up, and if it wasn't, you wouldn't be reading about them because they would not be at the top of their sport.
The use of blood capsules in rugby had been known about for quite a few years before Bloodgate, the difference was that they were usually broken in the hair, secretly, and that player was then taken off for 'stitching of the head wound'. It was a procedure often used to capitalise on the rule allowing 'blood' substitutions, not correct, not honest, but just yet another example of sport/rugby, searching for any advantage possible, any loophole in the rules that could be taken advantage of.
Bloodgate itself became such a focus due in my mind to the attempted cover-up, and in the sheer blatancy of the substitution and blood spitting in the first place. The tragedy is in the careers that have been ruined; the cloud that hangs over some because of a few minutes of hot headed behaviour that does not reflect the true nature of the people involved. Under intense pressure, and in moments of rabid desire to win, characters react and behave in extraordinary ways, and ways that you would never expect.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that Bloodgate is a hard luck story, and that all the culprits have been cruelly dealt with. What they did was wrong, no doubt there, but there are a couple of issues that still stick in my throat. The first is that Dean Richards ended up being hung out to dry, for three years, when on investigation it was soon apparent that there was quite a long line of coaches/ players/ managers that could be similarly treated.
But oh no, rugby could not really look at itself, I mean really really look at itself, honestly and thoroughly, instead there was slight panic and the classic and easy option of blaming just the one man, and brushing everything else under the table whilst coughing loudly - spineless!
The other issue I have is with the people who sit firmly on their arses, often large, soft, useless arses, and judge in hysterical, moral and indignant tones on the people who make these errors, make these mistakes. They really piss me off!
In my mind anyone who has the courage to go out onto their sporting stage and compete has admiration from me. Now some will lose, some will win and some no doubt will cheat in the pursuit of winning. And it is very easy to judge those that cheat, to look at sport as black and white, as right and wrong, and to totally forget the emotion, the investment, the drive, the focus, the desperation for success that so many athletes have. It is easy to forget that sports men and women dedicate their lives to their sport, it is their world and affects every decision they take every day, from what to eat, to when to sleep, when to rest, when to drink, when to be alone, when to relax, when to focus etc.
I will get myself in even more trouble here by raising the name of Armstrong. A cheat, a liar, the lowest of the low, apparently, because he took performance enhancing drugs. Which of course is hugely different from the vast majority of his contemporaries! Who by the way do not seem to have attracted anywhere near the same vitriol and abuse as Armstrong himself? Why? Because he has been portrayed at the big bully, the enforcer, the man who led, who masterminded and drove the drug taking culture? Bullshit ! It is because he won! Seven times!
Again I am not defending him, far from it. I was a huge fan, I thought his achievements were just amazing, and in terms of sustained achievement in about the hardest endurance event around, I still do! No, my issue is again with those lard arses that pour such toxic acid on him you would have thought that he was a mass murderer!
He cheated, as did Dean Richards, and have many many athletes along the way, but I suppose my reticence, at out and out damnation, lies somewhere in my own unease. Have I ever cheated in sport? Of course I have, in fact I am so sad I still do in order to beat my kids! How sad is that! But it is ingrained, not the cheating, but the need to win! And hence on a serious level, I look at these guys who have been exposed and wonder would I have been any different?
If since the age of seven I had dreamt of being a cyclist, if it had consumed my life, had been the single most important focus in my world, and I had then achieved my first goal of being signed up in a team, what a great moment that would be. If I then slowly came to realise that all the guys who were winning in my world were taking EPO, or whatever the drug might have been, and if I came to realise that I did have the talent, the ability to win, but would never be able to achieve that unless I too took those drugs, what would I have done?
Would I have been strong enough to think, no, I am going to go through my whole career as a cyclist without winning, without standing on the podium, I will live my dream, but a much reduced dream with no amazing memories, medals or cups, but my one consolation will be that I knew that I was clean. Would I have been strong enough to have turned down those drugs, to have stayed true to my desire to be honest, to be clean? That would take one hell of a strong man, a really really bloody strong man! And for a 46 year old man that still pushes the envelope when playing against his kids and still even gets really pissed off when they beat me at racing games on the Xbox! I am just not sure that I would have been strong enough.
