My Life in Rugby: Ben Jonhston – former Saracens, Brive and England centre
It was pretty nerve-wracking, I’d never played in front of a packed-out Twickenham but in the end we managed to hang on for a win, 31-28.
I was on the bench but Will Greenwood took a knock. The coaches told me he’d try to last until half-time and see how he felt so I had about 15 minutes where I knew I’d be coming on.
I was quite nervous but once I got out there it felt like any other game, you were just out there and part of it and didn’t really have any time to think.
I’d made my debut in Argentina that summer in 2002 – an incredible experience, pretty hostile place when you’re out on the pitch and a tough place to go.
The funny thing is that although you feel it’s pretty intimidating out on the pitch and we probably aren’t that popular when it comes to sport, the rest of the time the people are great.
Off the back of that I got the chance against New Zealand but unfortunately injuries meant I didn’t get another shot.
Looking back it’s disappointing but I didn’t have the best luck on that side of things, with knocks that wouldn’t just keep me out for a couple of weeks, but more over a long period of time.
My first involvement with England was in 2000 when I toured South Africa. It was a team full of people I’d grown up watching, and I was still very young, only in my second season at Saracens.
But Clive Woodward had done a good job of making people realise it was a big squad, and not just a first team, so the guys were very welcoming.
I’d come down to Sarries a couple of years earlier after starting out up on the Wirral at St Anselm’s, the same school as Austin Healey and Simon Mason.
When I was doing my A Levels I played a season with Waterloo, and while I was there Saracens got in touch to ask me to play for them.
It worked well for me because I wanted to keep going with my studies, so I went to Brunel University at the same time and made the long trips across London.
I arrived just after Michael Lynagh and Philippe Sella had finished but you still had Francois Pienaar, Richard Hill and Kyran Bracken.
And I got to play alongside Tim Horan a bit later on, which was brilliant for Kevin Sorrell and myself coming through. He was great, really laid-back and obviously getting towards the end of his career, and it was good fun while he was there.
I spent nearly a decade at Sarries before getting the chance to head out to France. I’d had a few injuries and at one point thought I might even have to retire so I couldn’t let the opportunity pass.
I went out to Brive, which is a real rugby town, and although the set-up probably wasn’t as professional at the time as it is now, it was a great style of rugby.
We had a good mix of guys out there, with people from all over, including the likes of Ben Cohen , Steve Thompson and Andy Goode.
I stayed there for two years before getting the chance to come back and work as a player-coach at Nottingham.
That was tough at first but after my knee packed up and I made the switch to full-time coaching it’s become a little easier.
We’ve got into the Championship top four for the first time in a long while this year and are really looking forward to the semi-finals now.
