“A change of environment is pretty refreshing.”
“Rugby is a game that’s constant. If you are not growing with it, you get left behind.”
“Big games are usually about doing the simple things well – not trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat.”
“Rugby is a game where everything is connected – from your kicking game to your defence to your set piece and attack.”
“You have to be a voice; you have to be able to speak up.”
“The key to success is hard work. You want to feel as comfortable as you can going into the game, and you do that by preparing well.”
“The best way to stay cool is to stay focused – you have to focus on your job. As soon as you take your eye off that, you will slip up, so you have got to have everything 100 per cent on what is in front of you.”
“As with any skill, you have to work at leadership. Watch how the best do it, review what you’ve done, and look at what you might do.”
“Confidence can be elusive because you don’t know you’ve lost it. It’s not something you can put your finger on.”
“You cannot focus on things that are so far in the future when you’ve got things that you can’t take your eye off now.”
“I’m no good at sitting on a beach and doing nothing.”
“Your focus has to switch to being as good as you can be for your club.”
“I think I’m more of a saver than a spender – more because I just like being at home.”
“You review a game. You don’t brush over anything you did well and look at anything you could improve. There’s stuff to get better at, it’s not hard to find.”
“I don’t think anyone is untouchable.”
“When you’re relaxed, you are more decisive.”
“I’ve got a lot better at dropping emotions if something goes wrong, or right.”
“You don’t go into a game thinking, ‘I’m not confident.’ You always think you’re going to win.”
“It’s not just that the lows make the highs more meaningful. They actually help you figure stuff out. You have to work out where you went wrong and what you need to do to get better.”
“Obviously every team is different, and you don’t want to try and be them.”
“I’d say I am a fly half. As regards being 12 for England, I’ve not tried to play any different. I guess I’ve been like another 10. Obviously, you do some things differently, and you might not have your hands on the ball as much – but you’re still in the game and constantly communicating.”
“The main thing is I’ve tried to get better at everything – that includes the attacking side, being a threat, and taking people on.”
“The main thing about being captain is keeping your own performance good, and then everything else should fall into place off the back of that.”
“It’s obviously a massive honour to captain your country.”
“I’ve always been comfortable speaking, especially on the field. Probably not as much off the field.”
“You can either let the pressure get to you or let it help it make you better.”
“I’m not trying to be anyone else.”
“You can never be too skilful.”
“There’s always things to get better at, and there’s always stuff to learn when you come into training.”
“It doesn’t bother me whether I am or I’m not compared to my dad. I do not feel any pressure at all from being his son.”
“Other players do not rib me for being the coach’s son. They rib me more for living at home with my mum and dad.”
“I love playing at Twickenham.”
“Communicating and being loud is a big part of my game.”
“When I was a bit younger, I made too much of trying to stick up for myself. But I don’t need to prove that I’m not soft or too young any more.”
“Not everyone plays their best game every week.”
“I’ve just been trying to improve – it’s a not a deliberate thing to focus on one thing.”
“I’m competitive, I’ll look to do my job on the field, and that’s all that matters.”
“Everyone has changed, haven’t they? Everyone tries to get better; everyone tries to grow.”
“It’s always a balance… being clear-headed but being aggressive and as combative as you need to be.”
“One-on-one, you have to be able to put your head down and get stuck in.”
“You can become obsessive, but you enjoy it – that’s what you like doing. It is just how I am. I don’t try my hardest to be like this.”
“If I was to sit there and think about anything, it would be, ‘What can you look forward to, what can you put your time into, and what can help you grow up?’”
“I am very cautious, and there are not too many decisions I’ve not discussed with my parents, whether that be about my career or away from the field.”
“I don’t have too many gadgets in the house. I do like playing computer games every now and again, though.”
“I would never think of myself as a celebrity.”
“I like watching any good players.”
“If you’re not striving to improve, you’ll end up going backwards.”
“You always look at a game and see what you can take out of it to help you go to the next level.”
“I’ve proved what I can do in bits, but I need to get better at everything.”
“It’s irrelevant whether it’s a big match or not. It’s about focusing on your job at the time. You’re still trying to do things as well as you can.”