And that is my point to all of us. Take a deep breath and think honestly about ourselves before we judge. Would we have been strong enough not to cheat? And yet my stance in drug bans is far stronger than is currently in place. My belief is that drug bans should be for life. Why? Maybe because I know how weak we are, or more honestly how weak I might have been, that I think the ban should be so final, that all athletes have to really consider their decisions, and a couple of years ban or thereabouts, is just not the deterrent that I think we need.
So what am I saying? Well that sportspeople are only human, obvious I know, but sometimes in the hero worship that so many receive, we do still need to remember that. And when the next one falls, as undoubtedly someone will, before joining in the chorus of moral indignation, maybe take a few minutes to think about yourself, your life, and the times that you have crossed the line, pushed the envelope, bent the rules and maybe then we will get a slightly more realistic perspective on sport and the animals that play it.
Because let's be honest, we all want to see them achieve amazing results, we want to see them go faster, go further, hit harder, hit further, be stronger, be fitter, be faster, and that will always come at a price. So let's accept that there will always be this friction between the administrators and the competitors, between the animals that are striving to win and the people that are running the sports and defining the rules, and maybe slightly less naïve when these animals that we cheer, encourage, admire, love, exhort to even greater efforts and achievements sometimes let us down with their humanity...]]>'That' Decisiontag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.21979602012-11-27T10:33:35-05:002013-01-27T05:12:01-05:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
Yes Robshaw called for a kick at goal, in the last couple of minutes of the game against South Africa and yes in that instance it was the wrong decision.
BUT, it was one decision, out of how many? That is what we all have to remember, Robshaw is making decisions every second of the game, personal and team leadership decisions, as is every player on the England side, all of which have an effect on the game. Robshaw can only control his own, he can try and influence the players, but mainly through making sure preparation is as thorough as it can be in the days before the game. Once the whistle goes, chaos ensues, and players have to largely make their own way through the chaos, remembering team patterns and goals and trying to ensure that they perform their role to the best of their ability.
The media and the 'man in the stand' focus on the highly visible decisions, and far too often we miss the real turning points, the real game changers.
So let's take a step back, a long way back.
In the late 1990's, Clive Woodward's men started their campaign against the southern hemisphere teams, and if you care to look at the results, they don't make great reading. BUT, they did learn from their mistakes, they did improve, and ultimately became the best. They were given time.
When Woodward stated last week that not kicking your goals is poor preparation etc, bad coaching, he does have a habit of forgetting that his team did the same - Wales at Wembley in 1999 being a prime example. I wish Clive would talk us through how they created the best team in the world, the mistakes, the learning etc and not always talking from the view of 2003 when they were at their peak. Talk to us from 1997/8, as that is far more relevant and useful.
England have been competitive, they have been in the game, but the frustration for me has been that they have rarely troubled the opposition defences. We look one paced, we are predictable and there are just not enough threats in our backline. When the ball fires out from the set piece, our backline moves as one, and it all moves at the same speed. We desperately need to see players delaying runs, changing angles, threatening a number of points in the opposition's defence. All areas that have been mentioned countless times, but we are failing on too many occasions down to a lack of precision in passing, catching, timing.
These areas can be worked on by individual players, they need to be worked on by the players, and it is an area that they all need to look at. It is all very well sitting in Pennyhill Park listening to the coaches talk about beating the best, listening to Robshaw and other leading players talk about beating the best. They can convince themselves that they are doing everything they can to achieve that goal, they can look around the team room at their teammates and convince each other that they are working hard... well they have to, don't they, the coaches are there, the training sessions are planned and there is no bloody choice!
What I want to know is during the summer, during September and October, is how much extra training was done? At their clubs, on their own, away from England coaches, away from England team mates? Because it is there that the difference is made. It is there that these players have to take on responsibility for themselves, and it is there that they will drive themselves to improve and hence drive the team to improve. If they want to beat the best teams in the world, their skills under pressure need to improve, their execution has to be more precise, and that comes from practice, and bloody hours of it.
