FEATURE Ewan Johnson: 'My dad owns over 60 birds - my favourite is the bald eagle'

It was after midnight in the Scotland team hotel when Ewan Johnson picked up the phone and rang his family, the scale of what he’d achieved and the significance of the past few hours yet to truly strike him.

Johnson is a kaleidoscope of nationalities and cultures; born in England to a Welsh mother and Scottish father, raised in France and eligible to play for all four nations. When it came to it, there was never any doubt about where the enormous lock’s loyalties would lie. At the age of 25, the Oyonnax juggernaut won his first cap in the obliteration of Canada two weeks ago.

Plusieurs Oyomen seront avec leurs sélections cet été ! 👏

Ewan JOHNSON 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Manuel LEINDEKAR 🇺🇾
Ignacio PIÑEIRO 🇪🇸
David ODIASE 🇮🇹
Vasil LOBZHANIDZE 🇬🇪
Martin BOGADO 🇦🇷

Bravo à vous ! 🔴⚫️

•
📸 : Getty Sports pic.twitter.com/Sy1SdJqEt1

— Actu Oyonnax Rugby (@oyorugby_actu) June 20, 2024

The way Johnson tells it, his dad Paul is as staunch a Scot as William Wallace, a former special forces operative and armed police officer from Bathgate. He answered his boy’s transatlantic video call with glassy eyes. All the way back in Ottawa, now a fully fledged international rugby player, this seminal accomplishment hit him like a piledriver.

“I sent him a photo of my cap after the game,” Johnson says. “I didn’t have a chance to phone him because of the post-match function but when I got back to the hotel, I rang him up and he was in tears because he’d seen that photo.

“He has flown out this week to see the Chile game. When he got here I showed him my match jersey and my cap and he was buzzing for it. As soon as I got the cap out, he put it on his own head. It’s great to see how much it means to him to do this.

“I started playing rugby when I was seven and it’s just been drilled into me to support Scotland and no-one else. Home in France has just been Scottish. Everything we do was orientated towards that. It’s never been French. We never watched French TV or had French meals at home. I definitely think it’s thanks to my old man really that I’ve ended up here. Speaking to him after the game put it all into perspective.”

Paul met Johnson’s mother Eleri in the police, the pair retired young and moved to Brittany over twenty years ago. Eleri had holidayed there as a girl. Paul had been captivated by a falconer and his swooping raptors in the army. Today, he runs a falconry centre; a big operation with over sixty birds of prey, offering lessons, internships and pest control services.

This meant a fascinating childhood for Johnson and his two brothers, both of whom play in the French lower leagues. Paul would sporadically fetch up with some new winged creature and the lads would hear all about it.

“My dad is prone to a bit of exaggeration so whenever he’d get a new bird he’d say, ‘wait til you see this, it’s massive, it’s class’. He got his hands on a bald eagle and he was telling us, ‘this thing is massive, you guys will see’. We thought he was talking rubbish. When I first saw that animal, it was the most impressive bird I’ve ever seen.

“He breeds the birds as well so he does a lot of selling. In France you need a special certificate to do that and I think only about 70 people have it. He can own pretty much any bird he wants. He’s got the bald eagle, a couple of eagle owls, barn owls, kestrels, buzzards, caracaras, a lot of falcons, burrowing owls, little owls – all sorts.

“I like growing up in the countryside and I can’t wait to get home and get back helping him. There’s nobody apart from my dad to report back to, he’s the boss, but it’s a great job for once you finish rugby, it’s pretty chilled.”

If the bald eagle had Johnson gawping, it was nothing compared to his first day inside Racing 92’s opulent training base. He was a pup of 18 back then, fresh to Paris and the academy after the jungle drums of French rugby made it known some hefty young locks were required.

