Grand Slam Man (4 page)

Chapter Nine

CASE FOR THE DEFENCE

I guess I've become renowned for my tackling more than any other aspect of my game.

But when I was younger I liked to get the ball in my hands and carry it. That's what I loved doing.

However, I think that's something I've gone away from now. I've developed into being more of a defensive player.

I would like to add more ball-carrying into my game as time goes on. It's something I want to work on. But when you are being picked largely for your tackling ability, you've got to be careful not to undermine that. I don't want to take away from my strengths. I don't want to start making fewer tackles to try and free myself up to carry. So although I would like to be out there carrying, I'm also very aware what my main job for the team is. I go out there to try to make as many tackles as I can and be as destructive as possible, because that's me being most effective for the team. I always want to be right up there in the tackle count, and I'm disappointed if I am not. It's one of my goals and how I judge if I have had a decent game. Tackling is what I do, so if my tackle count is high, I know I've done my job. And if I can get a couple of good tackles in where the ball is spilt, or where I slow the opposition down so my teammates can get in and win the ball, I think that's almost as good as someone making a 20*yard break.

I guess it's this ability at defence that people have focused on ever since I started to play regularly for the Dragons. Quite early on, our coach at the time, Paul Turner, dubbed me the White Samoan. I'm assuming that's because he felt I tackled like a Samoan. They tend to give it everything when they hit someone! You do get some random nicknames chucked at you and none of them really stick, but perhaps that one was prophetic.

It was when I came into the Welsh squad that my defensive game developed further, and a lot of that was down to our defence coach, Shaun Edwards.

When I first met him, I didn't quite know how to take him. I obviously knew he was a legend in rugby league but at first he came across as a really hardnosed kind of guy. I think we have built a good working relationship. Shaun is fantastic. I have learnt a lot from him and I hope I can continue to do so and keep improving.

He's said some nice things about me and I value compliments from him because I have a lot of respect for him and what he does for the team. Most importantly, what he has done with Wales is to make sure that when we take the field everyone knows his role.

In every lineout, in every scrum, everyone knows where he should be. The right people are always in the right positions. We have drilled it so much that it's like second nature now.

We worked particularly hard on defence when we were gearing up towards the World Cup in 2011 and that's when we developed what has now become known as the chop tackle. Our first game in the tournament was going to be against South Africa and they are renowned for being big, powerful men who love to bash their way through the opposition. So Shaun put in a policy of trying to stop them before they got going. That meant hitting them fast, hitting them hard and hitting them low. The idea was that this would then enable the likes of Sam Warburton to get in on the tackled player and win the ball off him.

Well, we played that first game against the Springboks in Wellington and I can't remember how many turnovers Sam had. The boys were stopping the 'Boks in their tracks and that seemed to expose the ball for Sam to get on it. It worked so well that we thought, ‘Hang on a minute, we might be on to something here.'

So we carried on with the policy and it was when we played against Ireland in the quarterfinals that it really came into its own. We knew how big and powerful their back row was and how good they were at carrying. We felt that if we could nullify their back row we would have a good chance of doing something. It worked really well and we won the match. That was probably the most enjoyable game I played in at the World Cup. When you've played well as a team, and as an individual, it's a really good feeling.

The chop-tackle tactic evolved from then. We carried it on into the Six Nations and I guess it's something I've become known for. On last summer's tour of Australia, I had a few collisions with the veteran Wallaby second row Nathan Sharpe. Every time I lined up in defence, he seemed to be coming around the corner with the ball, so he was always getting it. I kept on hitting him, chopping him down at the ankles. I remember we were at the bottom of a ruck one time and he said, ‘Take it easy, I don't want my legs broken!' He came up to me at the end of the game as well and said, ‘Take it easy on me next week.'

But then when we played the final Test in Sydney, they started chopping us as well! It's evolution. You learn things off the opposition, and they learn things off you.

The game is so physical now and there are such big men playing. Every back row you come up against these days usually has one massive ballcarrier. South Africa and Ireland both had three at the World Cup. If you can stop those players before they get on their bullocking runs it does help. So it's all about trying to get off the line as quick as you can and hitting them as low as you can.

Playing in the back row is always geared around being physical. You don't want someone to be carrying you up the field and making yards while you are trying to knock them down. If you are playing against a big ball-carrier, you don't want to give him a massive runup because you don't want to be flat on your back as he is running past you. You have to make sure you chop him down before he gets going, so scavengers like Sam and Gethin can get in there, and that is what I try to do.

We always analyse teams and identify who their main threats are. If there is a certain strike runner or power player who can cause carnage, we will make sure we keep an eye on him.

I know I am not as skilful as some other players, but I also know I have a role to play in the team. In a way I'd rather be scoring the tries, but someone has to do what I do, so I am happy to do that. It's my job to stop the opposition and it is the job of George North, Alex Cuthbert and whoever else to score the tries. I'm not complaining. Everyone has a role to play in the team. Defence isn't as glamorous as scoring tries, and I don't know if people realise how much effort goes into it. Say you make twenty tackles in a game, that's twenty times you are torpedoing yourself at someone who is running really fast at you. Then you've got to pick yourself back up off the floor, get back in line and do it again.