That change of attitude has to occur before England can expect to be up there with the best, because the best have superior skills... and these players need to be working on theirs, and working on them all the time. That drive has to be strong enough to consume them day after day, week after week, not just when they are in England camp.
I am yet to be convinced that all the players fully appreciate this, so I can only hope that after the frustration of these last few weeks it will have become only too apparent. This is far more important a step than personnel change in my opinion. We can all debate who should be playing number 10, or in the centres, but we are all biased towards the players we watch week in week out at our club, when we might only see the challengers once a season. We have to accept that England selectors are tracking all the players, and are picking the best in their positions. Maybe in a few positions they are going to have to take a leap of faith, to inject the necessary pace and creativity that might spark the whole team but that it is always so easy to say from the safety of a keyboard when your neck is not on the block.
This November has been a reality check for England following a good Six Nations that surprised many, including the players. They have now experienced how hard it is to beat two of the best teams in the world, and they are about to experience the best. Just as back in the late 1990's, the key is absorbing the lessons, learning from the mistakes, improving the areas of weakness and as a result developing into a formidable side. As I have said, for this to happen, the most crucial aspect as far as I am concerned is the players taking on responsibility for that alongside the coaches. They have to train their backsides off over the coming months, years, so that no team in the world is better prepared, better skilled or fitter. That change in mindset is quite simply a must.
So, no, it is not about 'that' decision, far from it. It runs far far deeper]]>How do England Move on and Up?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.21575442012-11-19T05:55:08-05:002013-01-19T05:12:01-05:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
Yes it was hugely disappointing, for a variety of reasons, hopes were high after their French escapade, basic skills were alarmingly low, creativity was lacking, as was a general sense of and use of space.
Pretty damning you might say, and certainly not something I could defend easily, but I do think we have to bear in mind a couple of points. Firstly what style of rugby and coaching are these players experiencing week in, week out at club level? It is difficult enough to step up to Test rugby without the added issue of trying to play a very foreign style of rugby. And to win at test level you do need good skills, good spacial awareness as a team in order to translate pressure and territory into points, an area that England have been struggling in for quite a few years.
Add to this the change of culture that Lancaster and his coaching team are trying to deliver and the task is far harder than people might appreciate.
One conversation that I had on Saturday encapsulates so much of Lancaster's problem;
I was talking with a current player who was telling me the potential that he believes Tuilagi has as a centre. He believes he has the necessary ball skills and vision...the problem he believes is that he is not getting the right coaching at club level.
Now I am not sure how you read that, and lets leave out the debate about whether people believe he has the skills or not. What I found most alarming is this culture that he is waiting to be coached, developed, and helped. Call me old fashioned (as well as plenty of other things) but why oh why is he not kicking down doors in his own quest to develop his skills?
If England are to progress up the International ladder, then this group of players are going to have to understand that a huge part of that process is their ability and desire to take on responsibility. The days of sitting waiting to be told what to eat, what to wear, what to do at training, when to sleep etc etc only get you so far. Once you cross the line, you are on your own for 40 minutes, and in that time you need to think, make decisions, be responsible.
So yes, the basic skills were poor on Saturday, the basic ability to catch and pass under pressure, draw defenders, change angles of attack - yes I agree with all those assessments. What I am saying is that before we deal with all of that, the underlying frame of mind of these players has to change. They need to become leaders, they need to question, to get involved, to be a part of pushing the envelope. They need to work with the coaches, not sit and just listen to the coaches. Then, and only then, can this group of players start climbing up the International ladder.
Robshaw needs help from his fellow players as well as his coaching team. I have had many compare his inexperience at Test captaincy to my start as captain. Oh yes I was inexperienced, naïve and bloody lucky (only two of those apply to Robshaw!!) BUT, I had some very experienced players in the squad. I just needed to get them to tell me what we needed to change and Geoff Cooke gave them the time and stability to change it. Robshaw does not have that luxury of experienced players to fall back on, he needs a core of players to stand up as leaders, to work with the coaches to instil in every player the drive and desire to improve themselves and the team. No waiting to be told, no waiting for the coaches to come up with all the solutions, time to start thinking and actively working on personal skill improvements and team dynamics.