“All the espoirs [academy] boys have lunch in the training centre and a couple of the big dogs would come in and eat there, meeting their agents and stuff. I went in and the only seat was the one opposite Dan Carter. I tried to play it cool and sat down but I was like, bloody hell, what is going on? I finished lunch and phoned my brothers up straight away and said, ‘you’ll never guess who I had lunch with’. I said ‘with’ – I didn’t say a word to him, didn’t even look at him. When I got to go with the pro side a bit more, you realise how much work you’ve got to do to get to that level.”

From relative obscurity, Johnson was plunged into a lair of icons. His second-row colleagues were All Black Dominic Bird, Irish set-piece genius Donnacha Ryan and the unplayable Leone Nakarawa, once a Pro12 winner at Glasgow. Joe Rokocoko was still playing. When Carter left, Finn Russell appeared. Simon Zebo too. Juan Imhoff and Virimi Vakatawa raced around the backline.

“Once I got past the phase of being a bit starstruck it was great,” Johnson says. “You realise these guys are just normal blokes. The second rows especially, Dominic Bird was great, Donnacha Ryan loves his lineouts; you ask him for a five-minute chat and 45 minutes later you’re still there.

“I’m still in contact with him. He is coaching at La Rochelle and I saw him there last season. It’s like nothing ever changes, he’s so happy to see you, one of the massive helpers for me.”

The problem with being a kid amongst legends was getting a game ahead of them. Johnson made a solitary Top 14 appearance in three seasons at Racing, but the lessons he learned were precious – if altogether different to those he was taught next. He headed for Vannes, his local club, in the infamously rough ProD2. It’s the ultimate proving ground for a young forward.

“The best decision I made was to go there. It was so good for my rugby, playing against some older people who have been around and know the dark arts. Especially being a tight-five forward playing on Friday nights in the pissing rain and mud where it’s a lot more physical was great.

“I’m pretty good at looking after myself on the field but you learn quickly. For example, if you carry a bit high you’ll get belted or if you try and put a cheeky shot on someone, they’re a bit wiser than you. The number of times I’ve had my eyes poked, my fingers twisted backwards… For me that’s part of rugby. For mauls, rucking, it’s a great place to learn your trade.”

Johnson knew international honours were unlikely as long as he stayed in the second tier. He joined Oyonnax when their promotion was all-but in the bag, though in a bitter twist of fate, they have just swapped divisions with the club Johnson left.

“It was a tough season, we didn’t win many games, but you’re still going up against massive names like Richie Arnold. Playing Toulouse away was crazy. The second-rows at Oyonnax are great for healthy competition, giving you little tips to get you going, they’ve been around the block. I was the youngest lock there trying to learn as much as I can.

“I spoke to Joe El Abd, the coach, in pre-season and was really clear I wanted to play international rugby this year. He said they’d do as much as they could to get me there.”

There’s an opportunity for Johnson to stake a major claim on this tour. Richie Gray and Grant Gilchrist are in their mid-30s; Max Williamson and Alex Samuel still learning the professional ropes. Save 28-year-old Scott Cummings, there isn’t a front-line Scottish lock somewhere between newcomer and veteran.

Johnson is 6ft 8ins tall and weighs well over 120KG. He was schooled in belligerence and skullduggery on some of the meanest rugby paddocks in France and played 44 club games in the past two years. Scotland don’t produce many as big or as battle-hardened. Through nature and nurture, Johnson has something different to add to the blend.

“For me it was the physical side, probably from the ProD2. Being a physical presence on the field and trying to belt people. If you bring it back down to basics it’s just about whoever can run over the other guy, and that’s fine by me. The slower, physical games are a bit more my gravy.”

Scotland are in Chile for the third Test on their mammoth four-game summer jaunt and Johnson will start for the first time. Only this weekend, his dad will be in the crowd, not half the world away on the other end of the phone.

“Seeing him in the stand is going to make it hit home that little bit more. I can’t wait. He was bloody buzzing for me – buzzing. Getting out on that field and playing in front of him, I know will be amazing. He will be in tears – guaranteed – and that might set me off as well.”