Inside your Rugby Journal Weekly #4

Hal Cruttenden’s Rugby Life

Predictions for the weekend

WIN Copies of The Flying Prince: Alexander Obolensky

Ghost Grounds #4 Brierton Lane 1970 – 1999

From the archives: Ellis Genge & Mui Thomas

The former London Welsh mini, once praised by a Lions legend for his passing, is now better known for his comedy, his passion for Saracens and telling Ugo Monye he wasn’t very good at rugby. 

Hal Cruttenden shares the story of his rugby life...

I’m a Johnny-come-lately, glory-hunting nightmare. I came late to Saracens, watching my first game in about 2005. But I used to go to all the internationals with my dad from when I was ten, so most of the eighties I was going to see England.

I played at London Welsh and at school, but I have knees that are chronic. My knee caps aren’t stable, and I had to have about three operations. So I retired at sixteen with my knee caps around the side of my leg and it does make me really sad.

I threw one really good pass. I was at London Welsh, and I had good and bad seasons, I was great when I was twelve and thirteen, rubbish when I was fourteen, rubbish again at fifteen. One thing I always quote, and this is pathetic, but John Dawes saw me playing at thirteen and said that was the best pass I’ve seen from a kid that age. He said that to my dad, and he was ‘wow’, and was really hopeful, but I had kneecaps that wouldn’t stay in my sockets.

My fly-half was Neil Kinnock’s son. I don’t know why I played for London Welsh as I had no connections and I was the only England supporter, I think I’ve got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about Wales because of all the ribbing at a young age. But Stephen Kinnock was my fly-half back then, he was Neil Kinnock’s son, so we’d go and play games and people would say ‘why is the Labour leader watching our game?’.

I feel guilty about achieving nothing at rugby. I always feel slightly ashamed that I don’t  play, I asked Nick Mullins the other day, ‘were you rubbish at rugby?’ He said, ‘yeah I’m terrible, I finished at eighteen or nineteen’. But I feel guilty about having done nothing, yet I can look at Danny Cipriani and criticise him for jumping out of tackles, yet that’s exactly what I used to do!

I was five when I went to my first international. I’ve still got the programme and it was 1975, England v Scotland, I think it was 7-7, no it was 7-6, we won! And the England flanker that day, Dave Rollitt ended up teaching me maths at O-level. That excitement though, I absolutely loved it, my dad got me totally hooked on it. And tries were so rare, that excitement of the crowd rising, stays with me. I think that’s why we all love sport, because we’re hooked on those childhood memories.

I stopped going to rugby when my dad died. It’s quite psychological, but he passed away when he was younger than I am now, in 1990, and he’d been so involved at London Welsh, they were his mid-life crisis and, because of him, and that connection, I didn’t see a live rugby match for about fifteen years. I did watch on tv, but I didn’t go to a game until 2005 and Saracens. 

Saracens became my mid-life crisis. You start loving the club and the players too much, and get too excited if they follow you on Twitter. I moved to north London and some of the dads of the kids at school got me to a game. It was Gloucester and the fans were pretty mean. I find them really annoying, they think they’re funny, but they’re just rude. 

I’m still a bit old school though, I don’t like people cheering other people’s mistakes. Although people were rude in the old days too, they still booed kickers in Paris or Cardiff – if it was the English – but I’ve always been one to applaud the opposition on and off. I’ve still got my dad’s manners ringing in my ears. 

I found the abuse quite hard to deal with around the salary cap. Sarries get so much abuse, and there’s all this pontificating nonsense as if all us were rubbing our hands, thinking ‘oh, we’re getting away with this’. It really annoys me.

Charlie Hodgson was my daughter’s favourite player. She loved him. And for me Schalk Brits was one of my favourites, I loved that guy. I remember watching him after a game running around smiling. I loved the way he played rugby, but I loved how he was so happy. I said to him once, ‘you play one of the toughest positions in rugby, yet you’re always smiling?’ And he said: ‘the only thing bad about this life is injuries, what’s there not to smile about? You’re playing rugby for fun!’.

