My Life in Rugby with Stu Turner: ‘I thought England call was a wind-up’
WHEN Andy Robinson rang to say I was in the England squad for the 2006 Autumn Internationals, I thought it was a wind-up and I didn't tell anyone so not to embarrass myself. I was convinced it was a mate of mine doing an impression of Robbo and it was only when it was announced on Teletext that I believed it. I'd been on Churchill Cup tours the two previous years but I thought that was it, I'd reached my peak, so it came as a massive shock.
As it happened, I was still waiting for my first cap into the New Year because I'd been named on the bench for two of the Autumn Internationals but didn't get on. I thought that was my chance gone because Phil Vickery had come back in and I was left out of the initial squad for the Six Nations the following year.
I have Jason Hobson to thank for my call-up as he knocked Phil out in training and because he had to go through his concussion protocols, I was pulled in for the France game. I was due to go on right near the end but much to my frustration, the touch judge said there wasn't enough time.
Three games at Twickenham, three games left on the bench. I was getting splinters by this stage and thought that would be it. But Phil didn't make it back in time for the final game against Wales and I got on for six minutes. Everyone was a bit down because we lost but I was pleased on a personal note to have finally got that elusive first cap.
Due to their involvement in European finals, players from Leicester, Wasps and Bath couldn't be selected for the summer tour to South Africa and I was the next cab on the rank. It was always going to be tough playing at altitude against the best side in the world, even with a full strength side let alone a depleted one and we lost both Tests but we went pretty well in the scrum and I enjoyed it.
Unfortunately I didn't make it to the World Cup later that year but I never expected to get near one cap let alone end up with three.
All my club rugby was played in the north apart from half a season at Worcester after Orrell had run into financial difficulties. That year they'd recruited from Gloucester and Moseley and there were a lot of lads coming across from Wales so it was a bit fragmented. It was different at Rotherham, where I ended up going the following year. Other than a few exceptions like myself, the squad was largely made up of homegrown Yorkshire players and we were a very social bunch.
I played with some great characters throughout my career and John Dudley was definitely one of them. He had been an ever-present in Rotherham's climb through the leagues and I think he was Division 2 player of the year the season we got promoted to the Premiership. He used to have a pie and a pint in the bar before games and then roll into the changing room 10 minutes before kick-off, after we'd done our warm-up, put his kit on and then go out and tear up a storm.
Afterwards, he'd sit in the changing room and have a fag. He could get away with it because he was an unbelievable physical specimen. I believe he still plays now on the vets circuit.
We struggled in the Premiership but we did well in the European Shield which showed the potential we had as a group, especially up front. To win in France was something you'd never expect to do whilst at Rotherham but we beat Grenoble and Perpignan, who had players like Thierry Lacroix playing for them, in their own backyard.
When Sale came in for me it was a great opportunity to be closer to home in the north west and to also join a squad that promised great things under Jim Mallinder and Steve Diamond. Within one season, Sale went from third-from-bottom in the Premiership to second place, their highest position ever, as well as winning the Parker Pen European Shield.
We didn't have the best facilities, we trained on a school field and had to drive back to Heywood Road to get showered. But we had a superb team spirit and Alex Sanderson was captain and had a big part to play in that. He was full-on, fully into it, and you couldn't help but be motivated by him. We started the season really well and that carried on through. I think I started every game up until the end of February. In Europe, we won all nine games, defeating Pontypridd in the final in Oxford. It was an amazing season.
With Nick Johnston, our new conditioner, beasting us on the sand dunes in Formby, where I'm from, we got even fitter and that plus the arrival of our French and Argentinian contingent made us even stronger. We won the Challenge Cup again and then, best of all, the Premiership in 2006 by beating Leicester at Twickenham. I was up against Graham Rowntree at first in my preferred position of tighthead but then I swapped to loosehead to finish the game and played against Julian White.
I was lucky in some regards that I was able to train against Andrew Sheridan most weeks so by the time you got to the weekend you were pretty battle hardened but to play out-of-position against one of the world's best tightheads was pretty tough. Luckily, the game had been won by then.
A few years later my time at Sale had run its course. I was 37/38 and they brought in Jack Forster, the young England A prop who was at the start of his career. I did continue playing for a bit in Nat 2 North with Caldy as player-coach.
After that, I had a couple of years off and then re-joined Waterloo, my first club, as head coach. I did that for four years before stepping down to become forwards coach. I've got a lad in the U11s team at the club, which is when I first pulled on the Waterloo jersey, so that makes me feel very old!
