My Life in Rugby: James Merriman – former Bristol, Gloucester and Wales Sevens flanker
We were written off before the tournament started in Dubai and the odds on us winning it drifted to 125-1 after we’d lost the first game to Argentina. Very few people would’ve had us down to beat Sevens kings New Zealand in the quarter-final.
Our squad had been together for two to three years and everyone knew their roles. We had to go through qualifying and win some tough matches in Denmark, Georgia and Germany and that stood us in good stead.
I was fortunate enough to get to play both forms of rugby to a high level. My only regret was that I never got a full cap. I captained the U21s but never managed to break through at senior level. Steve Hansen did call me up for a Six Nations training squad once but I tore my knee ligaments.
Apart from two seasons at Neath – in between my time at Gloucester and Bristol – all my senior club rugby was played in the West Country. As the son of a Pembrokeshire farmer it’s area that suited me well.
I ended up at Gloucester via Narberth RUFC, Greenhill School, Tenby and Llandovery 6th Form College. Sean Holley found me a place at Hartpury College and I joined the Gloucester academy. Nigel Melville gave me a professional contract and I played LV= Cup and A League rugby, with a handful of Premiership appearances thrown in, during my five years there. It was tough to break into the side because Andy Hazell and Jake Boer, two Gloucester legends, were regulars in the back row. Even so, I enjoyed my time and made some great friends such as Phil Vickery, who is a real gent with a big heart.
I was supposed to join Wasps from Gloucester but Lawrence Dallaglio decided to play for one more season which meant the back row vacancy didn’t exist anymore. Instead I went to Neath, where I caught the eye of John Brain who was at Bristol at the time.
When I joined Bristol it was one big happy family. Players like Darren Crompton ad Roy Winters had been there for years and it was easy to integrate. It was a real shame I never got to play in the Premiership with Bristol, especially as we came so close on a number of occasions.
I just hope they can overcome the bogey this year because Bristol is a great rugby city. They just look like they are in the wrong league at the minute; the investment going into the club is immense and everything is being geared towards being in the Premiership.
Sadly, I won’t be a part of it, because I had to retire eight months ago due to the state of my knee. I’m currently awaiting an operation where I’ll have a meniscus from a donor attached to my knee, which will help me in later life: at the moment it is just bone-on-bone. The club have kindly said they’ll support me through it all.
When you are playing you think you are invincible. You never think “This could be my last game”. For me it was away to Leeds in mid-January, a day after my 30th birthday. Jon Webb, the knee surgeon, broke the news to me. It was a crushing blow; my knees couldn’t take the punishment any more.
