The Rehabilitation of James Haskell

As sporting mea culpes go it is not quite up there with Tiger Woods but, nonetheless, James Haskell was in a surprisingly confessional mood as he took time out from messing about in Land Rovers with his England teammates on a bonding session at a Surrey test track on Thursday.

The former Wasp utility back row forward turned Stade Francais openside has confounded his critics - of whom there were many - by not only making his controversial move from London to Paris a success, but by transforming himself from a fringe England player to a regular, a player who put in a man of the match display and produced two tries against Wales and who will be without doubt in the starting XV for next Saturday's hotly-anticipated third RBS Six Nations test against Ireland at Twickenham.

Yet, by his own admission, this turnaround in his professional fortunes seemed unlikely only last seen when he was seen by many to be too full of himself, a better talker than a walker, and a man who was leaving one of the most successful clubs in English rugby to chase the Euro in France.

"I am fully aware of what people's perception was or maybe still is of me," says the 24-year-old. "I'm more interested in off-field concerns than on-field, I'm loud, I'm brash, I'm the guy who had his own website aged 17, and so on. I'd be lying if I didn't say that there's no smoke without fire. I am loud, I do like a lot of banter, and I do put my foot in it a lot. It's all very well when you're playing well. But rugby's all about team spirit, keeping your head down, working together. If you go against the norm and then don't back it up  - and I didn't play well the longer last season went on - then you open yourself up to criticism."

On reflection Haskell understands why it started to go so wrong last season. "For a start Wasps didn't have a good season and when your team's not going well neither do you," he explains. "I hardly helped, though. I was a bit low in general because a long-term relationship ended. I found prolonged contract talks very stressful. The criticism levelled at me for chasing money hurt and I realised that in trying to pick up the best parts of everyone else's game, such as Lawrence Dallaglio, Joe Worsley, and others, I ended up being a jack of all trades and master of none. I knew I needed a change."

His move to Stade Francais was poorly received by Wasps and, notably, by Dallaglio, the man Haskell always looked up to as his hero. It was Dallaglio's autograph he first sought after, it was Dallaglio who persuaded the club to give the precocious lad a chance, and it was the then England captain who played alongside the young Haskell during his formative years in the Wasps back row. When Dallaglio, currently riding in his charity Cycle Slam from Six Nations venue to venue, spoke publicly of his displeasure at his protege's move it created a few home truths.

"The criticism Lawrence gave me was difficult to take," Haskell admits. "He was my hero and I aspired to be him. But I began to realise that I was trying too hard to become his natural successor and that applied unecessary pressure on me. The truth is I didn't live up to the expectation heaped upon me by myself and by Lawrence, and a part of me didn't want to. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to emulate what he did as a rugby player. But I want to be my own person. I want to do what Lawrence has done, but I don't want to be him any more."

This is not delivered as a criticism of Dallaglio, more a criticism of himself. Haskell now knows that he had a lot of growing up to do, and that leaving for France has played a major part in this process. "I said to myself when I was 18 that if I hadn't won a first England cap by my age now I'd pack in rugby and do something else. Now I realise I didn't know my arse from my elbow back then. Even 18 months ago I honestly thought I'd got life, and especially rugby, cracked.

"Now I understand I hadn't, and I'll probably never will because life doesn't work like that. The move to France was massive for me. It would either have gone horribly wrong and I'd disappear into the ether before returning limply home to English rugby, or I'd make it work. I wouldn't say I'm there yet, but I'm starting every week for Stade, and I'm back in the England team. I'm not sure I could have done this a year ago, but I'm older, wiser, more relaxed and a lot more mature than I was back then."

His life in France is different to what people predicted. He lives with his brother and former Newcastle and England Sevens star Ollie Phillips, who also now plays for Stade, in a house in the centre of the city, leading a lifestyle bordering on civilised. "I train much of the time, and eat dinner in restaurants with Ollie or teammates," he says. "It tends to be Ollie who drags me out to things he's invited to, and often we're talking about museums, art galleries or restaurants. My French isn't great yet so I don't have much banter with the rest of the boys and although I get on great with everyone, I'm sure they also think I'm a bit of a muppet, but at least not the guy they may have believed was joining them."

He may well be facing them in a Grand Slam decider next month in Paris but first England have the small matter of Ireland next Saturday and if Haskell and his test teammates want to make it three wins out of three in the Six Nations then a better display than the lack-lustre one in Rome last Sunday is in order. "It's a grand cup final," is how Haskell puts it. "Clearly we need a better performance than against Italy and I'm convinced we'll produce one as well. Italy made it hard to play good rugby but I think both Ireland, who will be wounded and dangerous after being thumped by France, and England will go out and play. There's no life after that for the losers of this one, but we'll do everything in our powers to ensure it's not going to be us."      

 
James Haskell was taking part in an England team appearance as part of a Land Rover off-roading day, the official vehicle of the England rugby team. To win the use of Land Rover's hospitality box for the England versus Barbarians game visit: www.landrover.co.uk/rugby