I've always underestimated Vincent Koch because he doesn't look mean enough. He's got such a nice face, a lovely face and I always think I’m surprised when I realise he's a really good player. If he looked uglier or had that psycho look like Joe Marler, you know that dangerous edge. But I’m that shallow, that because he looks so friendly, I think I’d like to pack down against Vincent Koch. 

I think Exeter are a lovely club and I love some of their players. I love people like Jack Nowell, he’s a brilliant a player, although I don’t want to like Sam Simmonds because he’s taken Billy Vunipola’s place in the squad. It’s actually Worcester Warriors fans that make the nastiest comments to me on Twitter, because I made too many jokes about them being rubbish last season.

I want Leicester to be good. I’m glad they’re back. Traditionally I wanted to beat them, because they were good, but it wasn’t the same when they were rubbish. I grew up in a world where Leicester were good at rugby, Liverpool were good at football, the All Blacks were the best in the world in rugby, and Brazil were the best football team in the world. I want Leicester to be a top four team now because it’s traditional, even if we beat them! I’m very fond of Bath too, I kind of feel sorry for them. Oh my god isn’t that the worse thing? When a rival fan feels pity for you!

Richard Hill has an aura about him. I was completely in awe of him when I met for the first time. Every time he got injured, the Lions lost a game. He was such a great player, probably one of my favourites. And from today’s team, I really like the players that have been loyal to the club and perhaps don’t get enough credit, like Jackson Wray and Rotimi Segun, I really like him too, he’s coming on and really exciting players. You love those players, the ones that aren’t big, flash internationals but are really important to your club. 

Chris Oti did the survey on my house. He got injured and retired early but when he got the ball at Twickenham, he was the one that made the crowd hold their breath, he was so exciting. Years later, I had to get a survey on my house, and they said your chartered surveyor would be Chris Oti, and I thought, ‘it can’t be’, but it was and when he arrived the poor sod had me around the house, going I remember when you scored four tries against Romania. I love those players that get you so excited when they touch the ball.

I’m glad I have the excuse of dodgy knees because I’m far too sensitive to be a good rugby player. So many players say they actually love being hated, Ugo Monye told me he loved those away games when they're booing you as you run. But I find it really sad. I remember doing a piece to camera at the Quins game recently and I went up to one Quins fan to ask him what he thought and he said, ‘honestly, what I think about Saracens isn’t suitable for Quins’. I wanted to say, ‘you stupid prick, grow up, people love having the baddie that makes them feel so right about everything’. We weren’t winning finals by fifty points, it was all close, and as for Munster, Leinster fans having a go, oh please, shut up, you’re not even under the same rules, you’ve got a massive advantage... So, yeah, I get angry about that.

Ugo Monye is the nicest man. He knows the game really well and then you have idiots like me and Andrew Maxwell trying to take the piss out of him. We’ve also got Mike Bubbins, he knows a lot, but for me and Andrew, who said, ‘I’ve got real imposter here’. Ugo is nicest man though, I have a running gag about him not being that good, which is so unfair. He’s a British & Irish Lion! Yet my constant joke is ‘yeah, you weren’t that good’.

I’m a middle-aged man living my dream. I’m like a little kid surrounded by all my heroes. If my dad was alive, he’d be going ‘wow, you’re meeting all these guys...’. When you chat to someone like Kelly Brown, and he’s sort of become a mate, and you’ve got to keep that part of it, the bit where you think ‘oh my god Kelly, I think you’re fantastic’. But you are just so impressed by what these men have achieved. And the women too. I love Marlie Packer as a player, just really down-to-earth. But brilliant.

This weekend’s winners chosen by Hal Cruttenden 

Last week’s predictions

How did TV presenter Gethin Jones get on?

Gethin said: Barbarians 32-15 South Africa (women)
What happened: 60-5

Gethin said: Barbarians 38-22 Samoa (men)
What happened: Match cancelled

Gethin said: Connacht 20-10 Ospreys
What happened: 46-18

Gethin said: Bath 12-25 Exeter Chiefs
What happened: 16-23

Gethin said: Sharks 28-21 Scarlets
What happened: Match postponed

Gethin said: Lions 18-25 Cardiff
What happened: Match postponed

Verdict: 3/3. Failed to predict the cancelled matches, but chose the right winner from the three that took place, great effort Gethin, but may need to predict three more games to lose the asterisk next to his place at the top of the table.

