James Forrester - Player In The Pod

In our latest ‘Player in the Pod’ feature, we met with ex Gloucester & England number 8 James Forrester and looked back at his career, which has taken him to Singapore via Oxford, Gloucester, the French wilderness and Twickenham.

Meeting James Forrester or “Jango” as he’s known, in a trendy coffee shop in Singapore is definitely one of the more unusual settings we’ve had for a ‘Player in Pod’ interview. There are many places we could begin. How did he end up on the island city-state? What was it like playing under the mercurial Philippe Saint-André at Gloucester? But I decide that outpacing the greatest winger to ever play the game seems like an even better starting point.

So how does it feel being chased down by Jonah Lomu?

I get asked about that try a bit, it was such a long time ago. I was so young, and just got a massive adrenalin rush as I passed him. After scoring, I just stayed down and the doctor ran up to me to see if everything was ok, but I was just paralysed with adrenalin, my legs just wouldn’t work.

Running 65 meters in front of a packed house at Twickenham would be a great story in itself, but throw in a dummy, Jonah Lomu & The Great Barbarians, and you have a tale that should guarantee the protagonist a few free pints down in the local.

We move on to discuss his journey into rugby, which began at the age of 8 when his father brought him down to play Mini’s at the local rugby club. His talent would earn him a scholarship to St.Edward’s in Oxford, before being scouted by Northampton and Harlequins.

It sounds like a career in Rugby was the inevitable path, but that wasn’t necessarily the case;

“It was never something I really considered as a professional career. You maybe wanted to play for England, but nobody was making a living out of it, so it never really entered my mind growing up.

It was only in his late teens when the game went professional that it became a genuine career path. Despite offers from two premiership clubs, Jango decided to explore an opportunity in Gloucester.

My Dad actively went to Gloucester and said look, my son has been approached by these clubs, would you consider him. I went to visit and just loved the vibe. It’s such a rugby town. Such a colts team. All local lads just loved the club and city, so I decided on Gloucester.

Throughout our chat, you get the impression that the camaraderie was as important as anything else in his career, and despite offers to go elsewhere, Jango remained a one-man club up until retirement.

Contract negotiations were pretty straight forward, they knew I wanted to stay, and they wanted me, so it just worked.

He helped Gloucester become one of the most dominant teams in the Premiership and had injury not struck early, you imagine, more national honours would have been inevitable.

His career at Gloucester, was guided in part by Philippe Saint-André. I ask him about the Frenchman and what he was like to work with. He grins and I know there are a few stories there.

“I have a lot of respect and time for him. He’s a real big picture guy. He gave me my opportunity and I’ll always appreciate that. He’s a top guy, but needs the right people around him. He needs a certain structure around him and maybe he didn’t get that with France.

What was club rugby under like, in what was ultimately a very different era?

It was an incredibly fun culture, probably more so than now. I remember a particular tour to France, which, if it happened today, players would be calling their agents and union reps. We went to the South of France, travelling ten hours a day on a bus that didn’t even have enough seats for the team, so people were sitting on the floor. We would turn up to hotels, where we weren’t booked in, it was a complete mess.

We played 3 games, and every one turned into a 50 man riot, with the French teams throwing in cheap shots. The matches were followed by big drinking sessions and you just look back and think, this would never happen in a professional team nowadays.

On one of the days we were told we were going on a 2 hour recovery walk. It turned out to be a 14 hour canyoning trek. Phillippe took us swimming, climbing and trekking and we had 35 big men, throwing some serious tantrums. We had a sandwich each for the day which didn’t help.

One of the boys had a tantrum in the canyon. We were all starving, he turned his ankle, sat on a rock and insisted on getting an air ambulance.

I ask him to name names, and he obliges willingly.

Mark Cornwell. Big tough Gloucester boy, almost in tears demanding an air ambulance. It was ridiculous looking back on it.

Another one of the guys was a diabetic and obviously didn’t bring his stuff given he thought he was going on a two hour walk. That night he had a fit!

Now when we get together, we laugh about it. Saint Andre leading the way, it was complete mess, but that season we came third in the premiership and won the playoffs, so maybe there’s something to be said for it. You look at what Saracens are doing. Team bonding trips & Ski trips etc. It seems to be working. Granted they also have a huge budget and great players!

That particular season, prompts his biggest regrets, which was getting into two premiership finals but losing both. Gloucester finished the season 15 points clear at the top of the table, but lost out in the final to wasps.

With the team we had in 02/03, we should have won. My life as a number 8 couldn’t have been easier. Vickery, Woodman, Azam in the front row. We would go forward around 4 meters every scrum.

It was after this that Jango suffered a horrific knee injury. It was a career ender, but not before going through 18 months of rehab.

I’d ruptured every single part of my knee. That was really tough. I tried to play, but the knee was never right. By the end, it was not even my decision. The knee was so bad, I still can’t run to this day.

So retirement beckoned. Injury put a cruel end to Jango’s career at just 27. For a number 8, his best years were certainly ahead, and he was due to start in the upcoming Autumn internationals.

It was tough to take and I struggled for a bit. I missed the game & missed the boys. That’s the hardest part.

I wasn’t really prepared. I came out to Singapore on holiday for two weeks to visit some friends and loved it. I got offered a coaching opportunity with the Singapore National team and did some Personal Training qualifications as well as some nutrition programmes.

Six years on and he now owns and runs Singapore’s biggest independent fitness provider, UFIT, with his business partner. They run 4 gyms, a physio clinic and a large bootcamp programme. Considering he is only 35, that sounds like quite a successful retirement plan.

Injury may have stolen a few more “Lomu” moments, but he has more Rugby stories and memories than most. I thank him for his time and promise to buy him a pint for his Twickenham Try. He’ll dine out on that for a few years to come yet!

James is currently based in Singapore where he has set up & runs UFIT - http://www.ufit.com.sg/

Article written by Fred Culazzo for www.TheRugbyPod.com