My Life in Rugby: Olly Kohn – former Harlequins, Bristol, Plymouth and Wales lock

First and foremost, I feel lucky to have been involved in what felt like a golden era for Quins. Conor O’Shea had come in a few years after I’d joined from Bristol and really turned the culture around. Success quickly followed. We won the European Challenge Cup, the Premiership and the LV in consecutive seasons between 2011 and 2013.
The Amlin was the first trophy to be won. Gonzo (Camacho) scored with three minutes left and Nick Evans nailed the conversion for a 19-18 win. We celebrated with an all-nighter in Cardiff. Trouble was, I had a wedding the next day and felt horrific!
The following season our self-belief grew and grew and a try from a driving lineout on the last play saw us beat Northampton to book our place in the Premiership final against Leicester.
I’ll never forget walking through the guard of honour from our fans all the way from the changing room at the Stoop to Twickenham. We felt two foot taller and didn’t believe we could be beaten
It went right down to the wire, though! The following year we beat Sale to win the LV Cup. Unfortunately, I wasn’t available to play because I’d torn my hamstring on Wales duty a month before.
My international career amounted to one cap, as a replacement in the opening game of the 2013 Six Nations against Ireland. We lost the game but went on to win the title after thrashing England at the Millennium. The England boys at Harlequins rightfully gave me a lot of banter for my contribution – a whole eight minutes!
I have Dave Ward to thank for my Wales call-up in the first place. He started a Twitter campaign, #KohnforWales, and Ugo Monye, who had lots more followers than him at the time re-tweeted it and it snowballed from there. No sooner had I dug out my grandfather’s birth certificate, I was training with Wales; it all happened so fast.
The Wales boys made me feel really welcome from the off. By then I’d started up my JollyHog sausage-making business and one of the lads had written, ‘We love you’, in bangers, outside my hotel room door. I was immensely proud to play for Wales and it was gutting to get injured in the team run before the France game.
I managed to get back on the field for the last few months of the season, which ended with defeat to Leicester in the Premiership semi-final. I didn’t know it at the time but that was also to be the last game of my career.
I was old and battered and my surgeon told me, “enough is enough,” as soon as I came round from a shoulder op. I was 32 and, with nearly 150 games for Quins under my belt, I’d had a good innings. I also enjoyed my two spells at Bristol, where we won promotion to the Premiership under Richard Hill and the season I spent with Plymouth.
JollyHog has a food stall at the Stoop so I’m still in and around the game and mixing with the lads at Quins. I’m grateful for the help they give me in promoting the business, which now has six full-time employees.
Joe Marler got us loads of publicity when he had ‘JollyHog Sausages’ shaved on both sides of his head for the Big Game at Twickenham. I didn’t want him to do it – he was only 20 and I didn’t want to feel responsible if he’d had a bad game in front of 70,000 people.
No-one knew on matchday as he turned up in a beanie and then put on a scrum cap. However, all was revealed when he ran out and threw his scrum cap to one side.
It worked a treat in terms of publicity until we clashed heads and he had to have his bandaged! I’m proud of what he’s gone on to achieve in the game, and how well our business has turned out, too.
*As told to Jon Newcombe