The Pundit Championship

1. Gethin Jones*
2. Pierre Koffman 
3. Mike Bubbins

*Only three valid results.

WIN Copies of The Flying Prince: Alexander Obolensky

This brilliant new book by renowned rugby journalist Hugh Godwin tells the epic tale of one of English rugby’s most legendary players. A Russian prince who cut a dash at Twickenham for England and Oxford University and wore the colours of Rosslyn Park before losing his life as a pilot during World War Two.

We have three copies to be won.
Enter the competition, via
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Ghost Grounds #4
Brierton Lane 1970 – 1999

When the final whistle went in West Hartlepool’s 11-10 win against London Scottish in April 1998 little did any of those watching know it would be the home side’s last game there. Fewer still, could have imagined that twenty years later there would be sixty houses on the site.

Brierton Lane wasn’t West’s first home, it was their third. In 1886, West purchased a former Limestone Quarry from the Northeast Railway Company and developed Victoria Park where they played there until 1908 when the rugby club was disbanded in favour of Association Football. That side went on to become became Hartlepool United Football Club although, ironically, it was Victoria Park that West Hartlepool returned to play Premiership games in 1998/99.

After a few years of ambiguity, West returned to rugby and moved next door to what was called the Hartlepool Stadium but later became known as the Greyhound Stadium, where they stayed until 1970.

Brierton Lane was officially opened on 1st September 1970 by then RFU President Bill Ramsay and was commemorated by a game between West and a Dolphins select side.

The next 29 years saw virtually every senior club in the country visit Brierton Lane, as well as many international sides. 

The introduction of the national knockout cup is regarded as the main reason that West made such rapid progress from one of a number of Durham sides of similar ability to one of the most prominent sides in the north.

West won the Durham County Cup the season before the move to Brierton Lane, and this gained them entry into the national cup, where they came to the attention of fixture secretaries up and down the country.

Very much a side of home-grown talent, West would get four sides out each week at the height of their success. The players were familiar to all – Boyd, Robinson, Cook – followed by Dixon, Stabler, Oliphant – and led the team into league and cup successes. 

It also brought in international players – the Whetton brothers from New Zealand were a formidable pair and went on to play a part in the All Blacks first Rugby World Cup win – and the 1990s saw the arrival of Derrick Patterson and Rob Wainwright, followed by an influx of Welsh Players led by the Welsh Wizard Mark Ring.

The last side to grace the Brierton Lane pitch was a fully international one – Mike Brewer, the former All Black, was appointed director of rugby and put together a side of fellow Kiwis, together with players of Italian, French, Samoan and Tongan descent. 

But West’s success may also have been its downfall. Brierton Lane wouldn’t have met the safety regulations required for Premiership Rugby and, with its position in the middle of a housing estate, it was unlikely that planning permission would have been granted if the improvements had been possible.

As a result, West departed for Victoria Park and Brierton Lane was lost, sold for development. Brierton Lane was loved by home and visiting supporters alike, an old-style ground in an era where stadiums were becoming the norm. 

It was also the place where many a romance was forged at a Sunday night disco that is legendary. “What had the later generations lost?”, thought many a fan. 

We will never know what might have been if West hadn’t been promoted that year, would Brierton Lane still be West’s home or was its demise inevitable due to its position?

By  Kathryn Waites

From the archives
Ellis Genge

Flicking rainbow candy from bracelets at the back of the class, Ellis Genge was ‘such a prick’ at school, and owes so many people a ‘proper apology’. But the man who looks set to be key for England’s future is making amends.

From the archives
Mui Thomas

Her skin grows fourteen times faster than everyone else and doctors didn’t expect her to survive infancy, yet the Hong Kong rugby official is still going strong and inspiring thousands.