By Mr Bow Jangles
September 18 2003

This week Mr Bow Jangles catches up with Adam Billig who reveals his liking for childrens books, how his career may have been in films & adds to the ever growing list of people accusing Hunty of the worst dress sense

 

Personal Stats.

 

Name: Adam James Billig

Age: 21

Date of Birth: 23/10/81

Place of Birth: Hereford

Nickname: Freddie Mercury/Jason Biggs (American Pie)

Position: Outside Centre

Height: 6ft 2ins

Weight: 14st 1

 

photo of Adam courtesy of & copyright belonging to the official site

 

Playing Career

 

Bristol Shoguns (2003 – present)

 

Full Appearances:       2 

 

Leicester (1997 – 2003)

 

Debuts

 

Club/1^st XV/: 19/8/03 v Clifton (Won 57 – 0)

 

Representative

 

ENG U16, U18, Students, U21 (7 caps), inc. U21 WC

 

Background

 

Family

 

Dad: Steven = Director of a chicken factory

Mum: Hillary = Teacher

Brother: Marcus = Travelling (good rugby player till he snapped his ligaments)

Girlfriend: Gemma = Works at a bank in Cardiff

 

Schools/Colleges/Uni

 

§         Hereford Cathedral School (fullback)

§         Loughborough Uni (wing)

 

Rugby Clubs

 

§         Luctonians (played there with Scott Bemand our new signing)

 

Questions

 

Bow: What inspires you to play rugby?

 

Adam: “Ever since I picked up a ball really from the age of 11 I’ve loved it. Martin Johnson and Neil Back were my inspiration”

 

Bow: Did you always want to be a rugby player?

 

Adam: “Its funny, at Primary school I was a footballer and a school teacher said you’ll go far in whatever sport you choose you just need to pick one sport. Then when I was at Secondary school I chose rugby. When I played football I started at centre and then moved up front, I was the leading goalscorer coz they just used to chip the ball over the top for me to run onto….using my pace”

 

Bow: Who do you look up to at the club?

 

Adam: “At Bristol? Its hard coz I’ve played with a lot of them. Since I’ve come here I’ve been really impressed with Sean Marsden and Dodgy the scrum half as well as James Bailey. To be honest with you though, I’ve been impressed with everyone. I came here thinking that standards might not be that high and they are higher than I ever expected”

 

Bow: How does it compare with training and playing at Leicester?

 

Adam: “I couldn’t be happier here. The training at Leicester was the same everyday whereas at Bristol the standard is much higher because everyone seems to be working for each other. At Leicester you’ve got all the big guns and you feel a bit overpowered, overshadowed to stand up and do moves etc. so its harder to make a standpoint.”

 

Bow: Are you saying the standards higher here?

 

Adam: “I wouldn’t say the standards that far off, if not the same. I would definitely say the enthusiasm is higher.”

 

Bow: Who would you most like to meet in World Rugby?

 

Adam: “I have never played with Jonny Wilkinson so obviously I would love to play him and against him. In my position I look up to Will Greenwood to be honest, I think I’m a similar sort of player to him. Overseas I would say the best outside centre is probably Brian O’Driscoll, I would love to play against him”

 

Bow: Who would you like to play outside of? Who would you like to be your inside centre?

 

Adam: “Tindall is pretty impressive at the minute, it would be good to play outside him. Also Freddie Tuilangi at Leicester.”

 

Bow: What are your aspirations in rugby?

 

Adam: “My short term goals this year is to play as much first team rugby as I can. Long Term, I want to improve as a player, get my standards higher and get involved at international level”

 

Bow: Have you ever met Clive Woodwood or Andy Robinson?

 

Adam: “I was picked for the B*th academy once and offered a contract to go to B*th and Andy Robinson was the guy I had the meeting with.”

 

Bow: Who’s the worst and best-dressed player in the squad?

 

Adam: “Bailey pulls off some good clothes. The worse dressed has to be Coxy! He doesn’t care what he wears!”

 

Bow: You know, you’re the first not to say Hunty!

 

Adam: “Ohhhhhh now you’ve said Hunty, I forgot about Hunty!!! Ohhh it would be Hunty aswell!”

 

Bow: Who’s the joker?

 

Adam: “I think Marko is. Marko or Hobbo.”

 

Bow: Who’s the quietest?