So let's be realistic when assessing England, because those rugby fans with half a brain (and we know which positions we are talking about!!) will realise that this is going to take time. We need to dig in and stick with it and accept that we do not have a cupboard full of world class players to throw into this team as replacements. But through perseverance with the right players, characters, we might well see World Class players developing before our very eyes in the coming 18 months...
And one last thing, which I can still not answer myself, is what the hell was that shirt?? It might seem trivial to some people, and I am sure that I come across as some antiquated turtle when I say that England play in white. We play in white unless we clash with the opposition. We have played in white countless times against Australia. I am afraid that I have to say Twickenham got that wrong. I have read so much lately about the importance of the shirt and what it symbolises, and have been delighted to hear it, and you only had to be at the Stadium to hear and feel the reaction to 'that' shirt to realise it was not a popular move.
This weekend let's play in white. And this weekend let's win.]]>Match Daytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.20765442012-11-08T19:00:00-05:002013-01-08T05:12:01-05:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
What did, or what do international rugby match days mean to you? What did they mean to me?
Way back, and yes, we are talking way way back, when I was little, they were great days of hope and excitement. England were playing, and the men is white were going to be awesome! Play was a blur in the morning, as my mind was focused on kick off time, and I therefore never let myself get too far away from a clock. I have to be honest, the build-up was almost better than the game, but then again I was an England fan!!
That sounds disrespectful to the players of that time, but the only disrespect meant is to the selectors of that time, as I firmly believe England had good players, but playing musical chairs with them every game did tend to hinder their ability to play as a team and win!!
Anyway back to the build-up! I was always seated and ready in front of the tv for the Grandstand music, and the montage of clips that they always started the programme with. Always a burst of adrenaline when clips of the great Welsh, Irish, Scottish and English players were shown and usually finishing on the brilliant David Duckham. Once that music had played, then there was no moving from that seat. Not for anything! Sandy could have passed and would not have registered.
Unfortunately my heroes in white rarely came out on top, and even in those days I could not work out why we kept changing players at such a fast rate.
Then came the great Billy Beaumont Grand Slam year, and the afternoons took on greater and greater importance! The trouble was that I was at school by now, and... looking back, bloody school! It got in the way of so many important things! - Such a waste!!!
The crunch game was against the Welsh, no change there then, and that Saturday afternoon our school first team were playing at home, so compulsory watching for all us young kids. Rugby was pretty important at Sedbergh, my school, so important in fact that on my first day there, we were walked down to the side of the first team pitch (you weren't allowed to walk on it until you played for the 1st XV) and lectured about the last time Sedbergh had lost there - if I remember correctly it was about six years before! I know I digress, but it must have worked because in the five years that I played there, we only lost one game... and that was not at Sedbergh!
Anyway back to the shocking dilemma. England versus Wales at Twickenham, the Grandstand music and all that, or compulsory watching of the 1st team winning again, no doubt in the pouring rain... The youth of today would just not understand! No Sky+ for us, and only about four tv channels!
Well we took the risk, found a TV that was working in the art school lecture theatre and the three of us hid in there watching Ringer get sent off and England winning a free-flowing try-fest. Well we won anyway!
At the final whistle we were so relieved, euphoric that we stormed out of the lecture theatre, screaming in excitement straight into one of the teachers and detention! It was worth it though.
I never dreamt that I would cross the big divide and move from mortal to demi-god and play international rugby. Those guys really were gods in my mind, certainly not mere humans. I remember going to watch a sevens tournament aged ten with the school, and at that tournament was the great Phil Bennett. A few of us sat by one of the pitches to eat our packed lunch, when the great man came and stood right next to us, to watch the game on that pitch. And I mean right next to us!! He must have wondered who the fat little kid was who just sat there staring at him with his mouth open! - it was a great few minutes, to be that close to an International player... a god!
So when I did get picked, it took me a long while to come to terms with the fact that I would not be sitting listening to the Grandstand music and then watching the game, instead, I would listen to the Grandstand music and then bizarrely be part of that game.
Maybe it is just me, but I was still the little kid. I still woke up on match day and on opening my eyes had the same surge of adrenaline. It was international day, the same great day, but just from a slightly different perspective now. And I loved it, just as I had loved it as an eight year old. I was not a player who had many superstitions, if any, but there were two things I always stuck with.
