Lee Mears - The Lion with a smile

A tribute to Lee Mears, originally published on www.thisisbath.co.uk/bathrugby.

Writing farewell pieces on Bath Rugby forwards who have been forced into premature retirement by health issues has, sadly, become an all too familiar activity in recent months.

Over the past year-and-a-half, Lewis Moody, Andy Beattie, David Barnes and David Flatman have all been forced to hang their boots up earlier than they would have wished due to injury. This week Lee Mears can be added to that unfortunate list.

The honours that Mears, pictured, chalked are up are worthy of any great of the game– two World Cups, a British and Irish Lions tour, more than 200 caps for Bath Rugby, a club with whom he had just extended his contract.

 
But as well as receiving honours, Mears was always a man of honour in everything he did on the pitch.

In the wake of last Monday’s announcement that a cardiac abnormality had forced him to retire from professional rugby, the tributes that rolled in for Mears from the great and good of the game – as well as fellow players and supporters – spoke volumes.

Mark McCafferty, chief executive of Premiership Rugby Ltd, even issued a statement in which he said that Mears embodied everything that was good about the modern-day pro.

And who would disagree?

Mears always made much of the fact that he liked to play “with a smile on my face”. Coming from most people, that would have been regarded as a tedious cliché. From Mears, it was the absolute truth. It captured his approach to rugby and to life more generally, and it went a long way to explaining his popularity.

Mears was proof that you can be deadly serious about your sport and perform with utter competitiveness, yet still enjoy it and go about your business with a gigantic grin.

His absolute commitment to always looking on the bright side even extended to his injuries.

One wet and miserable night in Ulster – I think it was in October 2009 – Mears was replaced at half time. A couple of hours later I saw him coming out of the clubhouse, hobbling around on crutches but with that big grin still on his face.

“You ok, Lee?” I asked. “Medial knee ligaments,” he smiled.

History repeated itself earlier this season when he emerged from the front door of Farleigh House, again on crutches, having taken a nasty tumble in training that morning. He was using Dave Attwood as a chauffeur and, despite the early-season setback, was still smiling.

As a professional player, Mears was aware that you have to take the rough with the smooth. The dignity of his retirement mirrors the dignity of a great career.

Bath Rugby, and rugby generally, will be a poorer place without Lee Mears and his winning smile.

Freddie Flintoff becomes a Saracens centre and other predictions for 2013

In between figgy pudding and Special Brew, I've been taking counsel from a series of rugby sources over the festive season. Here are my insights and predictions for 2013:

Talks over the future shape of European club rugby drag on. And on. Inspired by the example of the Fiscal Cliff in the United States, rugby administrators draw up an ultimatum in an effort to focus minds. If a new arrangement cannot be agreed by April 1, then the location of the 2014-15 final will be decided by a game of Ludo, and Brian O'Driscoll will be banned from playing Heineken Cup rugby in any position other than second row. "Never mind the Fiscal Cliff," says one man at the negotiating table. "This is the O'Driscoll Cliff."

After mediocre viewing figures of his reality TV boxing show, Ashes to Ashes, Freddie Flintoff announces he's turning his back on a fledgling career in the ring to pursue his dream of becoming an inside centre. Saracens announce the big Lancastrian will be training with them on a three-month trial. Channel 5 will be filming Freddie's every move, from a lineout masterclass with Steve Borthwick to a three-legged pub crawl around the bierkellers of Bavaria.
"It's been a life-long ambition of mine to take a crash ball and run straight at Allan Donald – I mean Stephen Donald," says Freddie. "The skinful in Germany should be a right laugh too."
A Saracens spokesman, speaking from the club's newly laid synthetic surface at Allianz Park, adds: "Freddie's used to swatting away burly South Africans on a sticky wicket, so he should do well on the astro here." Channel 5 reveals that the series will be called Ashes to Splashes, with Freddie honing his try- scoring swan-dive with weekly tips from Chris Ashton.

After one post-match outburst too many, the Leicester management order Richard Cockerill to take the vows of a Trappist monk. Henceforth, Cockers communicates at press conferences through a blend of elaborate scowls, aeronautical semaphore and intriguing hand gestures.