 

Adam: “I’d say it would have to be Hunty. Hunty keeps himself to himself. Or Mike Griffiths, he doesn’t say much”

 

Bow: Who’s coping the most banter in the squad at the moment?

 

Adam: “I’d say Hobbo (breakaways!)”

 

Bow: Other than Richard Hill, who would you most like to be coached by?

 

Adam: “Clive Woodward”

 

Bow: How was Dean Richards as a coach?

 

Adam: “I wouldn’t say he was a players person, I found it quite hard to speak to him. I think he is very straight forward and gets his point across, people look up to him a lot so he gets a lot of respect”

 

Bow: What irritates you most about rugby?

 

Adam: “Injuries. I haven’t had any serious ones, touch wood. I have only ever broken one bone and that was my knuckle at the end of last season”

 

Bow: If the RFU said you could have Carte Blanche over rugby, what change would you make?

 

Adam: “I’d like to cut the points down for a penalty. That will stop people from kicking so it’s a more open game.”

 

Bow: What do you think of the City of Bristol? (And its fans?)

 

Adam: “I love it. It’s a bit black and white! One day you’re in Sneyd Park or the Clifton area and training at Coombe Dingle, the next week you’re in a gym training at St Pauls!

 

The fans are amazing, absolutely amazing! I never expected this!”

 

Bow: Have you been recognised much when you’ve been out?

 

Adam: “Today I went to Natwest Bank, he took my card off me and said ‘Oh you’re the new signing for Bristol!’ Although he did say scrum half! I said ‘no I’m a centre!! A guy in the garage also recognised me as ‘the Leicester boy’!”

 

Bow: What are your first memories of Bristol Rugby Club?

 

Adam: “Well obviously my debut was against Bristol! I also remember watching the local derby, Bristol against B*th”

 

Bow: Being an outsider to Bristol previously, what was your impression of Bristol?

 

Adam: “Whenever you go to the West Country, you know its going to be a hard match. I personally always thought that Bristol had the strongest support in the West Country. The Sheds well known, but I remember when we had to play Bristol away last season, we were in the changing room and everyone was really looking forward to playing against Bristol”

 

Bow: What would you have been if you weren’t a rugby player?

 

Adam: “I was doing Sports Science at Uni, so I’d have to say something along the lines of physiotherapy, Sports injury….something like that……Porn Star!!”

 

Bow: Have you got any pre/post match rituals?

 

Adam: “No. A lot of people like to grab each other and that sort of thing. I am one of these people who likes to sit down, keep himself to himself and keep quiet.”

 

Bow: What do you enjoy about being a rugby player?

 

Adam: “The game itself. I’ve always been a physical person, being allowed to be physical in a game….I really enjoy. It’s one of those sports that you have to have everything for. You have to be quick, fast, strong, agile…everything, I just love that aspect of the game”

 

Bow: What are your strengths and weaknesses?

 

Adam: “My strengths have always been speed and defence and my weakness would be my kicking”

 

Bow: How do you relax away from rugby?

 

Adam: “I like to go out and socialise. I also love cooking and reading actually.”

 

Bow: What are you reading at the moment?

 

Adam: “Errrrmmmm…………Harry Potter! I’ve got stuck into that (laughs)! It sounds sad but J. K. Rowling is my favourite author!!”

 

Bow: Being able to look in from the outside, what are your views on what happened last season i.e. B*th merger, Oxford and the Consortium take-over?

 

Adam: “I think it has definitely worked out for the best staying on their own, I don’t think it’s a good idea for the two teams to merge. I honestly think it has worked out for the best, everything seems to be falling into place now with the consortium etc. I’ve met them, they are really nice guys”

 

Bow: Do you see yourself coaching or managing at the end of your career?

 

Adam: “I’d like to yea. I have already started a few courses…getting a few qualifications. I’d like to coach, but I also want to own my own business aswell, a sports shop or a gym”

 

Bow: What do you think about the prospects of Bris this season?

 

Adam: “Before I came and during the first week of training, I would have said that we should just try and set a base for this year, you know mid table, don’t aim for anything higher. Now I have seen everyone play and seen the speed with which this team is gelling, I would definitely say top 2, we should be pushing for winning the league (Ed this was before the Bees game!)”

 

Bow: What do you think about some fans views that we shouldn’t aim for promotion this year, we should look to consolidate for a couple of years?

