My Life in Rugby: Kevin Barrett – former Exeter, London Irish, Saracens and England Sevens scum-half

Making my 100th league appearance for Exeter Chiefs has to rank up there as one of the proudest achievements of my career.
I had two spells at Sandy Park and had missed out on the celebrations the first time round because the year I left was the season the Chiefs finally got promoted the Premiership.
We had come so close during my time there, finishing second on two occasions, but I had moved on to Saracens when it finally happened.
So when I went back there for my last two seasons as a player it was fantastic, to be back at such a great club.
The Chiefs like to recognise 100 league appearances rather than 100 appearances in general so I had to wait a bit, but now my name is up on the board and I got a plaque as well. I’m so pleased with how far the club has progressed.
I came through the youth set-up at London Irish and was on the edge of the first-team set-up but I was not getting much of a look in. When I heard about the project going on at Exeter, with the move to Sandy Park, it did not take me long to get on board.
Midway through my first season Rob Baxter took over and the club has been moving on up ever since to where last season, my final campaign, we were going to places like Clermont and Leinster in the Heineken Cup.
Amazing really to think that I had dropped down a league to join them.
But when Saracens came calling in 2009 it was extremely hard to say no to them- Brendan Venter filled me in on the project they were building and I wanted to be a part of it.
They had some fantastic scrum-halves at the club at that time, Neil de Kock, Justin Marshall, Richard Wigglesworth so I did not get as much first team action as I’d have liked.
Another of my proudest moments was beating South Africa at Wembley. It was not their strongest side but they were the reigning world champions.
I was also spending a lot of time playing Sevens for England during that Saracens spell in my career, in fact I captained England in the 2009-10 HSBC Sevens series.
Sevens was something I always loved right back to my school days at Stonyhurst College and I had played off and on for England since making my debut back in 2002.
But 2009 was a great moment in my career. We won the Wellington Sevens that season with me skipper and it was the first time England had ever won there, so it was a proud moment for me.
I loved my time at Saracens and it was during my spell there that I got interested in the strength and conditioning side of things.
I had spoken to the CEO Ed Griffiths and despite leaving to finish my playing career at Exeter he had told me that there was a job waiting if I wanted it.
I was only 32 but I was ready to hang up the boots. I had done the course and got the qualifications at the University of Exeter and to be back at Saracens now is a real privilege.
They’re a club with a great family set-up and it is only going in the right direction.