In the past people asked me whether I ever worried about throwing myself into a tackle, given that I broke my neck while playing when I was younger. I'm told I looked a bit edgy on the field when I first came back from that injury. But I've talked to the same people since and they say now that they can see I am flying into tackles and that I don't care.

The way I look at it, I am a physical player and if I am not going to be physical, I might as well not be on the field. You don't always get it right and you feel knocked out if it goes wrong. But when it goes right, you think, ‘I wonder what that looked like back on telly, because it felt good!'

For me, there's no better feeling than getting a tackle spot on. Making a big hit is what gives me my satisfaction in the game.

Chapter Ten

LIFE ON THE FARM

I was born in Salford, near Manchester, in December 1987. We lived there for a few years until I was about three or four and then we moved to mid-Wales, where my mother had grown up. My parents wanted to move out of the rat race. Where we moved to wasn't far from where my grandparents lived and they were farming at the time.

My brother Jack and I were really keen to help on the farm and we spent lots of time there. Then when my granddad reached retirement age, he told my parents he wanted me and my brother to have the farm when we were older. But for that to happen, my parents would have to run it in for the meantime, until we were at an age where we could take over. So my parents agreed and we moved to the farm when I was about six or seven. My mum, Lynne, has always been a farmer. It was her side of the family that owned the farm and my brother and I are fifth generation farmers in the family. My dad had been a dock worker. He'd worked at moving the big containers in the container base in Manchester. But together they took the farm over and it was a good place to grow up.

When I was starting out with the Dragons and travelling down to Newport to play games, I would always look forward to the trip home because I knew I was going back to the farm. However, after a while, I moved down to live in Cardiff and I found that hard to start with. Just seeing street-lights and hearing the sound of people and vehicles outside the house at midnight was hard to get used to.

If there was a vehicle about at midnight back at the farm, they would be stealing your farm quad or something! It's just peace and quiet there. So I did find it hard to adjust. To start with, I would come down on Sunday night, train in the week, drive back on Friday night and have the weekend on the farm. But the more I progressed in rugby the less I was able to go home. However, when I do get the chance to go back, I take it. If we have a Friday night game at Rodney Parade, I jump straight in the car and go back. It's just a chance to get away. It's what I enjoy. It's completely different from the day job. It's my peace and quiet, my release.

The farm is in a little place called Abbeycwmhir, near Llandrindod Wells. It's an averagesize farm on a hillside, about 500 acres, and there's a lot to get through. It's a sheep farm. We've got about 700 sheep. My granddad had cattle, but we've just got sheep, although my brother would like to keep a few cows in the future, like my granddad did. Jack, who is two years older than me, basically runs the farm, but he and my mother and father all work together and I join in whenever I'm home.

Life on the farm depends on the season. Lambing is all sort of hours and during Six Nations time, they tend to be busy lambing, so everyone has to help. At that time of year, they work in shifts. My brother gets up at 5am and they don't finish until 11pm. But they still take time out to watch me play on television. Then when I get back home, I get stuck in too.

There will be days when it's really hard work, but then we all come in and Mum lays on a massive feast and we sit round the table, have good food and go to bed happy. We're quite close as a family. I ring my dad, John, every day for a chat. He is Salford born and bred and a Manchester United fan. Football is very much the sport on his side of the family. My cousin, Jason Lydiate, played for Manchester United reserves in the same team as Ryan Giggs and went on to play for Blackpool, as well as other clubs.

But I was never going to be a footballer. You'd know why if you saw me kick a ball! My dad only got into rugby because my brother and I started playing, but he's a fan now. Being English-born, he obviously wants England to do well. When we play England, he sings both the anthems. But he supports me at the end of the day and I think he would rather see Wales win the Six Nations than England.

My parents have been great, right behind me since I started playing. They have also brought me up to be the person I am. They have taught me to value things, such as that good manners cost nothing, but they mean the world. It's a big thing in our family, always being polite to people, treating them as you would like to be treated yourself.

I think my upbringing has also helped me with my rugby. There's a lot of manual labour on the farm. It's more mechanical now, but when my parents took over it was all about lugging hay bales around and things like that. In the winter, you are always loading up quad bikes with these bales and feeding the sheep. You also spend a lot of time trying to catch sheep and they will fight with you as hard as they can. All farmers can tackle because they are used to chasing sheep. Unless you've got a good dog, you are on your own chasing them down. That's probably where my tackling ability comes from!

Being back on the farm is a real refuge for me. That's why I enjoy going back so much. Players do have off games and you do beat yourself up about them, but going back there you can put it out of your mind. I'll say to my parents that I don't want to talk about it, and we'll just have a cup of tea and talk about everyday life instead.

So, when I get a couple of days off I go back there and find it's a great place to clear my head. I can get back in touch with reality and I always feel better for going there. I really enjoy that part of my life and I think it's something I'll always go back to. I would like to have a long career in rugby, but you never know these days. I'll try to make the most of it for the time being, but I will always want to move back to the farm because I really enjoyed my upbringing there. It will be nice to maybe have a family of my own there. Playing rugby is not a job for life. I'm just a farming lad from midWales and that's what I'll be doing full-time when the rugby ends.