 

Adam: “I said that to a few of my friends, I think that if we do get promoted this year it wouldn’t surprise me because I couldn’t understand why a few of the boys hadn’t been scooped up already. In a way though I think we could probably do with a couple of years experience, as I think the gap between the first division and premiership now is slowly closing and the only difference really is just experience. We would suffer with that if we jumped straight up this season.

 

This season I was asked to go to Saracens and cover for Ben Johnston and I actually went down there but my decision was swayed because I liked Bristol as a club and I just didn’t wanna be sitting on the bench. I am enjoying myself so much down here and I’m getting the games.

 

Bow: What’s your funniest moment in rugby?

 

Adam: “It was at school when I ran the length of the pitch and did a super dive as a celebration, then realised it was the 5 metre line and not the try line! I made a right fool of myself!! I have to say though, I did get back up and score!”

 

Bow: And your darkest?

 

Adam: “I never ever like missing a tackle, but one of my darkest moments was my debut against Bristol!!! It was Friday  morning and I got a phone call telling me I was involved at the weekend, I thought I would be sub or travelling reserve. Anyway, I got to training and my name was against the number 15 as Tim (Stimpson) was injured. I loved that, but before the game the heavens opened and they were the worse conditions ever. I didn’t know any of the moves, I was phoning Tim the night before asking what they were. We then lost as well, our unbeaten record and the atmosphere in the changing room afterwards was bad….no one spoke.”

 

Bow: Who do you owe the most to for your career?

 

Adam: “My school I would say. A few of the teachers there. Apart from that Leicester developed me a lot too…Andrew Key, people like that I learnt off of the big guns too like Austin Healey”

 

Bow: What was Austin like?

 

Adam: “I got on with him really well. He called me ‘the village’ coz I turned up on a night on a pre-season tour in a Hawaiian shirt (I thought it was a Hawaiian shirt night!) and he thought I looked like the Village People!! A lot of the older players didn’t get on with him that well because he is arrogant, but he’s arrogant in a funny way, I found him really funny!”

 

Bow: Who do you think will be the surprise package in the squad this year?

 

Adam: “I think Mike Griffiths has been so far, he’s come out of nowhere really. Apart from that I would have said Chris Malone….he is such a good player. He talks so much and controls the game so well, he is so easy to play with. Huntys impressed me loads, just his skill at catching the high balls at kick-offs, lineout stealing…and Ollie Hodge, both second rows have impressed me more than I thought they would have”

 

Bow: Which player would you have brought with you from Leicester?

 

Adam: “Either Sam Vesty or Ben Gerry”

 

Bow: What can you tell us about Ben Gerry?

 

Adam: “Dean Richards and John Wells at Leicester said that he reminded them of themselves in the modern era, he’s one of those old-school grafters. He gives 100% on the pitch”

 

Bow: Whats the story behind the mullet, because it has been causing quite a stir amongst the supporters!!?

 

Adam: “I think he lost a bet or a computer game and we just all decided to grow our hair. I joked with him and said that mine was longer than his so he decided to carry on growing it!”

 

Bow: What brought about your joining Bris?

 

Adam: I think Dusty Hair knew Peter Johnston and they had a chat about me. Pete found out that my parents live in Chippenham and he was interested. I went away on holiday to decide. While I was away Saracens got in touch so when I got back I had a look at them, but I was always thinking of Bristol in the back of my mind. Bristol has better facilities than them..they seemed a bit disorganised!”

 

World Cup

 

Semi's: England v Ireland, New Zealand v Australia

Final: England v New Zealand

Winner: England

Dark Horse: Argentina/Ireland

 

Favourites

 

Colour? Green

Food? Chinese

TV Prog? Eastenders

Footy/Cricket Club? Hereford United/Leicestershire CCC

Film? Shawshank Redemption

Drink? Cider

Woman? Jessica (from Liberty X)

Music? R & B

Stuck on a desert island with? Pamela Anderson

Describe yourself in 3 words: Young, Up for it, Joker

 

Either/Or

 

Lager/Bitter? Lager

Eastenders/Corry? Eastenders

Nurse/Teacher? Nurse

Footy/Cricket? Cricket

Rock/Dance? Dance

B*th/Glos? B*th

Greenwood/Abbott? Greenwood

Curry/Chinese? Chinese

Night in/out? In

Beach/Snow holiday? Beach

Australia/New Zealand? New Zealand

Britney/Christina? Christina

Bum/Boobs? Bum

Mullet/Crewcut? Crewcut

Cat/Dog? Dog