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'When I first arrived at Sarries I had broken my arm and I was 156, 157kgs... my playing weight is about 140'
Will Skelton can’t wait for La Rochelle to get stuck back into a Heineken Champions Cup action that will stir his still-vibrant Saracens memories. Kingsholm will only echo to the sound of players’ voices next Friday night but that won’t stop the giant Australian from taking a moment in the build-up to remember what it used to be like to face Gloucester away with the Shed packed and the partisan atmosphere resembling a bear pit.
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It was November 2019 when Skelton last played there, the boisterous locals revelling in it being Saracens’ first outing since a Gallagher Premiership points deduction – the first sanction en route to automatic relegation for repeated salary cap breaches – was applied. The Londoners got it in the neck that day, the verbals coming thick and fast.
“It’s going to be a tough game. We’re just lucky they won’t have fans there because their fans are relentless,” said Skelton to RugbyPass over the phone from the Bay of Biscay, the area in France where he could enjoy a Saracens sequel the following week as La Rochelle might host the now Alex Sanderson-coached Sale in the quarter-finals if the Easter weekend results fall a certain way.
Skelton’s Sarries ties remain strong. He’s still part of their PlayStation group and is fully clued in about the newly started Championship campaign which got off to a juddering start with that opening weekend crash at Cornish Pirates. “That is what made the transition to France quite easy, I still play a bit of PlayStation a couple of hours a week with a lot of the boys,” he explained.
“We play a bit of COD (Call of Duty), just get online, try to kill some things and we talk s*** mostly. I’m not very good. Sean Maitland is pretty good. Vincent Koch is handy but Richard Barrington is so poor, really bad. It’s good to chat to those guys every couple of days. It has been nice.
— William Skelton (@SkeltonWilliam) June 19, 2020
“When they lost that first game in the Champ it was tough not only for them but I was hurting as well not seeing them be successful. I know they will be up there. They have got great coaches and have a young squad as well. Hopefully, they can take their lessons and really fly into this comp and get back into the Prem.”
It was a wrench for Skelton to leave the club he had won Premiership and European honours with but the soon to be 29-year-old has landed on his big size 19-booted feet at La Rochelle, the club that is running second in the Top 14 following its latest win this weekend on the road in Bordeaux. He explained how his cross-channel shift came about.
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“At the time we were going through the Saracens relegation salary cap dramas. I’d another year on my contract at Sarries, so we were looking at opportunities to go on loan potentially, go somewhere for a year and then come back to Sarries.
“That just didn’t work out and La Rochelle came to the table for a two-plus-one, a three-year deal,” continued Skelton. “We visited the town, met the coaches, met the president, had a tour of the facilities and we were pretty happy with the decision to come. I didn’t know many boys here. I knew Lopeti Timani and had met Uini Atonio a few times, who is massive here at the club, and it went from there.
“We have been in form this season. We did hit a couple of losses in a row that we have had to look internally at. We drew a line in the sand and we will see where we can go because we have got a special team, a good group of boys, and we want to be really successful this year.”
Just like at Saracens where the starts were plentiful, they are a weekly occurrence in France with La Rochelle where the only bump for Skelton was a post-Christmas red card at home to Montpellier that resulted in a four-week ban for a high shot. He didn’t crib, outlining his respect for the ongoing clampdown regarding contact with the head.
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“It’s warranted and the concussions cases, I haven’t seen the numbers but it makes sense to limit the cases of concussions so you have got to stop the hits to the head,” reasoned the 6ft 8in lock. “For my case there against Montpellier, I just got the tackle wrong.
“I tried to add weight to the tackle. A two-man tackle is always better than a one-man tackle and I came in too high, I had no dip, got it wrong and I paid the punishment there. Going forward it’s a technique thing. There is no excuse for us big guys.
https://twitter.com/darrencarlson_/status/1343193267903619075
“You have got guys like Brodie Rettalick, Sam Whitelock, probably the best locks in the world, and Maro Itoje, these guys are tackling low, they are chopping in games and then picking their moments when they can put a dominant hit around the ball just below the shoulders.
“There is no excuse for us big guys. It’s a technique thing. If you don’t practice it you can’t do it on the field. For me that is what I have been working on here, trying to do my extras on that dip and trying to make it count on the weekend.”
The general physicality of the Top 14 is very much to his liking. “Very much so. Some big boppers here, mate, so it’s a tad slower. It’s a physical game, especially when you see the passion playing away, those teams at home step up that extra level.
“It has been a bit different without fans but you still feel that physicality in a game. I do like throwing my weight around but it’s something you have got to be consistent at here in France with such a long season and teams improving every week,” said Skelton, adding that his favourite La Rochelle moment was day one of the season.