Former Bath skipper Luke Watson announces he is returning to The Rec from his native South Africa. "I've taken counsel from the man upstairs and I'm coming back to the UK," says the famously devout number eight/fly-half. "Gary Gold can be pretty persuasive."

Bath are linked to every starting international scrum- half in Tier One rugby. So intense is the speculation that Nick Farr-Jones rules himself out.

The O'Driscoll Cliff deadline of April 1 comes and goes. There is no agreement over qualification and TV rights for the future of European club rugby. Leinster issue a statement: "We're disappointed that there's still no agreement, but Brian looked good in the number four shirt in last week's RaboDirect Pro12 match against Zebre."

This column was first published here.

Italians are free-loading in European club rugby - and it's helping no-one

I hope I don't wake up with a horse's head next to me for saying this, but it's a joke that Italian rugby continues to receive guaranteed places at European club rugby's top table - almost as big a joke as Silvio Berlusconi  Just look at the results from this year's Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup. I go into chapter and verse on this here.

I've teamed up with leading South Africa-based sports website rugby365.com

Over the past three years, I've done a fair amount of work for titles in South Africa and I'm pleased to announce I've started a collaboration with leading rugby website www.rugby365.com.

The merits or otherwise of national teams selecting players based in other countries - or, indeed, other hemispheres - is a hot topic, and former Springboks assistant coach Gary Gold adds to that debate in my first contribution to the website.

 Belfast-based Bok Ruan Pienaar



I hope to do more with Quintin, Jan and the other guys at rugby365 soon, so keep an eye out.

Rugby and race

As football continues to destroy - or at least degrade - itself through racism rows, here are a few thoughts of mine on the issue of racism (or its absence) in rugby. It follows a story about an unsavoury incident in Redruth that I broke on BBC Sport Online a few weeks ago.
I'm not reopening old wounds here or seeking to sensationalse, I just want to ensure this abhorrent behaviour doesn't gain any sort of foothold in a game that is generally - and rightly - known for its warm, inclusive spirit.

Freddie Burns - who better to ask about the West Country derby?

He still regards Bath Rugby as his home team and openly admits to an enduring affection for the club. But on Saturday afternoon Freddie Burns will be seeking to bamboozle and out-gun anyone in blue, black and white as though his life depended on it.

As a teenager, Burns jumped ship from the Bath Academy and headed to the cherry and white of Gloucester. It was a colossal call for a 17-year-old to make, and the fly-half admits to having had a few moments along the way where he’s questioned the wisdom of the decision. But, 80 games for Gloucester and an England Saxons call-up later, there are zero regrets.

Greetings from the West Country

“Bath is definitely my home-town club – I spent many years growing up and sneaking into games at The Rec,” said the 22-year-old ahead of Saturday’s derby at Kingsholm. “But when I left Bath, it was a case of me wanting to get out there and test myself.

“Gloucester were known for playing a lot of youngsters, and at the time Butch James was the fly-half for Bath – he’s world-class. I thought about where I was going to have the best opportunity to become the best player, and I was impressed by how Gloucester structured their academy.

“They set out a plan for how they’d blood me. Dean Ryan (the then Gloucester director of rugby) said ‘You’ll be at Cinderford this year, Moseley next year if Gloucester don’t need you’. As a youngster, all you want to see is a bit of a pathway through and I felt Gloucester had that in place.

“It was a big call. It wasn’t easy. I had a lot of conversations with my parents and Bath players past and present – people I hugely respect. It took a long time to make the decision and I had my doubts over the years. But, especially over the past 18 months or two years, it’s definitely been worth the move in terms of how much I’ve played for Gloucester.”

Burns still enjoys bantering on Twitter with his mates from Oldfield Old Boys and regularly returns to the city; there is clearly still a part of him that’s rooted in Bath. And how couldn’t there be? He went to Beechen Cliff School and City of Bath College, started playing rugby aged five at Avon, and played for a host of sides in the city.

The build-up to a Bath-Gloucester derby has added a bit of frisson to this week, but Burns says he isn’t one to get carried away.

“It’s a West Country derby and that means a bit more excitement, however I’m not really the type to get too nervous or get caught up in it,” he said. “I’ll go through my week like it’s a normal week with the added bonus that it’s my home-town club I’ll be facing at the end of it. I do get a bit more stick from my mates in texts and on Twitter, though!