The night before a Test match, after all the team meetings, team dinner and any last minute chats with certain players as captain, I would head out for a little walk on my own. When we played at Twickenham, I would walk just up in Richmond, near the Petersham hotel where we used to stay, and from the hill I could see Twickenham. I would listen to the music I listened to at school, when I dreamt of playing for England, when I dreamt of being in this very position. A little Bee Gees, Journey, AC DC, ELO - cutting edge then!
I used to look out at the stadium and wonder what would happen the next day, all that music buzzing around in my head, and would try as hard as possible to make sure that whatever did happen, I made sure that I summoned up absolutely everything that I could give, to the game, the team, the shirt, as I never knew which would be my last game. It was my little way of reminding myself that I never ever believed that I would be lucky enough to be there, in that position, living my dream, and hence I had bloody better make the most of it.
And the second constant in my time playing, was that on match day, having gone down memory lane the night before, I always made sure that I was in my room to listen to the start of Grandstand. Always! Team meeting times would be arranged so as not to clash! Any physio, massage, talks all had to be arranged so as not to clash! I had to stand in my room, on my own, and watch the start to Grandstand, to listen to the music, see the footage, and think, 'Yes!!! Match day!'
Things don't really change that much... Such a kid!]]>England Rugby Team Selection for a New Culturetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.20228232012-11-01T01:00:00-04:002012-12-31T05:12:01-05:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
But let's be honest, Leicester fans watch their players week in, week out and hence quite rightly argue for their inclusion as they only see the competition once or twice a season, the same going for Wasps, Quins, Saracens fans etc. We all look at it from a biased point of view, or an almost totally ignorant one from the fans that watch very little club rugby at all.
Some have the romantic notion of picking lots of attacking players without any concept for the basics of the game, like set piece, defence etc. Just the wild dream of scoring more tries than the opposition! Dream on!
I think you have to look deeper than just playing form, ability, in this selection though, as I think it tells us much more about Lancaster and his coaches than that.
They are trying to create a new culture within the squad, and that as we all know takes time, and solid foundations. They need the right characters in there on the playing side to lay those foundations. It will never work if you just have coaches 'telling' the players what they want, day after day, it is vital that they have players who understand the vision and also have possess the necessary charisma and belief to pass that onto team mates. For it to be successful, ultimately it has to be driven by the team, not just the coaches.....
One of the huge transitions that I believe England need to make is the move away from the belief in 'entitlement'. It has been one of the most disappointing aspects of certain members in the team for the last four or five years. The classic mistake that because you pull on that shirt, you are 'entitled'...
Entitled to winning games, entitled to respect from people and entitled to sponsorship, profile and success.
All these outcomes need to be earned, and need the classic recipe of bloody hard work, focus and dedication. None are a speedy result and none can be taken for granted.
Lancaster and his team need to flush out any lingering traces of this attitude, and they have to be strong enough to ensure that any players who embody this trait do not get near an England shirt again.
The new culture needs to start with respect for the shirt, not just for the honour of wearing it now, but for its history and the players that have gone before. The shirt symbolises English rugby, all the great players, the characters, the great wins, the amazing successes, alongside the defeats, the hard times and the lessons learnt. And these players, like their predecessors, are the guardian of that shirt, the guardian for each and every game they are fortunate enough to play in it, and they need to be the right character to accept that responsibility. And if each player can strive to pass on that shirt at the end of their guardians' term with just a little bit more success, pride and dignity, then they have been successful.
That takes a certain character, one that is willing to learn and listen, and not just on the training pitch. Wearing an England shirt does not entitle you to endorsements, or respect, those have to be earned just as hard off the pitch as winning has to be earned on it. It takes humility, people skills and an understanding that mixing, chatting and giving time to people is a vital part of wearing the shirt. The goal is to be world class on and off the pitch.
It takes a maturity that I certainly did not have as a twenty two year old, and I am not sure if I even had it as a thirty two year old either. The difference was that I was lucky enough to be surrounded by enough players who did have it.
