My Life in Rugby

This is where you will find all of The Rugby Paper’s My Life in Rugby news, interviews, opinion and other content.

My Life in Rugby: Hugh William-Jones –former Wales & Llanelli prop

31 December 2013 1 comment

I was the first ever temporary blood replacement for Wales – against Italy in 1994 in a World Cup qualifier in Cardiff when Ricky Evans […]

My Life in Rugby: Peter Buxton – former Moseley, Newport, Gloucester & Bristol flanker

24 December 2013 0 comments

After I left school I went to Australia for eight months and played for a club called Brothers, in Brisbane – Elton Flatley was the […]

My Life in Rugby: Steve Booth – former Leicester and Bath wing

17 December 2013 0 comments

There are two major incidents that shaped my rugby career – first it was watching the 1994 Challenge Cup final and second it was getting […]

My Life in Rugby: Iain Fullarton – former Edinburgh, Sale, Saracens, London Scottish & Scotland lock

10 December 2013 0 comments

If I had stayed at Sale I might have won a Premiership two years later, but hindsight is a great thing. I don’t regret it […]

My Life in Rugby: Olly Morgan – former Gloucester & England full-back

3 December 2013 0 comments

Without having gone to Millfield School I probably wouldn’t have got to where I did in the professional game. It is a fantastic facility and […]

My Life in Rugby: Paul John: Wales Sevens coach

26 November 2013 0 comments

Players talk of regrets about ending their careers too early, but I have not missed it once since I stopped in 2005. Teaching, it was […]

My Life in Rugby: Dan Luger – World Cup winning England wing

19 November 2013 1 comment

I didn’t have many injuries but when they did happen they were quite big and seemed to come at unfortunate times, especially when it came […]

My Life in Rugby: Ceri Jones – former Newport, Quins, Worcester & Wales prop

12 November 2013 0 comments

My only start for Wales came as tighthead prop, but when you’re given the chance to play for your country, you play anywhere – I’d […]

My Life in Rugby: Sam Vesty – former Leicester, Bath & England utility back

5 November 2013 1 comment

One game that really sticks out was the 2009 Heineken Cup semi-final at Cardiff Blues where we were involved in the competition’s first-ever penalty shoot-out. […]

My Life in Rugby: Adrian Flavin – former London Irish and Connacht hooker

29 October 2013 1 comment

Although playing for London Irish and then Connacht, Leicester seem to pop up quite a lot over my career. I made my Exiles debut aged […]

My Life in Rugby: Craig Gillies – former Bath, Worcester and England lock

22 October 2013 0 comments

With 288 first team appearances over 11 years, there is no doubting Worcester Warriors are a team close to my heart. When I arrived in […]

My Life in Rugby: Anthony Buchanan – former Wales and Llanelli prop

15 October 2013 1 comment

The year Wales won the Triple Crown in the 1988 Six Nations I was called up while I was at work to play in the […]

My Life in Rugby: Chris Fortey – former Gloucester, Worcester and Hartpury hooker

8 October 2013 0 comments

I loved playing in the front row with my twin brother Lee at Worcester – it was always enjoyable and pretty entertaining when we got […]

My Life in Rugby: Kevin Barrett – former Exeter, London Irish, Saracens and England Sevens scum-half

1 October 2013 0 comments

Making my 100th league appearance for Exeter Chiefs has to rank up there as one of the proudest achievements of my career. I had two […]

My Life in Rugby: Andy Long – former Bath, Munster, Northampton & England hooker

24 September 2013 0 comments

I am very, very proud of my England debut in 1997 and what it meant to me and my family, but I probably wasn’t prepared […]

My Life in Rugby: Jamie Noon – former Newcastle, Brive and England centre

17 September 2013 0 comments

My defence was always good but my attack was sometimes questioned. But that’s what I did, I was known as a big tackler and I’m […]

My Life in Rugby: Bruce Douglas – Bristol and former Scotland & Worcester prop

10 September 2013 0 comments

They say props peak in their late 20s and early 30s but that was not the case with me. I’m immensely proud of my 43 […]

My Life in Rugby: Tom Shanklin – former London Welsh, Saracens, Cardiff and Wales centre

3 September 2013 1 comment

When I was 20 Clive Woodward tried to poach me for England and it actually led to my first Wales call-up. I was at Saracens, […]

My Life in Rugby: Andy Nicol – Former Bath, Glasgow & Scotland scrum-half

27 August 2013 0 comments

I am very lucky that there are two games that define my career. There is no doubt the greatest achievement was winning the Heineken Cup, […]

My Life in Rugby: Will Skinner – former Harlequins flanker

19 August 2013 0 comments

Even though the club has won the Premiership, LV= Cup and the Amlin Cup in its recent past, the games in Harlequins history everyone wants […]

My Life in Rugby: Leon Lloyd – former Leicester, Gloucester & England back

13 August 2013 2 comments

I got my first England cap in 2000 in Pretoria against South Africa. At the start of the tour I was a dirt tracker who […]

My Life in Rugby: Nnamdi Ezulike – former Leicester, London Irish, Worcester and England Sevens wing

30 July 2013 1 comment

Rugby was just one of the sports I was interested in and to be honest when I started out at Leicester the idea of getting […]

My Life in Rugby: Dan Hipkiss – former England, Bath and Leicester centre

23 July 2013 0 comments

Scoring the winning try for Leicester in the 2010 Premiership final is something I will never forget – you just see that reaction of everyone […]

My Life in Rugby: Leigh Hinton – former Dragons and Leeds full-back

18 July 2013 0 comments

My one season at Newport Gwent Dragons was tough but, looking back, it was the best thing that happened in my career. It made me […]

