My Life in Rugby: Andy Gomarsall – former Wasps, Bedford, Gloucester, Quins, Leeds & England scrum-half

I’ll never forget getting the phone call telling me I was in the final squad of 30 for RWC 2003. I knew from the outset that being first-choice was going to be ridiculously tough, but I ended up getting more opportunities than I’d originally thought through squad injuries, appearing against Georgia and Uruguay. Kyran Bracken went down with a bad back, and Matt Dawson sustained an injury, so suddenly, 30 minutes in, I was living the dream of playing in my first World Cup.
We came through everything that was thrown at us in Australia: no one could have anticipated Danny Grewcock breaking his toe against Georgia in the warm-up, the 16th man fiasco, and Samoa and Wales out-playing us with some brilliant rugby in the first half. Not making the 22 for the final was tough, but it was all about being ‘one team’ and Clive made sure the 30 of us were all included right the way through, a credit to the environment he created. As the dramatic conclusion unfolded on that famous night in Sydney, I remember whacking him on the back and telling him, ‘we’ve got this’! I think every person in the squad knew it was our destiny not to leave Oz without ‘Bill’ because we’d been through so much together, with Grand Slam loss after loss.
Post World Cup was tough. A lot had changed behind the scenes and everyone wanted to beat the world champs. My ultimate goal, after the euphoria of winning, was to make the next World Cup final and wear the No.9 jersey, and no-one could have written the story of how I’d get there.
From White Hart Marauders via Harlequins, I persuaded Brian Ashton I was worth another chance even though my knee was shot to bits. I remember not being able to walk let alone run when I was called off the bench in one of our 2007 World Cup warm-up games against France at Twickenham. Somehow adrenaline – and Barney Kenny’s DIY – got me through, and I even kicked a drop goal!
For me it was either change things quickly or go home the worst England rugby team in history after our 36-0 loss to South Africa two games into RWC 2007. A tough meeting led to the players being liberated to play the way we knew we could. This was an incredible turnaround and some of the most enjoyable rugby I’ve ever played, guided by Brian, a brilliant coach.
My long term roomie, Josh Lewsey scored that incredible try early on in the semi-final against France when I put through a grubber kick, full-back Damian Traille hesitated, and Josh powered through him to score a wonderful try. That gave us the confidence to go on and win the game against the host nation, having caught Australia cold in the quarters, an epic encounter in Marseille.
Again, there were ‘what ifs’ in the final against South Africa…what if Taity’s break, which came from my only bad pass in the tournament (sod’s law!), had led to a try for Mark Cueto, a foot in touch given, more like a nail! Losing the final on that one call re-emphasised just how tight the margins are in international rugby.
As well as playing in 35 Tests I loved my time in the Premiership – 202 appearances with seven different clubs, all told. Even the legend Pete Richards hasn’t had that many!
My career started at Wasps and they will always be my first love. While there, I won the Courage League title and the Tetley’s Bitter Cup and was capped with my mates that I had grown up with. A difference of opinion with a fitness coach led me to join Bedford, via a two-game loan spell at Bath. Fair play to Clive he still selected me while I was captain of Bedford, the town where I was educated, and even though we were relegated, I had a wonderful year with the club, inspired by the coaching of Paul Turner.
From there I spent five great years at Gloucester, initially under Philippe Saint-Andre and then Nigel Melville. We won the Powergen Cup, the Premiership play-offs and reached the Heineken Cup semi-finals. I got married and my twin girls were born in Gloucestershire, too, and I’m sure we will end up back there at some point.
I left for Worcester with all good intentions but it was a huge mistake and I fell out of love with the game I loved.  I found myself without a club until Harlequins called, for which I will always be eternally grateful. My last hurrah came at Leeds where Neil Back persuaded me, at the third time of asking, to return home to the north – I was born in Durham and played junior rugby at Doncaster – for one last season. I loved it and was proud to have played a part in helping the club stay up.
I’m so proud of the 16 years in rugby I enjoyed and thankful that I was able to stop of my own accord. I owe the game everything and I miss that buzz of the changing room knock before heading out with your mates to play. I now look forward to commentating with ITV at RWC 2015, it is so much easier than playing!
*As told to Jon Newcombe