My Life in Rugby: James Forrester – former Gloucester and England back-rower
Sadly, I made only one Test appearance for England at Twickenham, against Samoa in 2005 in what proved to be my second and final cap. Not getting more caps for England – or winning a major trophy with my one and only club Gloucester – are probably the only regrets I have from a playing career that was cut short by a bad knee injury in 2007.
By rights, I should have joined Northampton on leaving St Edward’s in Oxford instead of Gloucester but I slipped through the net and ended up at Kingsholm. Harlequins had invited me down to the Stoop but I didn’t really like the feel for the place, whereas I fell in love with Gloucester straightaway because of the passion the other U21 boys, mostly local lads, had for the club.
I managed to hit the ground running by scoring a try on my Premiership debut at the end of the 2000/01 season. The following year was a bit of a whirlwind; I got my first caps for England Sevens, England Under-21s and England A all within the space of a month. At the same time I was doing well with Gloucester scoring hat-tricks against Bristol and Caerphilly.
In 2002 I was part of the side that won the Powergen Cup. We beat a very good Northampton side in the final in front of a sell-out Twickenham, and the following year I scored a try against London Irish in extra-time to win the European Challenge Cup. I know I’m a bit biased but I think we played some of the best attacking rugby in the history of the Premier- ship during that two-year period. The pity was that we didn’t translate that into a league or major European title. It was devastating to lose ‘the miracle match’ against Munster, and equally so the 2003 Grand Final against Wasps. I was a spectator that day having had an operation on my wrist a few weeks earlier. The same injury cost me my place in the RWC 2003 training squad. As the teams ran out at Twickenham, I remember turning to Trevor Woodman, who was also sidelined, and saying, ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this’, and he agreed. We ended up being stuffed 39-3.
A few days after I’d retired I was privileged to fly out to Italy and be a part of the celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of a battle that my grandfather, Major-General Michael Forrester, played a key role in. He had helped save this small town near Naples from destruction, and with it countless lives. My family and I didn’t have to buy a meal all week. It was an unbelievable experience and a good one for me, mentally, coming as soon as it did after being told I wouldn’t be able to play rugby anymore.
As well as being a highly decorated solider he wasn’t a bad rugby player either, I’m told he played for Leicester, while my other grandfather, David Naylor, played for Bath and captained Coventry in their halcyon days and was very nearly capped by England. He died last year and when we went through his belongings we found several letters saying he was under consideration for a call-up. With a family background like this I suppose it was inevitable that I’d choose rugby over football. I wasn’t a bad centre back in my early teens and had trials for Oxford but I’d have never made it as a professional.
Now, I’m focused on my coaching. I’ve been in charge of two promotions as head coach of Singapore’s national team and I also coach the Wanderers club, who have won back-to-back league and cup doubles, in and around my business interests.