“My family and I still keep an eye out for Bath. It’s always going to be a club that’s special in my heart – it’s just a case of putting that to one side for an afternoon and getting the win.”

Freddie isn’t the only Burns on Gloucester’s books. His younger brother, Bill – four years his junior – also moved to the Cherry and Whites from Bath. The move took place after Bill, who turned 18 in June, was rejected by the Bath Academy.

Lightning appears to have struck twice, with Bill quickly following in his brother’s footsteps and rapidly rising through Gloucester's ranks. He played at fly-half against Newcastle in the A League on Monday, came off the bench for Gloucester’s first-team in a LV= Cup match last season, and has already played for England U18s.

“I’m lucky,” says Freddie. “The whole family comes with me to Gloucester and with what happened to Bill – with the Bath Academy not wanting him and the Gloucester Academy saying they'd have him – it’s strengthened the family connection with the club.”

The strength of that connection will be shown on Saturday when Burns will make every attempt to whip up the notoriously partisan Gloucester crowd to what he hopes will be Bath’s detriment.

“I’ve always been a bit of a showman and like to feed off the crowd and have a bit of banter with them,” he said. “I think you have to feed off The Shed on derby day.”

Showman is the right word. With flair, vision and a desire to take the ball on the gainline, Burns has established himself as the Cherry and Whites’ master of ceremonies. And there can be little doubt that many visiting fans on Saturday will wish that this showman still wore blue, black and white.

This article first appeared in The Bath Chronicle, which this week contains interviews with Bath coach Mike Ford and players David Wilson and Dan Hipkiss in the build-up to the derby.

Bristol's Chris Booy - a sure-footed chairman in the itchy-footed world of pro sport

Things have been a tad quiet on here of late, for which I apologise. In mitigation, I can only plead time-poverty. Making the transition to freelancer has been demanding, especially when set against the domestic backdrop of the imminent arrival of child number three. Still, at least I'll soon have a complete frontrow at my disposal.

 

I spoke to Bristol chairman Chris Booy just before the new season kicked off to do a piece for The Rugby Paper. In it, Booy spoke about how promotion from the Championship wasn't "the be all and end all" for his club this season. With multi-millionaire financial services big-hitter Steve Lansdown now on board, Booy said the emphasis at the Memorial Ground was on building a squad that would be capable of staying in the Premiership once it got up there, rather than going up and down between divisions like the proverbial courtesan's negligee.

 

Well, with the start Bristol have had, it's a good job promotion isn't the be all and end all.

 

It's been pretty grim so far, with three defeats in their opening five Championship matches. Two of those losses have been at home, the latest a 22-21 reversal against Moseley.

 

But don't strike a line through Bristol's promotion propects just yet. They have a phalanx of players due back from injury, and I liked the cut of  Booy's jib when I spoke to him back in late August. Measured, grounded and pragmatic, I think Booy's chairmanship, buttressed by Lansdown's deep pockets, will make Bristol a force to be reckoned with over the medium term.

 

“Getting promoted is not the be all and end all,” he told me. “We can go again. When we win the Championship, we want to make sure we stay in the Premiership. We don’t want the yo-yoing that we’ve had previously. That was down to financial instability and we don’t have that now. The plan is to build so that when we do get our prize we stay in the Premiership. We are in for the long-term. We are in the best place that the club has been in for a long time."

 

Refreshingly, the level-headed Booy is the perfect antidote to the worryingly expanding breed of impatient, trigger-happy CEOs and chairmen who bin coaches at the first sign of trouble. (Sale's Steve Diamond springs to mind.) Instead of waving the metaphorical axe in head coach Liam Middleton's direction, Booy offers a sympathetic ear.

 

“The head coach position in all sport is a dreadful position," he said. "You have the pressure of the directors’ ambitions on you, and then underneath you have the whole club reliant on the direction you choose. It’s a lonely place to be.

 

“So we have set up a series of mentors and friends of the club so that Liam has that network to help him. We have a young coach and we’ve had conversations with him so he has the best support. You need to get it right.”

How enlightened an approach in this increasingly itchy-footed, cut-throat world of professional sport. But whether Booy will be so sympathetic if things don't pick up for Bristol over the next couple of months is, I suspect, quite another matter.