My Life in Rugby: Martin Haag Nottingham head-coach
People look back and remember the end of the game when Jon Callard got the winning penalty but it was not a great match.
We’d played them in the group stages so we knew what they were like and as ever when you took on the French teams it was a real battle up front.
We fought it out and got over the line down in Bordeaux and it was part of a period of huge success at Bath.
I’d moved up from Cornwall at the end of the Eighties having played in the County Championship there, which was a much bigger deal then and it was from there that Bath spoke to me about joining.
They sorted me out with a job and I stayed there pretty much until I retired from playing.
I was lucky enough to earn a couple of caps in 1997 when England toured Argentina.
Federico Mendez was playing for us at Bath at the time so we knew a couple of the Argentine players we were up against.
It was a fantastic experience but a hugely tough place to go and play. We won the first Test and lost the second – but it was great to get that recognition.
It was the same summer that the Lions were going on which is why I got my chance. Of course, when some of those guys came back in it was always going to be difficult for me to keep my spot.
I have no regrets about it, and it was great to play for Bath during the years when they were so successful.
I kept playing for them until 2001 which is when I stopped at the top level. I did a few different things after that, being very involved with setting up the Bath academy with Alan Martinovic. It was a completely new experience for me and from there I was also involved in an RFU pilot scheme which had been set up.
I got the opportunity and really enjoyed it, it was a fun time and we got to set something up which has had a big impact.
I was still working for Bath but in 2003 when Bristol got relegated they asked me to come and work for them.
I couldn’t say No to that sort of opportunity and spent a really good four years with them. It was a great opportunity to progress and after that I got involved with England age groups.
In 2007 I went with the U18s to Australia with what was a very strong team. We had people like Calum Clark and Carl Fearns who are now both involved with England as well as a few others.
I went back to Bath for a year before returning to the RFU to work with the academies and the England U20s.
That was meant to be for three years but I ended up returning to Bath where I pretty much ended up as the forwards coach.
There was a lot of change at Bath over the summer and the opportunity at Nottingham came up for me. It was the first real head coach chance I’ve had and is a really exciting position to be taking up.
It’s obviously a big ask to take over from Glenn Delaney who had done a fantastic job but it’s one that I am relishing so far.
