My Life in Rugby with Paul Jarvis: ‘Dream start with six tries at Twickenham’
530450304
The former Hartpury, Doncaster, Coventry and Darlington Mowden Park full-back talks about his life in the game
Not many players will be able to say they once scored six tries in a final at Twickenham but, for me, personal achievements and accolades were secondary to just going out and enjoying my rugby. However, the two often came as a consequence of the other, and I was lucky enough to be in sides that played good expansive rugby who also enjoyed a fair degree of success in terms of winning silverware and promotions.
I was coached at Newark RUFC by no less than Dusty Hare. Having started playing as a five-year-old at my hometown club, Boston, I'd moved across to Newark because they were the best team in the area and I was showing some promise. Dusty's son was in the same age-group as me, which is how it all came about. Dusty's a really nice bloke and we got on well and he actually came to see me play and talked to me a few times when he was scouting for Northampton and I was in the Championship with Doncaster.
Whilst I was at school, Hartpury College offered me a place but I deferred my first year to go to New Zealand on a gap year and did a season of club rugby out there first, on the South Island at Riwaka Rugby Club, near Nelson. It's where James Lowe is from, he was there when I was there. He loved a good time and was definitely one of the standouts. Rugby in New Zealand was different gravy. I was like, ‘what is going on here?'. Their love of rugby is wild. Within our whole league the furthest club away from us was 20 minutes, there were clubs everywhere. You'd have All Blacks dropping down to play a game of club rugby every now and again. In one game Chris Jack was in the opposition line up. I came back when my money ran out because I didn't fancy the job someone had found for me – picking fruit in an orchard.
I loved my four years at Hartpury, that really was the start of everything … of thinking there could be a future in this. We won BUCS trophies in my last year and we were promoted through the leagues every year I was there. It was in the final of the RFU Division 1 Championship at Twicken ham in 2010 that I scored the six tries. We put 70 points on Scunthorpe if I remember rightly. Allan Lewis was an unbelievable coach, he's the guy that lit the fire underneath me. We were allowed to express ourselves and he was one of those coaches who was always trying to raise you up, not tell you where you went wrong.
I ended up signing at Coventry after my student days were over, but I got injured in the first day of pre-season. I ruptured my groin and never played for them, which was a real shame. It was a really weird injury where no one could work out what was wrong. It was a difficult time and I moved back in with my parents while I thought about what I wanted to do next. After a while, I was able to jog around, pain free, and I played a couple of games for Boston and that led into a really good sevens season. I did a month's training with England Sevens on the back of that but then Ben Ryan lost his job as England 7s head coach and I was left with a choice, do I hang on for the new coach to offer me a contract or do I take Doncaster up on the offer they'd made me?
It was 2013/14 and Griff (Clive Griffiths) had just got there and was rebuilding the squad following relegation. I think I was one of 22 new players that came in. We grew as a unit and I think having the same group of boys season in, season out played a big part in the success we had. We clinched promotion from National One at Blackheath and went from strength to strength, finishing high up in the league most of the time I was there. Getting to the Championship final and beating Bristol down at their place in the second leg was probably the standout moment from my time there. Being chosen for the Championship Dream Team in back-to-back seasons was really nice, too.
There were a couple of things floating around in terms of interest from other clubs off the back of that but I ended up maybe being too loyal and stayed put. Griff is definitely one of a kind as a coach. I always got on really well with him, and embraced the chaos side of it all. At one stage the players basically banned him from the touchline because he was sounding off too much. He ended up on the clubhouse balcony. To be fair, he wasn't just shouting his mouth, it was because he was just so passionate about us getting better.
One potential option was a code switch, to Super League. It was when we had Paul Cooke as backs coach. He and the other coaches had a Rugby League background and they thought I'd do well in it because I was quite physical and would nearly always beat the first man running the ball back. It was one of those where I would have had to do a season-long loan in the RL Championship and a deal never materialised. In the end, I'm glad I stuck it out at Doncaster for six years.
I did eventually leave Donny at the end of the 2018/19 season. I had a two-year deal on the table if I wanted it but I was getting to the stage where I needed to think about life after rugby a bit. My girlfriend at the time was originally from Darlington and a move nearer to her parents was something we were keen to do so I sounded out DMP to see if they were able to offer me anything which thankfully they were able to do. I got a decent enough deal to go semi-pro and got some work in a school just outside Durham and I did two good years there. We had a young squad and some of the long bus trips were epic.
And now, here I am, coaching in Dubai at one of the three main schools out here, the Jumeirah English Speaking School (JESS). I got the job by chance really. A friend who is living in Dubai tipped me off about it and one thing led to another and I've been here since August. I'm also still playing a bit, too, for the Dubai Hurricanes. The school recently took part in the Rosslyn Park Sevens and overall, we did quite well. The seniors lost to the eventual champions, Rugby School, in the semi-finals of the Vase.
