My Life in Rugby: Luke Sheriff – former Nottingham, Harlequins, Oxford and England Sevens flanker

It was great to be back amongst friends at Meadow Lane the other week for Nottingham’s 136th and final Champion- ship match at the football ground. It reminded me how lucky I was to play there and some of the good times we had in difficult financial circumstances. In my day, I felt we had a similar team in quality to Exeter, who we finished joint second with behind Northampton in the 2007/08 season. The only difference was they had backing off the pitch whereas we didn’t.
Glenn Delaney, the coach, had a great knack of recruiting players who were hungry and ready to get their careers back on track. A lot of the lads – especially the Kiwi core of Craig Hammond, Joe Duffey and Tim Molenaar – didn’t take to me initially when I signed from Harlequins in 2007.
I think they thought I was some sort of champagne-swilling City type who wasn’t tough enough or in it for the long haul. As part of the blooding-in process I was singled out for a few scraps in the first couple of months. Slowly but surely I won them over. The infamous drinking sessions in the Lady Bay Portakabin certainly helped.
I’m proud to have played over 100 times for the club, which I still hold a real affinity for, and to have scored in a record 17 consecutive matches. My only regret from my time with Nottingham is that we fell at the final hurdle in a bid to get to a Twickenham final, having lost an EDF Trophy home semi-final to Leeds in the 11th-minute of injury time. To get there would have been just reward for all the hard work put in by a talented group of guys who sacrificed a lot during some lean times.
I went to Nottingham to get more regular rugby having been in and out of the side throughout my time at Harlequins. I joined Quins after taking a gap year following my degree at Oxford University, where I got three Rugby Blues.
Scoring against Jonny Wilkinson’s Newcastle in my second start in the Premiership was one of many standout memories. I’ll never forget playing for Quins against Munster in a big Heineken Cup-tie at Twickenham nor winning what was then called the Parker Pen Challenge Cup in 2004 – even though the evening celebrations were every bit as good as the game against Montferrand, which we won 27-26. Simon Keogh, our match-winner, decided to try to drink Jason Leonard under the table. As a 5ft 7in winger this wasn’t perhaps the wisest of moves and half an hour in he realised the futility of the situation. By then it was too late!
With Collin Osborne’s A-team we won two league titles, playing an attractive brand of rugby. It’s good to see some of my team-mates then, the likes of Chris Robshaw, Mike Brown and Danny Care taking that adventurous style into the Premiership and being so successful with it. Everyone was mortified when Harlequins got relegated, but in the long run it turned out for the best as it enabled the club to rebuild.
My only other claim to fame in rugby – apart from playing England Sevens – is that I once rivalled Gavin Henson for being the most ‘orange’ man on the pitch. Let me explain … my wife had just started up a beauty business, called Pinks Boutique, and I’d agreed to have a spray tan as a bit of an experiment forgetting that we were live on Sky against Ospreys that week. To make matters worse I think I had dyed red hair at the time.
Now that I’ve retired from rugby, my involvement with Pinks is full-time. I help with the logistical side of the business whilst also during some massage and aromatherapy. And yes, I’m not ashamed to admit I have had a facial and a pedicure.
* As told to Jon Newcombe