Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'It's f***in' bleak... Saracens will get a shock': Gary Graham on what life will be like for the relegated Londoners in the Championship

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Scotland back row Gary Graham has provided a no-nonsense insight into what life is really like in the Championship in England, the Newcastle forward adding that Saracens will be left gobsmacked by some of the experiences they will encounter if the second-tier league eventually gets started in 2021. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Automatically relegated from the Premiership last January following repeated breaches of the salary cap, Saracens have yet to play a match in the Championship as the start of the 2020/21 season was delayed due to the pandemic.   

It is now currently set to begin in March and Graham, who played five matches last term in the Championship in a truncated title-winning season with Newcastle, believes an eye-opening journey awaits Saracens going by what the Falcons experienced in 2019/20. 

Video Spacer

JP Doyle’s take on last week’s bizarre Pro D2 incident where a referee was lifted in the air in celebration

Video Spacer

JP Doyle’s take on last week’s bizarre Pro D2 incident where a referee was lifted in the air in celebration

“It’s f***in’ bleak,” said Graham when asked about life in the Championship during an appearance on the latest episode of The Rugby Pod. “I started off here at Jersey (2014 to 2017), but like going from the Prem down into that (with Newcastle)… Cornish Pirates want you to get changed in a f***in’ two-metre square portakabin in the wet, wind and rain and the ground is a quagmire as it is.

“I didn’t play at Ampthill but basically you have got to do a mile trek to get to the pitch. I wasn’t playing in that game, but it’s horrible. Especially playing against those teams, it’s the cup final for everyone. Everyone is flying into it and you have got young lads now that want to take your head off every opportunity. Sarries will get a shock if they ever do eventually play in it.”

Newcastle have been flying since their return to the Premiership, sitting in second after five wins in six games (four victories on the pitch and another in the boardroom due to a cancellation). However, the process of getting to there wasn’t straightforward, the Falcons left without a match for eight months in between seasons because of the lockdown. 

The layoff hit Graham hard. “At the start of lockdown you weren’t allowed to go to gyms, you weren’t allowed to go to the club. There was one day where the club opened up and let us steal a few weights and then I had just bought a house and was renovating it. 

ADVERTISEMENT

“It was a building site and when you are waking up in dust trying to do a bench press in some dog s***, it’s not a very good motivation. Luckily a few of us started to join together and we started a little running group at Blaydon and we’d run there together.

“And Seb de Chaves, who is away in America now, he would come to my house and he was my motivation to get up as he would want to use my weights. At times it was bleak. You’d rather sit in the house with red wine than doing some bench press on a bench in the f***in’ cold.”  

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

A
AM 10 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

72 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING ‘That worries me’: Ex-All Black’s bold Damian McKenzie selection call ‘That worries me’: Ex-All Black’s bold Damian McKenzie selection call
Search