Famous Sporting People - No 18 - Sam Warburton
Sam Warburton - a Welsh giant in the game of rugby
I first met Sam Warburton when he came as a guest speaker at the late, great Haverfordwest RFC ‘Pork Supper’ when he came along with his new agent and fellow Welsh international Derwyn Jones, who also spoke as I assumed my role as MC and asked both of them questions posed by current players and old-timers who still frequented the club.
He showed his ability to speak well as he spent some time explaining his rugby background, from his early school days in Cardiff through to playing club rugby and then for Wales, The British Lions and the Barbarians, all of whom he captained - and was really frank in his views of the WRU and the state of the game here.
Since then, Sam has become involved as a rugby pundit during international matches and afterwards in the studio analysis - and his cool, educated appraisal is a breath of fresh air from some of the older former players doing the rounds.
Saints meet Sam, George and WRU staff coaches for specialist help
Then I met him for a second time when I went with St Davids RFC for a training day at the superb WRU Headquarters in Hensol, near Llantrisant, just off Junction 34, where there were members of the support staff coaching team waiting to help them develop new skills - and joining them were then-current Welsh stars Sam Warburton and George North.
It was a part of an advertising scheme from a national brewing company for ‘The Welsh club team most needing expert coaching’, and club stalwarts Fintan Godwin, then the club coach, and Big Jack Dudley, entered The Saints, who were then bottom of their league table in the WRU set-up.
Amazing facilities at ‘Headquarters’!
Then I witnessed at The WRU headquarters what Welsh rugby should be about because he and George clearly enjoyed being involved, with George demonstrating the correct ways of defensive tackling and George showing one of his specialties in ‘The Jackal’ - the way to secure quality ball from an opponents’ possession by gaining a very strong position over the ball on the ground that earns the team a penalty.
Sam was so clear and concise in what he had to say and followed up with a demonstration where he assumed the ‘Jackal’ position over a player on the floor, holding the ball, and invited Saints’ players to move him off it - and a whole procession of players tried in vain to be able to say they had beaten the Saints’ skipper!
What was also brilliant was the way that Sam and George had great fun because while the staff coaches worked well on their part of the programme the pair played tricks on each other, including the odd ball thrown hard which needed their pal to be looking alert!
Sam’s stellar career
With regard to his own playing career, Sam was capped for Wales at under 19s (5), under 20s (4) and 74 times for the senior team from 2009/2017, plus five times for The British Lions - and captained all of them at different times.
His Welsh debut was made against the USA and he played in the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand as the youngest-ever skipper, was man of the match against South Africa and was chosen by pundits as player of the competition in Pool D games.
Sam also led Wales to the Six Nations title, achieved the ‘Triple Crown’ and ‘Grand Slam’ in a record number of 49 games as Wales captain before neck and back injuries forced him to retire at the early age of 29.
A real pleasure to interview Sam
I must admit it was a pleasure to interview Sam at the Saints’ day at WRU Headquarters because he could not have been more accommodating and answered every question in depth (I still have it in my collection) - and I was just about to interview George when a rather officious young lady, who was ‘looking after’ them from the brewing company, whisked the duo out of my range and after saying a cheerful ‘goodbye’ to us all she made them vanish!
I was recently chatting to Big Jack and that day came up in the conversation and he readily admitted it was a worthwhile and memorable day. I could only agree because I met two very agreeable top rugby players and learned a lot, with a cracking crowd of St Davids players who must have had a real boost to their own playing skills!