So Lancaster's job is far from easy. Pick a blend of men, who possess the necessary playing skills but just as importantly the necessary character to create the new culture that will be vital to England's ability to consistently challenge the best teams in the world and beat them.
It certainly makes you look at squad selection with a slightly different perspective.....]]>Why Rugby Is Still About Commitment, Courage, Loyalty and Abilitytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.20400342012-10-29T19:00:00-04:002012-12-29T05:12:02-05:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
And quite rightly in my view, as today is their time, for their glory and for their memories, as we have had ours and hopefully like mine they make you smile every now and then. And yet so many people ask me, is rugby better now, are they fitter, is it worse, are the games more interesting, are the players bigger etc etc
The game is different. It is a different generation, and yes they are bigger, faster, stronger, and I am bloody grateful that I am in the stand or watching safely on TV! It is not for me to say whether it is better, just as when I was playing it was not right to say that our game was better than that played by such genuine legends as Duckham, Bennett, JPR, Edwards and Slattery etc. And to be honest the question is slightly irrelevant and definitely not one that interests me, unlike the question of are the players still inherently the same?
I hope so!
Rugby demands certain qualities of a man, commitment, courage, loyalty and the ability to earn your teammates trust. I would love to add a sense of humour, but then again I played with and against a few who certainly lacked one and some who could not even spell it...
I believe the animal is pretty much the same, or at least I hope that they are. How do you describe the 'animal' that plays rugby? Well animal is obviously a good start, but it has to be an animal that has both a predatory streak and a pack nature... There is the love of the physical and mental challenge, the physical being the strength, power and skill to survive and even contribute to the game, the mental having the courage to firstly walk out there and secondly to keep the brain thinking whilst the body rages. A cool head is crucial in rugby, it allows for discipline, and despite what the game might look like at times in terms of brutal collisions, it is the ability to relish all this whilst calculating the next play, next point/ player to attack that marks out the great players. Not as apparent, but still important is the ability to have a laugh, let off steam and enjoy each other's company.
The story of Andy Powell and the golf cart has gone down in rugby legend as a moment that typifies rugby players and their approach to life! The man wanted a burger and some fresh air, and the golf cart ride provided the perfect blend!! Now I know I will get all sorts of people reminding me that it was dangerous, irresponsible and stupid... I would not argue with any of that, but then again which of us has never done any of those three...
Back in my day (you see, it does come so naturally to us old farts) we used to 'relax' quite hard after a game. After home games, we had to attend a black tie dinner at the Hilton Park Lane, and then the guys would 'unwind'. We always had a 'team room' to retire to when all the bars and clubs had given up on us. One night I remember that we could not find the said room, so it was unanimously decided, by the forwards, that my room would do!! My memory is quite sketchy about the night, but as I stepped past/around/over food trolley after food trolley and champagne bottles the next morning, I realised it had been a very good night. This was confirmed as I went to sign my room bill, and as the printer passed page seven, I knew that it had been a very special night...
I think that same season we managed to win the Grand Slam and hence decided that a good night was due. The great Ian Botham invited us to his hotel at some point that evening, night and hence we ended up in his hotel bar. Beefy's competitive nature came out at the bar, and he stood toe to toe with the likes of Dooley, Richards, Leonard and Skinner enjoying some responsible drinking. One of the few things that I remember that night was a German couple trying to have a romantic drink in that bar... which they might have managed had the guy not come across to complain to Mickey Skinner about his language! He found it hard to carry on being romantic with a bucket of ice over his head and down his back soon after... Not big and not clever I know, but at the time quite funny!
So I hope the animal is still the same even though the game has changed. I believe that they do still have that proud sense of team, that they do still feel a rush of adrenaline when they pull on their national jersey, that they would still look after any team mate in any situation, that they do still implicitly trust each other out on the field, and that once the game is over that they do still do bloody stupid things, that only those who have been through the same cauldron of emotions, of anticipation, hope, fear, dread, panic and joy, would understand and smile at...