Chapter Eleven

DREAMING OF LIONS

One of my first rugby memories is of watching the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia in 2001. I wasn't playing much rugby at the time. I was thirteen and only just getting into it. But when something like that is on the telly, of course you watch it.

I remember Scott Quinnell scoring a try in the first Test in Brisbane and him just nodding and smiling after he touched down. But what I really remember is the England flanker Richard Hill playing for that Lions team and thinking to myself, ‘He's somewhere I want to be.' He was my rugby hero growing up. I liked the fact that he was just a real dog. You would see him being interviewed after a game and his face would be beat up to hell but he'd be doing exactly the same the next week.

He was hugely respected by his fellow players. I remember an interview one of the England backs gave once and he was asked who would be the first name on his team-sheet. He said Richard Hill. The average man on the street, who just watches rugby when the Six Nations is on, knows Shane Williams and those sorts of people. But the diehard rugby fan would notice the work that this guy Hill was doing. He was a vital cog in the England team that won the World Cup in 2003 and for me, growing up, he was the player I really looked up to and tried to model myself on. So when Shaun Edwards likened me to him last year, it was amazing. I couldn't ask for a bigger compliment.

To my mind, the turning point of that 2001 Lions tour was when Hill was injured midway through the second Test. Up to that point, the Lions had been on top in the series, but without Hill they went on to lose 2–1. I guess I studied him all the more because I was playing in the same position as him. I was playing flanker for Builth Wells U14s at the time.

The main reason I had started out playing was because my brother Jack was playing rugby for Builth and he played back row. You always look up to your older brothers and sisters. And Richard Hill was his favourite player as well. So you take it all on board and when I saw Hill playing for the Lions in 2001, I knew that's what I wanted to do.

Now things have come full circle and the Lions are going to be touring Australia again this year. Obviously I'd love to be part of that trip. The Lions is the ultimate for a British rugby player. The pinnacle.

A couple of years ago, the pinnacle for me was playing for Wales. I've been given the chance to do that and it's meant the world to me. But once you do that, your goals move on, and to play for the Lions is now a major goal.

It's a really big year with that tour of Australia coming up at the end of the season.

But I never try to look too far ahead and given what happened to me at the start of this season, there's no way I can. Playing against Edinburgh in September, I went to make a tackle and fell back awkwardly, breaking my left leg just above the ankle. Initially, I feared that I'd suffered a fracture and dislocation which would have meant me being out for the whole season. It wasn't quite that bad, but I still needed surgery and I was faced with being out of action for four to five months. That meant I was out of the autumn internationals and was facing a race against time to get back for any of this year's Six Nations. So the challenge of making the Lions tour is now even greater.

Having toured Australia with Wales last summer, it would be great to go back out there.

I didn't get to see that much of the country, other than from the air, because there was a lot of travelling and we had a busy schedule. But in the last week we did have a bit of time off, and it was great to go round Sydney and see the sights. The whole trip was a wonderful experience on and off the field.

I think it was good for us going to Australia, because the Welsh boys that do go on the Lions tour will know what to expect from the country. And they will also be all the keener to go, with Warren Gatland having been appointed Lions coach.

Warren has been brilliant for us. He has brought a lot of younger boys through and we are allowed to play what is in front of us. Obviously, we have our set moves, but he always tells us, ‘Back yourself, you are good enough players, so go out and play.' It's a good feeling to go out there with the freedom to have a go and know that, whether it's the right decision or the wrong decision, as long as you give it your best shot, the coaches will support you. So to play under ‘Gats' for the Lions would be a great experience.

Therefore, it's all the more frustrating to have picked up a pretty serious injury at the start of this season. However, the injury aside, I couldn't be any happier with my lot. I'm treated really well at the Dragons. I can't thank them enough for what they've done for me, especially in the early days of my career. They gave me the chance to play top-flight rugby and put myself on show to the Welsh selectors. Maybe if I had been at another club I might not be playing international rugby. They are understanding about bumps and bruises, so if you have to miss a session they don't mind, as long as you put it in once you are on the field.

I've loved it with the Dragons and I love playing for Wales. I wouldn't say I'm a perfectionist, but rugby is a short career. No one is going to play for ever, so you've got to try and make the most of it while you are here. Personally, I just want to get as many caps as I can. I want to play as much as I can for Wales because I'm enjoying it so much.

I hope I'm still developing as a rugby player and I'll keep working on certain aspects of my game to become better. It's vital to do so because if you stand still you are going to get overtaken.

I also know, from personal experience, that you have to savour every minute. My brother Jack, who went on to play for Ebbw Vale, had to quit rugby after badly breaking his leg. And, of course, my career could have ended before it really began with the neck injury I suffered out in France.

And, as I write this book, I am once again recovering from injury after breaking my leg. So, for me, it's a case of making the most of every moment and recognising just how very lucky I am.