I’m happy to play anywhere in the world, says Neild

By NEIL FISSLER

Waiting: Cameron Neild

Cam Neild is still waiting for his agent to phone with news of his next job.

Neild, 28, unlike 18 of his former team-mates, is still looking for a new club following the demise of Worcester Warriors three weeks ago but remains optimistic that something will come along soon.

The flanker is back home in Manchester with school teacher Victoria whom he wakes up at the crack of dawn for a gym session before he runs around a rugby pitch next door.

Unemployed for the first time in his working life, he says he is willing to move anywhere in the world for his next club.

“Since we got the winding up notice, I have tried to put myself into a pre-season training schedule and phoning my agent every single day,” he says.

“I am training hard, waiting for whoever needs me. I’m ready to go. I just want to get back on the horse. I feel like I’m in the prime of my career. I feel the fittest I have ever felt and am in the best shape of my career. I’m just desperate to get back to doing what I do.

“My agent Matt Ginvert is brilliant. He is doing a great job looking around. I’ve got a brilliant CV, so I am not worried because I feel like I have done everything the right way.

“It is solely the opportunity that I am waiting for. I don’t mind where I play next, England, Wales, Scotland, France or Japan. It doesn’t matter. I just want to play rugby.”

In March, he and Sale Sharks team-mate Curtis Langdon became Steve Diamond’s first signings in what was supposed to be the start of his Warriors rebuild.

The former England U20 international started all three of the Warriors Premiership games before they were liquidated and has no regrets about leaving Sale after 135 games.

“I had nine great years at Sale that I loved and moved to Worcester in the hope of helping them climb the table,” he says. “And I was loving it at Worcester.

“I was living in a flat with Curtis and I was really enjoying it. I honestly feel that the move was the right thing for me. I was 27, coming into the prime of my career, and felt that I needed to play more.

“The move was the right thing for me at the time, so I don’t regret it – it’s just disappointing the way that it’s gone,” he adds.

Neild says it has taken time for the Warriors demise to sink in.

“At the time, it seemed obvious to everyone but us,” he says. “It didn’t feel like it was going to be the end. We were just focusing on playing the best rugby we could. Stupidly, I had the belief that it would sort itself out being Worcester Warriors, a massive club in the Premiership. It’s not happened since Richmond.

“Playing the sport professionally, I didn’t think it could happen, but it can.

“It took a while for the penny to drop that I didn’t have a job. It’s more than a job to me – Ilove what I do. And you take it for granted, turning up every day and doing what you love to do.

“When I get the next opportunity, I will be looking to take it with both hands.”