James Haskell interview: "I've grown up as a person and I think my rugby has got better"

By Colin Spiro, 18 April 2010

More than a few eyebrows were raised when James Haskell didn’t even make the bench for Stade Francais’ Heineken Cup quarterfinal at Stade Toulousain last weekend, but his shock non-selection was just the latest incident in an action-packed year since the England flanker signed from London Wasps last summer.

There was the initial outcry – largely from the British media – when he first announced his switch; the early burst of tries that put him back on Martin Johnson’s radar; the rooftop nude modelling for Stade’s infamous Dieux de Stade calendar; the public tug-of-war between the RFU and Stade president Max Guazzini; and now his bizarre non-selection for Stade’s biggest game of the season.

The latter two now appear inextricably linked with the rumour mill suggesting Guazzini got his revenge on Haskell for the player opting to remain in England during a blank weekend in the Six Nations – and thereby missing Stade’s 0-29 home drubbing by Stade Toulousain in Top 14. The club remains adamant it was a tactical decision – albeit a mighty strange and costly one – while the player himself has (not unnaturally) kept his own counsel, except to confirm to frenchrugbyclub.com that he was “100% fit and ready for selection”.

Top 14 Table  / Top 14 leading scorers / Top 14 Results / Top 14 Fixtures / Top 14 Transfers

By his own admission Haskell was “gutted” to miss out on such a showpiece game – which the Parisians lost 42-16 – but Stade’s soon-to-depart coach Jacques Delmas insisted there was no hint of Guazzini’s interference in his bizarre team selection.

“We didn’t pick James because we wanted a different lineout option," he said. "We wanted to attack them in that area. The reason he wasn't on the bench was because we wanted a specialist No8 on the bench in case of injuries."

As it turned out, Stade ended the match with just one flanker and a decimated back row that proved hugely costly as they were systematically taken apart by Toulouse.

The hope now is that Guazzini has made his point and life in the French capital can return to normal – or as close to what passes for normal – for Haskell, although ‘clear-the-air’ talks will shortly take place.

It is just another episode in the Stade’s season-long soap opera, and one the 25-year-old believes is all part of growing up, both on and off the pitch. Stade have certainly had an unexpectedly traumatic season since Haskell joined, going through two head coaches, a run of shockingly poor league form, the high-profile bans of Julien Dupuy and David Attoub, and a summons to the DNACG – the league’s financial watchdog – due to a budget overspend of more than €2m.

Yet, despite all that, the player himself says he has no regrets about leaving the security of Wasps for the uncertainty of Stade Francais.

"I didn't come for the money"

“I came over here for a lot of reasons which people didn’t really comprehend and gave me flak for without really listening to what I was saying,” explains Haskell. “They got caught up in what the media was saying about me coming for the money and everything else, which wasn’t the case. I had always really loved watching French rugby and my two favourite teams were always Stade Francais and Toulouse. The opportunity to come and play for Stade and to get to play with the players that play for them has helped on every level. I’ve grown up as a person, which is what I wanted to achieve, and I think my rugby has certainly got better. I’ve also got back into the England squad, so from that point of view it’s been very good.

“Obviously the results at Stade Francais haven’t gone our way - we’ve had two changes of coach throughout the season and I’ve obviously had an issue with Stade with my release for England - so there’s always the rough with the smooth, but actually in terms of the move I’m very, very pleased and I don’t think it could have gone much better really.”

It may sound odd but Paris has proven a haven for Haskell, a place where he can go about his business without being recognised or pestered, allowing him to concentrate fully on his major talent in life – playing rugby. It’s been an eye-opening experience, but one he wouldn’t change for the world.

“I think the thing that has surprised me is that when you’re in the Guinness Premiership you’re playing week in and week out against quality sides, but you look at the Heineken Cup as your big pinnacle of rugby – everyone in the Premiership wants to play Heineken rugby because they want to play against the big teams. What I have found difficult to adjust to here is that one week after another after another is a massive game here against a team that normally at Wasps you would only get to play against occasionally, and they would be massively competitive games during the Heineken Cup. It’s been a little bit strange coming off the back of the Autumn internationals and the Six Nations and playing Toulouse at home, Perpignan away, Clermont at home and now Toulouse away again, but rugby doesn’t really get much bigger than that. There’s no easy side in Top 14 and it’s just one constant battle after another.  Sometimes it’s a little bit difficult to adjust to that, but in terms of what I wanted to achieve in playing against these massive sides and against the best players in the world, I’ve been lucky enough to do that.”

Looking back now he realises that the security of Wasps was both comforting and misleading.

“I think my game has changed and I’ve realised the importance of a balanced back row. To make up a good back row I’ve realised that you need to specialise in two or three skills. I’ve spent my life trying to be a jack of all trades and master of none, whereas over here I’ve realised what I bring to Stade Francais – what I’m good at and what I’m not so good at – and I’m able to fit into a very, very talented back row. And that was another reason I wanted to go to Stade Francais, which was to learn off the likes of Sergio Parisse and Mauro Bergamasco and Juan Leguizamon,” he states.

