Hendre Fourie: England have the right mix

James Haskell may favour playing in the seven shirt but former England openside Hendre Fourie believes the reason he’s playing his best rugby again for England is because he’s wearing six.
If it hadn’t been for a cruel career-ending shoulder injury Fourie could well be lining up next weekend for Stuart Lancaster‘s side having been told by his former Leeds boss that he was in contention to be his openside when the Cumbrian took over in 2012.
But Lady Luck was not looking kindly on the South African-born flanker who won eight caps in the 18 months before Lancaster taking charge. Instead, Chris Robshaw became the openside incumbent and although debate goes on in some quarters over the Harlequins flanker’s suitability at the top level, Fourie is in no doubt Lancaster has the right mix in his back-row.
Fourie, 35, told The Rugby Paper: “Robshaw does what he needs to do as an openside and I would keep him there; I think his leadership skills and the unseen work he does is invaluable – plus he won a few big steals against Wales.
“Hask (James Haskell) has really come through again and he’s doing well for Wasps and playing well at six for England which I think is his best position.
“Billy Vunipola is carrying really well, so the balance in the back-row is really good
“Dublin will be tough. When we were going for the Grand Slam in 2011 we were pumped in Dublin. I wasn’t in the team for that one though!
“But if they keep working for each other I’ve no doubt they’ll be successful this time.
“Beating Wales in Cardiff was massive and they will be confident going in. Stuart has set high standards on and off the field and the players respect that. They play for each other and that’s why they’ve been going so well.”
Fourie was stunned when the doctor told him to call time on his career in January 2013 after two failed operations to rectify a dislocation.
“It was just a normal dislocation and I thought it would be fine. But just before I was due to start playing again, the surgeon told me one of the screws that was stopping the bone from popping out had broken. I was stunned because I didn’t think a titanium screw would break.
“The second operation failed again and I was just really unlucky. I was looking forward to another two or three years and then maybe ending up playing in France but it didn’t happen that way.
“The most frustrating thing was England. Stuart Lancaster knew exactly what I could do and when he became coach he said to me he was looking for a real seven and I would be a contender for a position in the team but I never recovered.”
Injuries and early retirements are common ground in today’s professional climate but asked if he would have changed his abrasive, all-action style, Fourie adds: “I have no regrets whatsoever.
“If I did it all over again I’d play exactly the same way but maybe look after my body a bit better with prehab and rehab. But when you are playing you don’t want to do that bit extra because you’re tired.
“But you can probably prevent a couple of injuries by working on the smaller muscles, the stabilising muscles in your shoulders, knees and ankles – that would be the  only difference, working harder in the gym on my own.
“I would give that advice to young sevens as we’re the ones usually sticking our heads into the dangerous places – prehab is so important. The big muscles are for strength but the smaller stabilisers stop joints dislocating. And another thing – if you get a stinger, come off. You will only make it worse. If the muscle isn’t firing the chances of a dislocation are much higher.”
Fourie’s love for the game remains and he revealed he may come out of retirement in the not too distant future.
“I’m contemplating playing for my friend at Manchester at level 7 for a bit of fun and fitness. The shoulder is pretty decent now, although I threw a ball around the other day and my other shoulder was sore after that! But if I do play I want to be at the coalface again, in the mud getting stuck in – getting rounded by somebody on the wing would be worse than getting injured!”
His retirement invalidated his ‘sports people visa’ and he faced deportation despite living in England for eight years while playing for Rotherham and Leeds. But following a Twitter campaign from the rugby community, Fourie receiving a reprieve from the UK Border Agency.
“Luckily everything got sorted out in the end and I’ve been able to stay and keep working at Sale for their community foundation.
“My main job now is coaching and educating kids and I’m enjoying myself. It’s a great programme called Number Cruncherz run by Sale’s sponsors MBNA. We do half term rugby camps and in term time it’s a mixture of touch rugby and financial education for Year 7 girls and boys.  We teach them about the game’s core values, we play touch rugby and then take them to the AJ Bell Stadium to teach them about budgeting and making the right financial choices.
“Mum always told me to sort my academics out first because rugby can end at any time. So I did a PGCE in ICT having done a software development degree before that.
“I want to get more experience coaching kids and then see if I can get into a club team and see how far I can go in coaching.”