When I talk about fear, I can obviously only talk about my own personal emotions and what I experienced before a game. Fear was certainly right up there, but not as in fear of getting hurt, although anyone who remembers that far back will no doubt be surprised, as my performances would seem to reflect exactly that! But no, it was not the fear of mud on my shorts, it was the fear of letting people down, and most importantly letting down my team mates. From that almost paralysing fear, in the tunnel before my first Test, that you just might not be good enough that day, that you might just be the one who lets the whole team down, by either lack of ability, loss of concentration or just freezing...
And you dealt with it through humour, even if at times it was cutting, cruel and basic. Humour was a constant companion, and a humour that was hugely sarcastic, merciless and consistent. Any team mate who made a mistake or took themselves too seriously, for even a minute or two, was sure to receive a barrage of cutting wit. Any weakness, and I mean any, was gleefully exploited. I still remember the day the team read that Jerry Guscott once drove the 'Badger' buses around Bath. On boarding the coach to go to training that day, he was met with a chorus of 'ding ding' next stop for me please driver, 'ding ding, can I get off at the next junction driver' etc etc. He also learnt that not laughing ensured that these comments would last for months...
If the humour and glint in the eye dies from rugby players, then I think the game is losing something vital. Of course in the professional world, the demands are high and the guys and girls are far, far fitter and better prepared physically. But what makes rugby players captivating as people is that sense of fun that comes from the qualities mentioned before and comes from the brutal nature of the sport itself. You have to have humour to get through the intensity, to deal with the pressure, but ultimately and most importantly so that you still love what you do and who you do it alongside...
]]>Six Nations: Why Are the English So Universally Disliked?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.13459822012-03-14T19:00:00-04:002012-05-14T05:12:01-04:00Will Carlinghttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-carling/
Because you were against people that you knew, and knew well and you either liked or disliked them, both gave it an edge. The Six Nations has the same feel, it is played against 'neighbours' and the best bit about it is that this feeling includes the fans too. We all have mates who are Welsh, Irish, Scottish, Italian and even French... even I do, not that I admit it in public!
So the games we either play in, or sit watching, have the incredible importance of bragging rights, for a whole year!!! Now that is pressure. And that is what makes it so gripping for fans, knowing that a whole year of humour and bragging is being decided in those precious 80 minutes.
As a player, the feelings are not too dissimilar, as I hated the idea that players could walk off that pitch, looking you straight in the eye having beaten you! Unbearable. And then of course there was the added problem of being English... and trust me in the Six Nations that causes quite a problem, in fact come to think of it, it causes quite a problem against all countries...
Why is that? Why are the English so universally disliked in the Six Nations, and why are we the team all the others want to beat? Well there we go, I think we have the answer right there; the sheer arrogance of believing that we are the team all the other countries want to beat the most. Sorted! But we are...
Is it history? I remember reading a Scottish broadsheet paper that compared me to Edward Longshanks. For god's sake! I have never been compared to anything 'long' in my life. I love the passion of the Welsh, the Scots, the Irish, the pretence at nonchalance by the French, but the English are not allowed to be passionate. It is taken as arrogance, although granted we do 'do' arrogance very naturally...
Before I played the Grand Slam deciding game against Scotland in 1995, a Scottish journalist interviewed me at the Cafe Royal. He was very polite, biting his tongue for most of the interview when he obviously really disliked me (and you couldn't blame him) until his last question: "So Will, how do you take to the fact that the whole of Scotland hate you?" I paused, and looked him in the eye and replied, "That's okay."
He was surprised, "Really?"
"Sure", I said, "because I ******* hate you more!"
He dropped his pen "you cannot say that!"
"Why?", I asked, "you can hate me, but I can't hate you back?"
"Exactly!", he said.
And in that moment you get the Six Nations. We English have to understand the passion the other countries have, we have to respect it and be hugely wary of it. But at the same time, we should be passionate too, we have to be to stand any chance of winning.
But for us fans, not the players, we have to ensure that humour is always apparent in the passion. That for me is what is truly special, that we can be passionate, at times childishly so. But that when it comes to the crunch, we have to have humour and the realisation that although it does not feel it right there, right at that moment of losing or winning, it is just a bloody game! But a great one and a really great tournament.
For my comments and thoughts on the games please follow me on Twitter @willcarling]]>