“What I didn’t realise when I came here was that there’s only a couple of years difference between myself, Juan and Sergio – obviously Mauro’s a bit older – and that these are still relatively young guys who have already achieved a lot on the international stage. You forget that they are relatively young out there. So it’s been good, we’ve got on very well and a lot of the time I’ve been able to do the extra training with them. When Sergio was fit we did a lot of footwork, with Juan a lot of handling, practicing the high balls and all that extra stuff.”

"I've grown up"

The lack of London’s off-field distractions has also helped him focus on improving his game and the results have followed. Up until last weekend Haskell had been pretty much ever-present when available for Stade, and he has won plaudits throughout France for his energetic performances. He’s also started scoring tries – six in all, with four for club supplemented by his a double against Wales in England’s opening Six Nations match.

“I’ve grown up,” he admits. “Sometimes you think you’ve got it all figured, but each year your life goes by and you look back and realise ‘I had no idea’. But I feel I’ve matured a little bit and I’ve enjoyed the French lifestyle and the French people.”

Sharing a house with former Newcastle and IRB Sevens Player of the Year Ollie Phillips has also helped.

“I’ve got no volume control when I talk and I thought I was going to be alone in life talking loudly to myself, so I came to France and I don’t speak a lot – Ollie speaks far more than I’ll ever do, so I just sort of take a back seat, which I quite enjoy. There’s obviously the pressure of wanting to perform and people watching you all the time, but I haven’t read a newspaper since I was out here and I don’t talk to the media because I don’t speak French. It’s quite a relaxing thing – my focus is on extra training and coming back to relax, so it’s a far more focused lifestyle which I think was helped by the fact I had the opportunity to go back with England. I think if I didn’t have the opportunity to play for England again that might have made life a bit more difficult, but that’s something I would have had to deal with.”

As it was, being in England turned out to be something he “had to deal with” after team manager Martin Johnson put his foot down and refused Haskell permission to return during an off week to play for Stade Francais. Johnson’s decision was derided publicly in France by Stade owner Guazzini – he claimed Haskell was being held hostage against his will – but the player himself said the very public row was blown out of proportion, even if the consequences have rumbled on.

“The key thing for me is I was able to focus on my rugby because being away at Penny Hill and letting the RFU and Stade deal with the situation was not a major problem for me. I was able just to focus on the rugby and to be honest when I went to Martin Johnson I knew what the decision was, as to what I was going to do. It all blew up in the media but it didn’t really affect me because the boss said ‘you’re staying’ and that was it,” he says.

“Obviously there’s some issues we’ve got to sort out [with Stade] and I’ve got a meeting coming up, but we’ll sort that out,” he promised. “It’s just there’s been a bit of misinterpretation and we need to sort that out because obviously there’s an issue. I love the club and we’ve got to make sure we work it out,” adds Haskell. There may be a few fiery words from both parties in the coming weeks but he insists country will always take precedence over club, although that doesn’t mean steamrolling Stade into second place.

“I’m just turned 25 and my international career is very important to me. I’m very loyal to Stade Francais, I love playing for them – I’ve played 24 times, which is almost every game I could play apart from the ones I missed on international duty, so I’ve given everything I can to the club this year, but international rugby is the most important thing. It’s what I want to achieve and it’s what I want to keep on achieving until I’m no longer required, my body can’t cope of someone better comes along,” he insists.

Talking of Haskell’s body, it was prominently displayed in all reputable shops this Christmas after he was made the cover boy of the club’s infamous ‘Dieux de Stade’ calendar. How was that?

“It was obviously a great honour to be asked to do it by Max, but it’s rather disappointing that it’s had no impact on my social life,” he admits. “-I was employing Ollie Phillips to carry it around like a sandwich board around his neck – an enlarged version - but unfortunately we were ushered on by the police. But no French woman has come up to me and said were you the front cover of the Stade Francais calendar?” he laments.

"I might have just run off in terror"

No problems posing naked then?

“Luckily I’m not an overly shy person or I might have just run off in terror really,” he admits “But yeah, naked on top of a car park roof being asked to prance around naked with two video cameras filming you from both angles and a photographer telling you to leap in the air on a freezing cold roof with office workers watching from out of their windows, it was interesting.”

But all that is in the past for now. The present, and immediate future, is all about trying to somehow squeeze Stade into seventh place in the league – they went into this weekend in a lowly ninth position – and hoping that Toulouse go on to lift the Heineken Cup. If that happens then the Parisians could yet be in Europe’s premier club competition next season with France likely to be offered an additional spot to their current allocation of six.

It’s a long shot, but then Haskell has show that he’s not averse to the odd gamble, and it would add just another twist to his incident-packed maiden season in France.

* Extracts from this article were published in The Rugby Paper on April 18 2010

© Copyright FrenchRugbyClub.com. All rights reserved.