“Being really competitive, you’re hard on yourself when you make a mistake, but then you’ve got to push on.”
“Obviously, international rugby is a different level, but there are some really good players around.”
“I guess I’ve never really wanted to be anything else. I’ve never even thought about having another job.”
“People can say what they want. It is the people inside the camp who count to me. The people around me.”
“You can’t be asking people to do things you’re not willing to do yourself.”
“I don’t think anybody goes onto the pitch and wants to go backwards.”
“The start of the game is a bit of a tone-setter for what’s to come, but that’s not always the case.”
“I’m well aware of the rules, and I don’t want to play to the edge of them.”
“Sometimes you get put into difficult situations where both players are trying to go forward, and it’s tough to be able to be as clean as you’d like to be.”
“I was always watching Dad lift trophies. That made me want to do what he does.”
“I’ve always had a rugby ball in my hand, so it was inevitable I was going to play.”
“I’m my own person, and I don’t expect anything from anyone.”
“You always think you’re ready earlier than you are.”
“I spent my time chasing rucks and never managing to hit any, so I quickly switched out to the backs.”
“For me, you just get on with what’s in front of you. It’s always been the case.”
“There is a difference going onto the pitch with No. 10 on your back rather than No. 12, and you need to have a clear understanding and be unbelievably prepared for what you are going into and what you will face.”
“You must be confident and on top of all the plays you call.”
“I had to write 1500 words on advertising and marketing at the weekend for my business management course, and you can’t think about rugby while you are doing that!”
“You always want to hear from the best about how to be the best.”
“I want to learn, but I also want to show that I can cope. That’s what you always want to do, to step up and perform.”
“There will be nothing better than playing international rugby. It’s a dream come true.”
“I get treated like everyone else, and that’s the way it should be.”
“In the holidays at school, I used to go training with my dad every day. I used to see the hard work that went in behind what was an unbelievable Wigan team.”
“I don’t know how many times you see 10s tackle each other.”
“I have always been a person with big aspirations, and I have always been confident I could take my opportunity, but you never know until you are out there.”
“Walking out in front of 80,000 spectators was unbelievable.”
“You do anything you can for your team.”
“Rugby’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
“I do a lot of kicking practice and passing, and it has made a massive difference.”
“Every time I kick a goal, I do the Joining Jack sign, which is two Js linked together for Jack’s charity and for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.”
“I only take pleasure in making a break if I’ve made the correct decision.”
“Getting to the halfbacks is a big part of any game.”
“You’d be pretty stupid not to pick up things that others do well, people you admire.”
“The main thing for me – as a leader, anyway, is that you perform well. That’s most of the battle.”
“You see what type of player I am, and you see a lot of that in leaders. Hopefully, you lead from the front and, first and foremost, play well.”
“You don’t really get fly-halves battering each other.”
“I love practising, ever since I was that kid in the field, but I don’t set targets for each session or anything.”
“Of course there are technical aspects to it, but every kicker has his own style. You have to find your own way, what works for you. The most important thing is to be comfortable and at ease.”
“The technical stuff does matter. It gives you a bit more ownership, a bit more power to choose what you do so that if you miss one, you can try to figure out a way, and that makes the next kick really exciting because it means you’ve got to commit everything to it.”
“Wales are obviously a team that like to play rugby in your half and put as many people as possible in the front line and get off the line and put pressure on you.”
“You’ve got to be genuine and not try and be someone else – but be a better you all the time.”
“International rugby is a step up, and this is somewhere you come to get better and improve as a player.”
“First and foremost, I just have to be myself.”
“I enjoy playing. I enjoy training. I enjoy thinking about it, I enjoy talking about it.”
“I have some special things at home, but not too many. I’ve got two shirts framed – that’s all – my first Premiership final with Saracens and my first England cap. They’re not signed by anyone; they’re not even washed. They stink!”
“That’s the way it should be: there has to be a drive to constantly improve.”
“Anyone can be beaten. I don’t think any team is unbeatable.”
“Everybody loves playing against the best teams.”
“I’m pleased to have been able to contribute to some good team performances.”
“I don’t like to get too far ahead of myself.”
Leave a Reply