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Anthony Watson: Brutal text from dad helped my recovery

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Anthony Watson has revealed the role a brutal text from his dad played in his recovery from a career-threatening Achilles injury.

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Watson is poised to make his Test comeback in Sunday’s World Cup warm-up against Wales at Twickenham having completed three appearances for Bath at the end of last season.

The 25-year-old wing was sidelined for over a year with the Achilles problem sustained during his last appearance for England in March 2018 and he required two operations to restore him to health.

A roller coaster spell of rehabilitation took a mental toll, however, until some harsh words from his father Duncan during his darkest hour provided the lift he needed.

“Over the 13 months I’d say I had two or three days where I particularly felt ‘this is a nightmare’,” Watson said.

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“The quicker you can snap out of those days, snap out of those moods and try focus on what you’re trying to achieve, then the better you are for it.

“I texted my dad saying I was struggling with something and he just replied ‘mate you’ve got to get on with it or you’ll never play rugby again’.

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“I was just like ‘wow’ because you can never hit home more than that. It’s so black and white, but it’s so true. That was a real kick up the backside.

“If you really want to play rugby again you’ve got to do everything you can to get back playing rugby again. You can’t just sit and mope around.”

Watson had plenty of reference points for his rehabilitation having previously overcome a broken jaw and hamstring injury – both suffered during England training – but a damaged Achilles presents its own issues.

“It was slow progress. The injuries I had before – hamstrings and jaw and stuff like that – got better and better,” he said.

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“With an Achilles it can go up, down two, up one, up three. It’s very variable so it was just dealing with those days when you thought it was all going so smoothly and now it’s not going so smoothly.

“It was only painful for four days after the op. After that, you’ve got two weeks in a cast and those are the worst two weeks because you can’t do anything, you’re just sat at home doing nothing.”

Having been a part of Eddie Jones’ World Cup training squad from the start, Watson was told to sit out last month’s Bristol camp in order to spend time training with sprint coach Jason Dodoo in Loughborough.

Initially fearing what his absence meant for his Japan 2019 prospects, he came to realise the value of his week away from the main squad.

“At first I was a bit sketchy – not being with the lads was definitely sketchy – but when I had it explained to me why I was going up there and what it was for, I could understand….” Watson said.

“On the back of the week, how I felt coming into the Italy week, I didn’t see it right at the start but it was definitely the best thing that could have happened.”

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O
Oh no, not him again? 1 hour ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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