A Case for the Defence

Grand Slam win: Paul with Maro Itoje, Saracens and England lock, Land Rover Discovery of the Season Award Winner

The last three months have been an incredibly exciting and invigorating journey as a national sports coach culminating in the particularly rare achievement of winning the utopian feat of a Grand Slam. The last time England won a Grand Slam was in 2003 and in our rich history of not only inventing, but also participating in the sport, this has been achieved a mere 12 times previously. We would like to think this augurs well for a more fruitful campaign in Japan 2019 than the last World Cup!

By Paul Gustard (84-94)

My rugby journey of course didn’t start in January 2016, but 30-odd years ago as a son of a local rugby stalwart who had dreams and aspirations of playing centre forward for Newcastle United, but the talent to suggest otherwise.

I started off as an oversized wing for Gosforth minis on the Great North Road where a decent turn of pace and a man-child frame quickly propelled my interest in the game and confirmed that I was much better with my hands than my feet! As I entered my teens, with a clear love of food, my position bypassed the more favourable options and I found myself in the front row where not only did I pretty much stay there for the entirety of my school career, but I also slowly learned that it would serve me well to say, “No” to seconds and desert if I wanted to increase the shirt number on my back and provide greater opportunity to meet girls who I wanted to, rather than those who were left!

I have unbelievably fond memories of my school playing days, the friends I played with, the teachers who sacrificed so much time, energy and passion such as Paul ‘local events and sport camp entrepreneur/millionaire’ Ponton (71-09), and John ‘Jonny’ ‘Wor Ball’ Armstrong (72-03). They were great fellas and great times.

I loved my time at RGS and to mention those two teachers alone would be a disservice to a pantheon of significant people that helped mould me as a human being. Past and present teachers like Jon Punshon (81-96), Oli Edwards, Hazel Jones-Lee (84-09), Crispin Rowe (80-92) and Mike Downie were great inspiring teachers, and of course, there was the wonderful Judith Vivian (née Davies) (87-96) who helped inspire me and multiple generations of RGS pupils to bigger dreams.

Paul playing for London Irish

I used to love playing right in front of the main school building on a Wednesday afternoon, especially in the formidable 93-94 season where the team went almost unbeaten and went to our first Daily Mail Cup final at Twickenham. An experience I have and will never forget, and one that you are never sure may be repeated as a player. That season was the catalyst for me in terms of fuelling ambition and drive to play for England and recognise the sacrifices and dedication that dream would require.

However at that stage, rugby union was not a professional sport, so my path took me down the road to Northumbria University to study Law and play for local side Blaydon, where one of the biggest influences on my career, my dad, happened to be their coach! Not only did this coincide with a well received positional change to the back row, the game turned professional in 1995 and for me, personal representative honours followed. In my career, I managed to play for England at all levels from U19 right through to the senior national side: I captained England Sevens and played for the much heralded Barbarians. I played for Leicester Tigers, London Irish and finished my playing career at Saracens, winning in the process four league titles, a Powergen Cup and two Heineken Cups.

Without going into any detail of my own playing career, as unfortunately and fortunately (have you seen the size of Billy Vunipola?!) that has long since gone, there are too many people to thank for helping me achieve what I did. Those that did help know who they are and to those that don’t, I am sorry! I would like to think that the education and grounding I had as a schoolboy has helped me to nurture relationships, deal with adversity and have the confidence to treat people in the correct manner, which undoubtedly helped me foster and forge friendships that presented me the opportunity to coach in the first place.

I acted as a defence and forwards coach for Saracens between 2008 until January 2016 and I have been solely credited with the dawn of the wolfpack! A rare accolade and one that is undeserving, as I am very certain over the last eight years I haven’t made one tackle! However, this defensive integrity the club has repeatedly shown has manifested itself with, to date, two league titles and granite foundations for long term success for the club and provided me personally with the opportunity to coach England.

And so back to the present day. I have only been in the role for three months or so, and the support I have received from far and wide has been immense. The domestic goodwill that is omnipresent and forthcoming continues to grow and highlights the desire for England to be successful, and to be frank, we should be. We have not only very good players, but we have the most players. We are the wealthiest union and we are building an infrastructure that should provide constant success and, we are confident in due course, dominance.

The final whistle in France where we finally sealed England’s 13th Grand Slam title is a moment I will forever cherish, and one that I can never forget. We as a group did something special that means a lot, to a lot of people and for my role in that I have the RGS, my family, my parents, my best friends, my former teachers and a plethora of other wonderful people who helped along the way.

Thanks to all – Discendo Duces.

Below: Paul playing for Leicester Tigers Bottom: Grand Slam win: Eddie Jones, England’s head coach with assistant coaches Paul and Steve Borthwick