My Life in Rugby: Lee Mears – former Bath, England & Lions hooker

11 July 2013 0 comments

In 2009 waiting for the Lions announcement all I could think was I wish they’d name their teams like everyone else. The squad went from […]

My Life in Rugby: Sonny Parker – former Wales centre

4 July 2013 0 comments

I am where I am today because of Graham Henry and we still keep in regular contact – after all he’s the reason I ended […]

My Life in Rugby: Dewi Morris – Lions, England & Orwell scrum-half

27 June 2013 2 comments

The first name on my birth certificate is actually Colin – I’m sure if I’d have been called that all my life rather than Dewi […]

My Life in Rugby: Gordon Bulloch – former Lions, Scotland, Leeds and Glasgow hooker

13 June 2013 1 comment

I couldn’t believe when people thought I’d been in a fight with John Hayes on the 2005 Lions tour – I mean look at him, […]

My Life in Rugby: David Wallace – Lions, Ireland and Munster flanker

30 May 2013 0 comments

In the build-up to the 2009 Grand Slam we had a camp before the tournament just after Munster had played the All Blacks in a […]

My Life in Rugby: Arwal Thomas – former Wales, Neath and Bristol fly-half

23 May 2013 0 comments

My punch on Philippe Carbonneau is probably still the rugby moment most people ask me about and it’s even got to the stage where my […]

My Life in Rugby: Alex Brown – former Bristol, Gloucester and England lock

16 May 2013 1 comment

I won the Amlin Cup, the LV= Cup and finished top of the table at Gloucester but never getting a Premiership winners’ medal is a […]

My Life in Rugby: Ben Jonhston – former Saracens, Brive and England centre

9 May 2013 0 comments

I’d have loved to get more than two England caps but I was involved in a rare win over the All Blacks so I can’t […]

My Life in Rugby: Lee Beach – London Welsh and former Ospreys and Wales Sevens captain

2 May 2013 1 comment

We were in Dubai getting ready for the World Cup Sevens quarter-final in 2009 and Aled Thomas asked me how many pairs of boxer shorts […]

My Life in Rugby: Craig Newby – former Leicester and All Black flanker

25 April 2013 1 comment

The thing I loved most about the Tigers was that it was all about the Leicester way, we had the attitude of everyone hates us […]

My Life in Rugby: Dave Ellis – Defence coach with France, London Irish, Gloucester

18 April 2013 0 comments

I’ve since been told that the Six Nations game where Serge Betsen hounded Jonny Wilkinson in 2002 was one of the turning points in England […]

My Life in Rugby: Rob Henderson – former Ireland and Lions centre

11 April 2013 1 comment

My highest and lowest moments in rugby both started with a phonecall from Donal Lenihan. In 1999 he gave me the call to say I […]

My Life in Rugby: Dan Scarbrough – former England, Leeds, Saracens and Racing Metro full-back

4 April 2013 1 comment

I got my first cap in a World Cup warm-up game against Wales in 2003 knowing that I had one shot to be on the […]

My Life in Rugby: Glenn Gelderbloom – former Western Province, Leicester and Plymouth centre

28 March 2013 1 comment

I’ve got my wife Sacha to thank for two Heineken Cups and three Premiership titles because she convinced me when I was reluctant to join […]

My Life in Rugby: Mike Blair – Brive and former Scotland and Edinburgh scrum-half

21 March 2013 3 comments

I was a late call-up for the 2009 Lions in South Africa and never really felt I had the selectors’ backing. I’d been playing well […]

My Life in Rugby: David Barnes – former Bath and England Saxons prop

14 March 2013 0 comments

When I joined Bath in 2000 I don’t think they had ever lost a cup final – by the time I finished, we had lost […]

My Life in Rugby: Robert Jones – former Lions, Wasps and Swansea scrum-half

7 March 2013 0 comments

I had to do something to unsettle Wallaby captain Nick Farr-Jones in the second Lions Test now known as the ‘Battle of Ballymore’ in 1989 – and luckily I […]

My Life in Rugby: Spencer Brown – former Richmond, Bristol and England wing

28 February 2013 0 comments

The tour to Hell in 1998 should never have gone ahead. I was due to go only as back-up but ended up being thrown in […]

My Life in Rugby: Geordan Murphy – Leicester and former Lions and Ireland full-back

21 February 2013 0 comments

It doesn’t get much more nerve-wracking than standing under the posts as Stephen Jones takes a kick to deny you the Grand Slam. I was […]

My Life in Rugby: Lloyd Burns – former Cross Keys, Dragons and Wales hooker

14 February 2013 1 comment

If you’d told me in 2010 I could go to the following year’s World Cup as Wales‘ kit man I’d have bitten your arm off, […]

My Life in Rugby: Justin Bishop – former London Irish and Ireland winger

7 February 2013 0 comments

I scored twice in the Powergen Cup final London Irish won in 2002, but I’m still not sure what my celebration was for the second […]

My Life in Rugby: Carl Hogg – former Scotland and Melrose back-row

31 January 2013 0 comments

Scotland had won the Grand Slam in 1990 and the side that travelled to Australia for the Test series in 1992 was very much that […]

My Life in Rugby: Martyn Williams – former Lions, Wales, Cardiff and Pontypridd flanker

24 January 2013 0 comments

I have only two jerseys on the wall at home – Richie McCaw’s and the one I wore in Paris in 2005. No one expected […]

My Life in Rugby: Tony Diprose – former England Quins and Saracens No.8

17 January 2013 2 comments

Standing in front of nearly 30,000 Australians and having to speak after we had just lost 76-0 was a hugely tough experience, but I wouldn’t take it […]