My Life in Rugby: Mark Regan – former Bath, Leeds, Bristol, England and Lions hooker

Mark ReganThroughout my career I always played for the name on the front of the jersey not on the back and gave 100 per cent every time I took the field. As a player I let my rugby do the talking – although a few choice words to an opponent never went amiss.
I particularly enjoyed giving the Aussie lads some banter during the 2007 World Cup quarter-final, when we destroyed them in the scrum. We actually conceded the first two penalties and Matt Dunning was full of it. I said: “Oi, Lala (as in the fat yellow Tellytubby) pipe down.” I remember John Smit, the South African captain, saying to me that I'd spoken more to him in two matches than his wife had in ten years. But that's just me – I don't give up or make life easy for anyone on that field … I've never given up or caved in.
In that match in Marseille it was great to get one over on Michael Foley, the Australia scrum coach, who forced me out at . He was saying beforehand I'd only been picked as a statement of intent and was telling the ref to keep an eye out for any foul play. I don't know where he came to that conclusion because I always regarded myself as the ‘Gary Lineker of Rugby'– I'd never been sent off.
Getting through to the final that year was unbelievable. I'd had two-and-a-half-years in self-imposed international wilderness after an altercation with Andy Robinson and it was only when Brian Ashton took charge of the national team that I put myself forward for selection again.
By that time I was back at Bristol, for a second spell at my hometown club. In 1997 I moved to Bath, who paid a £100,000 transfer fee, and a section of Bristol supporters never forgave me for that, although plenty had changed allegiance before and since. I remember reading fans' comments on websites saying that I was “over the hill” and only going back to the club for a pension fund. I loved proving those people wrong and helping Bristol to reach the play-offs.
With Bath I won the , definitely a club career highlight. Another was actually against Bath, when Leeds, who I'd joined after my fall-out with Robinson, shocked everyone by winning the 2005 Powergen Cup Final. Bath had been talking about how they'd never lost a cup final at Twickenham before, and people were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with: Bath, Powergen Cup winners. We were really up for it and mentally in the zone. It was great to have played a part in the finest chapter in Leeds' history. The celebration went on for days and I've still got the ribbons from the cup, I wore them around my head at training for a couple of days and now they're in my trophy cabinet.
I'd joined Leeds for a lot less money than was being offered by , A conversation with Clive Woodward persuaded me that moving to France might be foolhardy. He basically spelled it out that if I went there my career would be over. With one year to go before the 2003 World Cup that wasn't something I was prepared to sacrifice.
For England, being a part of two World Cup squads was obviously special, and I always enjoyed beating and France. France coach Marc Lievremont once called me a “grotesque clown” after we beat them 24-13 in Paris in 2008 and I'd been in Dimitri Szarzewski's face all day.
It was a proud moment when I was capped for the Lions, in the final Test on the 1997 tour of , and captaining the against South Africa is something I'll always treasure, too. It cost me a few quid to play in that game, after I'd been fined for breaking Premiership Rugby rules, but it was definitely worth it. I'd lost to the four times before so it was great to finally get one over on them.
Amid all of that, I was awarded an MBE and met the Queen: not bad for a lad who started out playing rugby at the age of eight at Keynsham Rugby Club. Nowadays, as well as my business interests – I'm a shareholder in Olive Media, who sponsor Bath, a regular on the after-dinner speaking circuit where one tells all – I coach RFC.

Leave a Comment