“We were allowed some fans in (under restriction) and La Rochelle is renowned for its support. To half-fill it was amazing. It felt like a fortress. Just running out there with the boys for that first game against Toulon was special for me.”
I guess this is legal…right? ?https://t.co/pePOliTx7b pic.twitter.com/65FB4xrb2h
— RugbyDump (@Rugbydump) February 24, 2021
Away from the game, the most special moment was the birth of his and wife Kate’s son less than five weeks ago. “When we came over she was four months pregnant. We have now got a little boy, Julius. It’s been eye-opening. But it’s funny, I had three nights in a row of twelve hours sleep recently. I don’t think my wife was very happy with that.”
What helped them to quickly settle? “I didn’t grow up near the water but my wife did so when I saw it was a massive factor for us (to be on the coast), it was a massive factor for my wife. We sometimes wake up and see how early the sun comes up.
“I found London was a lot greyer but I was used to it. I’d get up to go to training and it would be really dark and then I’d come home at about four o’clock and it would be getting dark. Being in La Rochelle next to the sea has been an energy giver for us.
“It was tough that we didn’t finish the Sarries season, which felt a bit empty leaving everyone there without a proper goodbye. But we came into France when everywhere was sort of open for a couple of months, so we enjoyed the French lifestyle, got to go to restaurants and whatnot.
“We’re still doing French lessons once a week. We have our teacher come over to our house and we follow protocol, all wearing masks. It’s a tough language but we’re getting slowly used to it because I know our experience will be a lot more enjoyable if we can understand what everyone is saying.”
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Any fears that the peak physical condition Skelton enjoyed at Saracens would be lost in France have proven unfounded. He still touches regularly base with Andy Edwards, the S&C coach who is now head of athletic performance with the Springboks, while a nutritionist he took on board some years ago is also in regular contact. Eating well and staying healthy is very much on Skelton’s mind.
“Andy was massive for me. He and Phil Morrow pushed me hard. Andy’s going to be a massive loss for Sarries but it just shows how valued he is that he got that gig with the Springboks. I still talk to him almost every week now. I send him a text, ask him questions, get tips on stuff that I’m doing at La Rochelle so I can help some boys here.
“He was massive in pushing and driving me, keeping me honest and keeping me accountable because I guess if you’re not being kept accountable by your mates then it is hard to get better. The thing with my weight is I fluctuate so much. Nothing is really accurate.
“When I first arrived at Sarries I had broken my arm and I was 156, 157kgs. I had just come off surgery so I was heavy. That season I struggled a bit and then the next pre-season I came in and got down to 135kgs for that first game but my playing weight is about 140. That is a good representation of my weight. I’m that now, about 140.
“I can drop a kilo, two kilos overnight. It’s a constant battle but it’s something I have had to come to terms with. Sometimes I jump on the scale and feel really good, but if I’m heavy it can almost dampen my mood, it can affect how I’m feeling so I have had to learn not to really worry about it as much.
— William Skelton (@SkeltonWilliam) July 3, 2020
“But yeah, it’s a constant thing for me. I don’t think it will ever go away because coaches and trainers look at it. If I’m heavy on the scale I worry (they are thinking), ‘Oh, is he not working hard enough or is he eating too much away from the club?’ It’s an internal thing I have got to really manage myself. A lot of players have the same problem, and vice-versa where they need to put on weight.
“That pre-season when I dropped all that weight I got my own personal nutritionist. I found one with my wife and it was someone who wasn’t involved in rugby so she could look at me in a different light. She was really good for me and I’m still with her now. I check in every week and she gives me my weekly calorie targets. It’s a relationship that has really helped me, seeing food and seeing nutrition as a whole and helping with my performance.
“My relationship with food was a bit rocky when I started my career, probably not eating and trying to fast. That probably didn’t work for me because then when I did eat I’d overeat and I’d feel like s***. I have got a handle on that now, I have got it under control. It’s been good… no-one’s perfect, I still have those days where I overeat and whatnot but it’s just having that mentality that I can go and get back on it the next day and I will be fine.”
Another fluctuation is the size of Skelton’s footwear. “Size 17, 18, 19, it varies. My boots are size 19, size 18 UK, but then the shoes I normally wear vary between 17 and 18, I like my boots to be a bit bigger as I can wear them straight away and they are comfortable. They are probably a size too big, size 18, 19 US.
“Asics made me some boots in 2015 and they still have the mould, so I ring them. I have probably got 20 pairs at home that I have bought out of fear that I would rip a pair and wouldn’t be able to play. They last maybe six months, almost a year, but the thing is if I lose a stud then I have almost got to chuck the whole boot away because if the thread goes the boot is probably worthless.”
