By KevinTheB
January 11 2005

This is the second part of a three part interview with Will Green, Wasps's stalwart of the coal face, in his Testimonial Year. Will talks about the professional years to KevinTheB and Barney. These are the second pint details. Purely for journalistic reasons, you understand.

That's a nice glass of beer, Barney. Right, Will, let's carry on.

First full season, Will?

WG: 1996/97. First game was at home to Saracens, at Loftus Road. We won the league that year.

KtB: What was it like to be there when the game changed to being a professional sport?

WG: It was very strange. Nobody was used to negotiating contracts, and we really didn’t know what to do. Being new to professionalism, the coaches felt they needed to get their money’s worth out of you as a wage-earning player, and looking back now everyone took being paid as meaning more hours spent on the training field. It’s not about how many hours you put into training; it’s about the quality of the training you do. Gatland is very good at this. The early days were boring as there was a lot of free time which, as a student, would be taken up watching Neighbours – too much free time for recovery. To some extent this is still a problem, but we know how to cope with this a little better now. I think we need to have a bit more variety in our lives as professional sportsmen. I have been tremendously lucky in that my career has spanned the dawn of professionalism, and I think these have been the best years. The youngsters coming through today don’t get the chances we did. If they don’t get themselves noticed within a short timeframe, they can’t go off to the A team for a season or two to develop because there’s a fresh crop hoping to get themselves noticed. I think a lot of talent gets wasted in this way.

KtB: Who were your biggest influences before your career took off, Will?

WG: Phil Keith-Roach, the England scrummaging coach, has been a tremendous influence on me, and I have to admit that Craig Dowd’s All Black front row, with Sean Fitzpatrick and Olo Brown, was always something to measure myself against.

KtB: Coming up to the present day, Will, what do you do on match days?

WG: I have a routine. I get up, have breakfast, read the papers, and about 12:30 get to the ground. I always do 4 sprints on my own, then chill out and wait for the team warm-up.

KtB: Simon Shaw says differently in your Testimonial Magazine, Will!

WG: No comment!

KtB: What major changes have you noticed since Warren came on board?

WG: I touched on this earlier. Nigel Melville, like all of us, was new to professionalism. Warren has brought in an efficiency of work rate. Everything we do has a definite and recognisable purpose now. People talk of Clive Woodward’s ability to build a backroom squad, but Warren is his equal. Bringing in Craig White was a stroke of genius – we have been so far ahead of most other clubs in this respect, although they seem to be making up ground now. Foxy was no slouch either: I had a lot of time for him, and we had a lot of success in his 11 year stint. Tony Hanks, the match analyst, is second to none, in my opinion. Our analysis is in advance of anything I have seen on England duty. Wasps is a no-hiding-place environment – everything is detailed and played out for you to learn from. That is the emphasis – learn from mistakes.

KtB: What’s it like being injured while in the squad, Will?

WG: You don’t want to be injured at Wasps – it’s harder work than being fit and playing. You get in at 07:30, and you leave once the last fit player goes. This is one of the areas we differ from the footballers we share facilities with. If they are injured, they take it easy – in fact, many of them look forward to an injury as they get time off. We do like sharing with them.

KtB: England, Will – tell me about it.

WG: Capped first off against Australia in 1997, when we drew 15-15. I didn’t play particularly well, and this, I think, affected my subsequent career under Woodward. I was on the Tour Of Hell, and that didn’t help, either. The thing with front row play is that you have to play well as a unit to be noticed, and there were others making debuts at the same time, and none of us had the benefit of fitting into a settled framework. Take Ben Gotting, for example – when he began to appear in between Craig, Simon and Richard, and myself, he slotted into a settled unit and could concentrate his mind on getting just his job right. I also went down to New Zealand and played for the A side against New Zealand A – again, we lost 10 – 0 in a very wet Hamilton.

KtB: What song did you sing on the coach, Will?

WG: An old cricket club song called “Around the Town” which was dire. Mind you, not as bad as Dom Chapman, who sang “Happy Birthday”!

Barney's note - The Richmond winger never got another cap, and retired from the game within months. Will wasn't in the squad for the 76-0 drubbing against Australia, but he recalls almost wetting himself with laughter when the England captain, Tony Diprose, was hit in the posterior by a firework, as he led the team on to the pitch.

KtB: You’ve had a very successful three years or so lately, Will – why do you still do it? What’s the current motivation?

WG: Well, young Arthur came along this year, and supporting him and Charlotte is as much a priority for me as it is for people in jobs outside of professional sport. Also, I just love winning, and so do all of us Wasps. We are a unique Club. We’ve been through the mill a lot since the game turned, but instead of letting it get to us we have turned it into a motivation. We’ve been very workmanlike and have a tremendous work ethic. There is a “Wasps Way” of being professional and we remind ourselves of this. For example, with all the achievements Lawrence has behind him, he still gets into the gym and does his reps. Craig Dowd gets in there at his age and does the work. Both these massive players believe in the Wasps approach. I suppose you could say we enjoy being the poor relations.

KtB: All sides have a lifetime, Will: would you say that the double winning side is over the hill?

WG: Absolutely not. Watch the games at the end of the season – we will be in there at the death again.

KtB: Leicester, Will. We sit here just after they have beaten us twice in the HEC. Just how good are they?

WG: They are a quality side, there’s no doubt about that. The advantage they had over us was that they played to the top of their form and we let ourselves down a bit. Over the last few years they have been the club that other clubs have tried to model themselves upon. They have a great £1M training facility which must be a dream to work in. Mind you, it’s possible that we’ve got better training techniques than they have. I think Wasps have to make a decision about the future – do we intend to mount a serious, long term challenge to them or not, both in terms of on and off the field?

KtB: Will, who would you say is your current hero?

WG: Arthur Green. I think he’s amazing.

KtB: You have been on the field with and against the world record cap winner, one Jason Leonard. How do you rate him?

WG: Jase? He’s a legend. A top boy. We’ve had some good tussles over the years, and it’s harder playing against your mates. He’s the patron of my Testimonial Committee – probably because there’s a beer involved! I only went out the once with Jase for a serious session – never again.

(Barney's note - Mr. Green himself can be dangerous company. One evening, in Treviso, after a particularly depressing defeat, Will kept pouring red wine down my throat. The hangover I suffered the next day remains one of the worst I can ever remember. It lasted into the late afternoon. You have been warned!)

KtB: How do you balance the needs of being a top athlete with being a husband and father?

WG: That’s a hard job. Both Charlotte and I are working hard at setting up our future together, and we have to juggle time with Arthur and each other with these needs – a familiar position for most Waspies, both the players and staff on the field and you out there supporting the team. Charlotte has a quite high powered role so the pressure’s on her as much as it is on me. We have some help with Arthur and we are doing our best.

(Barney's note - Charlotte's high-powered job is in fashion journalism, with the Evening Standard. It's fair to say that we think she has had no perceptible influence on Will's dress sense!)

KtB: You touched on a reluctance to go out for a serious drink with Jase – when was the biggest Wasps team bender?

WG: In my time, after the HEC matches last season, particularly in Ireland after the Munster game. We were a mess the morning after that. That was closely followed by the Sunday after the Zurich final last year. We all went down the pub to celebrate the end of a wonderful season. That got a bit uninhibited as well.

KtB: Who’s the toughest prop you ever played against?

WG: Christian Califano, against Toulouse a few seasons ago when we won 77 – 17. He’s a monster of a man and a terribly hard scrummager.

KtB: Barney, I seem to have finished this one. How about another? Will, do you want more diet Coke in that ice?

Episode 3 – The Future will follow shortly.