My Life in Rugby: Steve Hanley – former Sale and England wing

I must be the only person to have started a season playing junior rugby in the old Fourth Division (North) and then go on and represent every England age group side before being capped by the senior team – all in the space of six months.
The summer of 1998/99 was where things started to really happen for me. After missing out on selection for a couple of years, I was chosen to go on a shadow England U19 tour to Argentina. My overriding memory of that trip was the endless barbecues and putting on about three stone! Once back in the UK I continued to play for Aspatria, the club where my dad, now Cumbria RFU president, was heavily involved, whilst also training with Sale.
About two games into the season, I signed a professional contract with Sale and it wasn't long before I got my big opportunity – away to Leicester at Welford Road, because Tom Beim had hurt his shoulder in training. The game passed me by and I was dropped the following week.
But Tom got injured again and this time I seized my chance by scoring twice against Gloucester, who had Philippe Saint-Andre – my future boss – on the wing, in a TV game at Heywood Road. From that moment I cemented my place in the side and continued to score tries at a decent rate.
My form for Sale caught the eye of Sir Clive Woodward and I was drafted into his preliminary 36-man squad for the final Five Nations tournament. Suffice to say, my first senior international get-together was a sobering experience in the truest sense of the word.
Phil Greening, Barrie-Jon Mather, David Rees and I all arrived at the Petersham Hotel half-cut after John Mitchell, the Sale head coach and England forwards coach, had ordered us in for a meeting that morning following a defeat to London Scottish.
He put two kegs of beer in the room and told us we couldn't leave until it was all drunk. I'd had about 10 pints before hauling myself to the airport to catch the flight to London. Luckily Clive saw the funny side.
After playing in some ‘A' team games I was called up for the final and decisive game against Wales at Wembley – the one where Scott Gibbs broke our hearts. I'd had quite an eventful debut up that point anyway, scoring a try at the end of the first quarter and then getting smashed by Craig Quinnell. In the collision I suffered what turned out to be a hairline fracture to my wrist, but nothing short of a limb hanging off was going to make me leave the field.
Little did I know then that I was to get two caps on the same day – my first and last! Sadly, untimely injuries were to stand in my way from there on in. I was involved in the pre-World Cup training squad in '99 but dislocated my shoulder four days before the Test against Australia at the newly-built Olympic Stadium.
It happened training on an island and I had to be taken by speedboat back to the mainland to get it seen to. The water was quite choppy because a load of big yachts were out in the harbour in celebration of the Queen's birthday weekend and I felt every wave during the ten-minute journey.
Whilst my England days were short and sweet I continued to enjoy an extended run in the first team at Sale alongside my back three team-mates and friends, Mark Cueto and Jason Robinson. Sadly I missed the Premiership Final win in 2006, again because of injury, but I did play and score in the 2002 Parker Pen Shield Final against Pontypridd, which, I'd say, is my favourite day as a Sharks player. Indeed, I played my best rugby under Steve Diamond and Jim Mallinder. I had the utmost respect for them.
In 2008, I heeded medical advice and retired from rugby at the age of 29. I'd picked up a back injury in a game in Bayonne and things clearly weren't right.
Sale noticed I'd done a good job organising events for my testimonial and offered me a position with the commercial and community team. I've not looked back since. If someone had told me as a 14-year-old I'd play ten seasons of Premiership rugby and be capped by England I'd have bitten their hand off.