Yorkshire Carnegie
Leeds Carnegie Exclusive.
Supporters' choice
By Toptyke & Hax
August 17 2010
The Independent Tykes are sponsoring Scott Mathie again this season. We sent two of our up-and-coming young reporters to the Press Day at Headingley Carnegie stadium to interview Scott Mathie exclusively for this messageboard. Here are the results:
1. What does he think of Leeds, the women, the ale, and Yorkshire in general? Anywhere in particular you like to visit? Few questions there, I like Yorkshire, prefer North Yorkshire, like Bolton Abbey, Helmsley. My missus enjoyed that. I try not to look at women in Leeds with my missus back in SA, but it will be difficult when the students get back.
2. What does he think of being sponsored by us? It’s a big honour, the fans are the most important part of any club, and I’m privileged to be sponsored by them, and just hope I can give something back and perform and make a worthwhile contribution
3. What did Andy Gommersall presence bring to his game/development and what are his personal rugby ambitions for this season. Gommers. ability to organise a game, especially in different weather conditions. Sometimes you can’t just run everything and have a go, you have to set up various options especially in the wet. This season, I want to nail down the 9 jersey and to do the best I can for the team, because I feel when the team does well it is because the individual players are doing well. If the chance to play for the Saxons came up that would be great, but I know that will only happen if I play well for Leeds.
4. Would he consider playing for England if he got the chance? Yeah, I came over here with that ambition in the beginning, following injuries at home I got lost a bit in the system. I came over here with that in mind and want to play at the highest level I can. If that means playing for England, I’d be honoured to wear the jersey.
5. Does he feel more pressure now he is the first choice/most senior scrum-half at the club? I don’t think so, I go out in any game, whether starting or on the bench, to do my best, and I take that into every game, and if you are happy that you have given it all you have got, then there shouldn’t be any pressure. That’s the goal, to give it all.
6. Who is the best opposition number 9 he has played against? When I was at The Bulls, I trained with Fourie du Preez and against him for the Sharks. I’ve no doubt he’s one of the best there has ever been. His all round game, his organisation, passing, and kicking were exceptional. He’s a great player to learn from and a real challenge to play against.
7. What was your personal highlight last season? I think it was coming off the bench against Sale and getting the try in the corner. It was important to get that win, and crack on from there.
8. What injuries have you had in your career? Before I came over to England, I had a run of 3 serious injuries. It began with a reconstruction of my ACL in my left knee, After a season I had a neck operation which shaved off a bit of a disc in my neck and I was out for 3 months with that. Then I had a lateral shoulder tear and was out about three months with that, so I became fairly familiar with the surgeon’s knife. Hopefully I’ll steer clear of any serious injury now.
9. How big an achievement was it to avoid relegation last season? It was massive, our celebrations after the Worcester game said it all. It was even bigger when you consider the start that we had. Nobody gave us a chance of survival, and to come back from that has to be one of the greatest escapes of all time. It was a fantastic achievement.
10. Who is he best mates with in the squad, and is there a practical joker in the dressing room? I kick around with a few of the boys, Lee Blackett, Ceiron Thomas, Leigh Hinton and Semi Tadulala are probably the four I hang around with the most. Lee Blackett is the joker, he’s just constant noise. It’s funny sometimes, but otherwise it’s just a constant buzz.
11. How are the new signings settling in? Is there one in particular who will become a crowd favourite? They’re settling well, they’re great boys, and Leeds in general is a great place to come to play. The boys in general look good, but Lachlan Mackay looks to be a very exciting player, and maybe he could be the one to take us up another level.
12. Andy Titterell was outstanding for Leeds last season, so what was the reaction of the players when Leeds signed Steve Thompson? I was excited, it’s a fantastic signing, I mean he’s England number one hooker and that’s great. What you have to realise is that rugby these days is not a 15 man game it’s about the squad. Last season we were very effective bringing on players in the last 30 minutes, if you’ve got Andy or Thommo starting and then bring the other one on with thirty minutes to go, that’s a massive thing. We’ve got a lot of (number) 8 men, Danny Browne, Alfie, Rhys, Danny Paul, so one starting, and two coming off the bench that’s a great thing
13. The new season is 3 weeks away, and for once we will not be favourites for relegation what is the feeling in the camp. It’s a bit of a strange position not to be relegation favourites, but we’ve spoken about a top six finish, and it’s achievable if we apply ourselves correctly. At the end of last season we were very effective and played some good rugby, and if we can start better this year, we can put down a platform.