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Visit Skelton’s social media and his bio reads ‘Loves Jesus, Loves People’. Faith is important to the New Zealand-born Australian forward who won 18 caps between 2014 and 2016 and he can’t wait for the world to reopen so that his family can get over to France and see their new addition.
“I wouldn’t say my wife and I are devout Christians but I do have that faith in every day and we say our prayers every night. It’s more the relationship with Jesus and the way that we live.
“It’s hard here in France, we can’t really speak the language that well so going to church has been tough but we try to go online and stay up to date with our church back home. My wife reads the Bible a lot and we will hopefully bring our son up the same way we are at the moment.
“Family is the one thing we miss from back home. I don’t miss the food and Australia itself, I don’t miss it as much but you miss family, having our son’s grandparents there and not having his cousins, but there isn’t much you can do with what is happening in the world.
“I guess I’m just very lucky to live here in a beautiful part of France, making memories with my wife and our son. Hopefully, when this all clears up I can bring my family over to visit this town, give them an experience they have never had in their life. It has been tough without them but I’m hoping soon enough stuff can open up and they can come over.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
The hell with this constant regurgitation of what this pretty boy is doing. For all I care he might as well be doing a Jamie Oliver cooking course. Rugby is not a progression toward the NFL, which, given its prominence in your reporting, you appear to regard as the ultimate contact sport. It has virtually nothing to do with rugby, and forever may that remain the case. I know that if I don’t like it I don’t have to read it, but I’m sick of seeing this dishwater-dull nonsense.
1 Go to commentsGuys Eben did not mean it in a ugly way as it’s just a feeling he had. We Safas rate the All Blacks and no Bok player wants to play NZ in a Knockout game
139 Go to commentsHe basically described who Aaron Smith also considers the GOAT 9….the one & only Fourie du Preez😎
3 Go to commentsI’m hoping that the Reds can win their last 4 games with a couple of try bonus points. The pessimist in me wouldn't be surprised if the Drua and the Tahs knock the Reds over. The Reds may end up ruing the fact they were distinctly 2nd best against the Force and just so clunky against Moana Pasifica. The Brumbies should win all their remaining games with some bonus points giving them at least a top 2 finish as the leading Kiwi sides will take points off each other. How the Brumbies handle the fact that they will be expected to beat the Crusaders will fascinate me. You’d probably have to go back to 2001 for the last time the Brumbies would go into a game against the Crusaders odds on to win.
7 Go to commentsFree to air is the key to fan expansion. I attended last weeks game at Suncorp (Reds v Blues) and the total cost is prohibitive to most people that wish to attend. Two tickets $130, parking (event day gouging) $75, road tolls $20, dinner beforehand $130, plus some petrol and a beer inside the stadium and a single game starts to cost $300-400. Who can afford that week in week out, I’d love to go more but could only afford this one game to see the Blues, I’d have loved to have seen more NZ teams here but I’d need to stop eating or sell a kidney.
21 Go to commentsBrumbies are looking good and if they keep their home form up a final is not beyond the realms of possibility. They showed against the Hurricanes exactly how clinical they can be as they absorbed pressure in that contest while also scoring points and applying their own pressure. Reds are well placed as well but need to find consistency. They are building a longer term project with a young side and plenty of quality players. Been surprising to see the strength of Aussie sides this year after the debacle of the world cup. Have NZ sides gotten weaker? Have Aussie sides gotten stronger? A bit of both I would say. Whatever the case its good to see some actual competition between NZ and Aus sides again and thats exactly what the fans wanted and is probably driving better viewership numbers. All of this can only be healthy for Aus and Super Rugby and I hope the Brumbies go all the way.
7 Go to commentsDead time reductions are important as is ball in play time increases. Premiership leads the way in terms of ball in play and Northern refereeing standards around the breakdown has sped up the game significantly. Super Rugby is trying new things but its not leading the way in terms of making gains in reducing dead time and ball in play time. Northern administrators are also not against speeding up the game, on the contrary they want a faster game and have been trying things and are embracing increasing the speed of rugby. Super Rugby isnt providing a blueprint for anything, its just part the agreed upon blueprint that administrators across the world are moving to.
21 Go to commentsSome interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
21 Go to commentsAll of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
21 Go to commentsThe match experience still sucks at SR games, irrespective of the game being a little quicker. Rugby has to compete with so much in the modern world, if you’re going to get people to leave their houses and pay to watch a game in winter then the experience has to be worthwhile.
21 Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
6 Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
16 Go to commentsWho got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
16 Go to commentsWhat’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
16 Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
21 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
7 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
139 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
16 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
16 Go to comments