My Life in Rugby: Tim Payne – former Wasps, England and Lions prop

After brief spells at Bristol and then Cardiff I was very close to jacking rugby in and pursuing a career in the Army. But a week before I was due to sign on I had a phone call from Wasps and the rest, as they say, is history.
That first season was fantastic, as were the next six. I was in the matchday 22 every week and started both the Premiership and Heineken Cup finals and then got the first of my 22 caps for England on the summer tour to Australia.
Wasps were very professional, you had people pushing you constantly and that brought the best out of me. I wasn’t as strong as, say, Andrew Sheridan but my ‘X-factor’ was my work-rate and fitness around the pitch.
The 2004 Heineken Cup win against Toulouse was one of the top three highlights of my career, if not top. To win, in such dramatic circumstances, after what we’d been through together all year, was amazing.
Everyone had virtually written us off in Europe especially as we had to go to Perpignan and win just to make the quarters. We absolutely smashed them, 34-6. Fourteen Perpignan players were cited. It was a tough game but we had each others’ backs.
In the semi-final, we played Munster away, in front of 40-odd thousand Irishmen. It was sea of red and to come through that, when you’re behind with only minutes left and everyone is cheering against you, is a special quality to have as a group.
Then there were the Premiership titles wins over Leicester in 2005 and 2008. Lawrence Dallaglio gave a quite brilliant call-to-arms speech before the first final and again at half-time. Words can’t express what it meant. He knew how to get the best out of everyone. People like Warren Gatland, Craig White and Will Green were moving on but all week the talk had been about it being Martin Johnson and Neil Back’s last game.
I remember coming out the changing room feeling fit and good, I get goose bumps thinking about it now. I think we went 13-3 up and when Mark van Gisbergen came back from taking the kick I said him: “We’re going to thump these today.”
In 2008, Lawrence didn’t need to say much. It was his last game and we knew exactly what it meant to him and to us. Thankfully we delivered.
To go from such a successful period to struggling at the wrong end of the table in my last few years at the club was tough. In 2011, when Dai Young came in, we were in a relegation dogfight but, from a personal point of view, I was playing at the top of my game, probably because I’d had my first full pre-season for eight or nine years.
For the boys to dig in as they and keep us up, despite all the injuries, was probably on a par with some of our trophy-winning seasons in terms of the level of achievement. I really respect Dai for what he did that year.
From an international point of view, winning in Australia in 2010 was a special feeling and getting called up by the Lions in 2009, as an injury replacement for Euan Murray, was a dream come true. I was home recovering from a Saturday night out when I took the call and on Sunday I was on a flight out to South Africa. We probably should have won the series but we put the Lions back on the map.
I had a year left on my contract when I had to retire on medical grounds in 2013. I wouldn’t wish the neck problem I had on anyone. At first, I didn’t find the post-playing transition at all easy. You go from a very structured team environment, where everyone is very similarly minded, and then you’re left to find your own way. I floated about a bit and it’s only really now I know what path I want to take: strength and conditioning coaching.