14. Have you played any other sports, and which sports do you like to watch? I think my favourite other sport is football, I’m a passionate Newcastle United fan, there’s been a lot of despair and despondency over the years, but I go to watch them when I can. I love my golf, a few of the lads get to play together, and I love cricket. Jacques Rudolph I always nagging me to get along to watch Yorkshire, so maybe I’ll get round to that as well.
15. As he ever Googled himself, what does he want to do when he stops playing Rugby, what's best thing he has ever 'borrowed' from a hotel. I have ‘googled’ myself once, only because my cousins got on to me about some ridiculous comment. I don’t know where it came from, and I don’t know how to delete it, which is the biggest problem, and that’s a bit embarrassing. I’ve got a degree in English and History,, so I’d like to go into teaching or coaching, or maybe journalism back in South Africa, so we’ll see where that takes us I think. Only thing you can really borrow from a hotel is a towel to take swimming. I know some lads ‘borrow’ the soap, but that’s not my game, I’d want something that lasts a bit longer than that, so a towel
16. Usual suspects - Best game played, best stadium played in, most enjoyable game, best game for Leeds, and is there any dressing room 'gossip' he'd like to share (no names mentioned, of course). Who is the practical joker in the squad? My debut game for the Sharks. I won the MoM against Western Force and we won convincingly. It was my first game on the big stage and I was happy about that. Best stadium, Loftus Versfeld. A real cauldron in Pretoria, the fans have made it a fortress and it’s a fantastic stadium to play at. Strangely, the game against Worcester turned out to be the most enjoyable. I’m not sure how much I enjoyed it at the time, it was very stressful, but that game was probably my biggest achievement.Most dressing room ‘gossip’ can’t be mentioned but there are one or two interesting developments with players nicknames. All the rage at the minute is ‘Skeletor’, or Skelly as he has become known. If you look at him I’m sure you’d agree. It’s Leigh Hinton.
17. Favourite film, band, tv programme. Film, Usual Suspects, tv programme has to be The Wire, I love The Wire, can’t say enough about it. Band, I’ve always been a big Kings of Leon fan. They’ve gone massive now, I guess it shows my music knowledge.
18. What's his favourite biscuit? I’m a bit of a bore on biscuits, I love Rich Tea, good for tea dunking
We finished the interview by asking Scott how he would have voted in our message board award categories last season. Here are his replies.
Worst performance of the season - London Irish (home), followed by Harlequins (away) Most influential newcomer Andy Titterell had a massive influence when he arrived. The scrums performed better and his on field presence was fantastic. Best performance - London Irish. Amazing result the players didn’t expect it, and it sent shock waves right around the Premiership Best clubman Leigh Hinton does a tremendous amount of work inside and outside the club. Try of the season (not including his at Sale) - John Goodridge at Irish. Again we were under the cosh, Lee Blackett never had the pace to go the length of the field, (raucous laughter), but he put that kick in, and, if you see where John Goodridge had come from, he’d gone the length of the field, and to pick up and score was special. And the celebration as well Tackle of the season - . Any one of Seru Rabeni’s massive hits. He hurt a lot of players. He was a beast. Seasons’ turning point/defining moment - Win at Wasps - WE always had belief. Got result at Wasps but then we stumbled again, but for me the win at Sale. It was a tough game but to win that and go on to win the next two games. Win at Sale
Thanks to Scott for his contribution to the interview, and we’ll leave the last words to him
Thanks to the web site for sponsoring me again. I was appreciative of it last year, and it’s good of the fans to put up the money and do it again. It’s a great honour and privilege for me, and hopefully I can take it onto the field and reflect it in my performances.
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17/08/2010 18:04
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