In this age of the choreographed media circus, it’s refreshing to perch on the wooden bench of a changing room and talk to an England international the way it used to be. And it is refreshing to do so with a broad-faced grinner who knows his mind and speaks it without obviously wondering how a spin doctor might have him articulate his thoughts.
In short, it is refreshing to interview Jamie George. As an England international recently emerged from the horrors of England’s World Cup, you’d forgive him for adopting the cagey approach, but he barges into a bare changing room at the Old Albanian club, where Saracens train, and levels with his questioner. He comes away from the World Cup without a blemish against his reputation. Do not suggest to him, though, that he might not have felt the pain because of the bit-part he was given.
“You’re definitely a part of it,” he says. “It was a very frustrating time. You’ve trained with those guys week-in, week-out. You’ve suffered together, made memories together. It hurt a lot after that Australia game. Being in the changing room afterwards, that’s something I never want to experience again in my career.”
It has been an extraordinary few months for George, who turned 25 just over a fortnight ago. By common consent, he was the Premiership’s leading hooker last season, yet in a curious decision he was not selected in the wider training group for England’s World Cup.
“It was tough to take but I had to move on. I got told at the same time that I was starting a semi-final away at Franklin’s Gardens.”
In that Premiership semi-final, which Saracens won 29-24, Northampton’s Dylan Hartley, England’s long-established hooker, suffered his latest disciplinary turn, gently butting heads with George himself. By the end of the next week the younger man was promoted in his place. “I was told on the Friday, the day before the Premiership final, so my mind couldn’t drift, because I had the biggest game of my career the next day.”
Not only did his mind not drift, he scored a virtuoso try and set up another in a stunning performance at Twickenham, which must have gone a long way to clinching his place in the World Cup squad. We assumed it would do the same for his place in the match-day 23. In the end, he was spared the indignity of the latter for most of the tournament, making his first World Cup appearance on the half-hour mark of England’s final pool game, the dead rubber against Uruguay. Coincidentally or not, England perked up a bit while he was on.
If we are now enduring the latest exercise in hand-wringing over England’s future, George is one of the players who best represent the counter-argument to despair. That ability to keep his mind focused, not just before and during those two high-stakes club games but throughout the ups and downs of the previous six months, should not be undervalued, nor should the skills and physicality of a lad steeped in sport.
His father, Ian, played scrum-half for Northampton and London Welsh in the late 70s and early 80s and sat on England’s bench. His mother, Jane, played county hockey. His uncle Robbie was a hooker for Northampton.
George grew up in the majestic grounds of Haileybury College near Hertford, where his father was the director of sport for 27 years. “Everything was on your doorstep,” he recalls. “You could literally play anything you wanted.”
His brothers are twins, five years older, and knocked him about a bit. One of them, Jonathan, is now the physio at Saracens. His cousins, too, were sport mad. But George grew to be bigger than all of them, and it wasn’t long before great things were predicted.
In October 2010, just after his 20th birthday, George played his first Premiership match for Saracens. He was pushing a Springboks hooker in Schalk Brits for his place. Then along came another when Jon Smit arrived after the 2011 World Cup, at the time the most experienced Test captain in history.
“Everyone always said: ‘You’re going to play for England.’ And as a 19-20-year-old, everything came to me quite easily. My first reaction when Jon arrived was a negative one. But as soon as I met him I knew he was going to influence my career. There’s an aura about him. He is one of the most special blokes I’ve ever met. He developed me more than anyone, I think. For someone who’s achieved so much, to give so much of his time to me was truly humbling.”
George’s season and a half on the fringes of Saracens’ squad taught him much about the maturity and discipline of mind required to thrive at the highest levels. It has often been observed, with some justification, that the player who emerged from that period looks a happy blend between the two South Africans he learned from – which would make him pretty much the perfect hooker.
“When Schalk first came I tried to be Schalk Brits. And that’s one thing I’m not. He’s one of the most talented blokes I’ve ever met in my life. Some of the stuff he can do I wouldn’t dream of. But Jon told me I needed an identity. When Jon came, I used to think I can be a bit more like Jon here and a bit more like Schalk there. And they’re quite different players. I extracted a lot from both of them, but I wouldn’t say I am a mix of both. I like to think I put my own spin on things.”
The fallout from England’s World Cup failure continues, but let us spare a thought for players such as George, richly talented and hopefully better for the experience. His forwards coach at Saracens, Alex Sanderson, describes him as having feet so firmly planted “in muck” that he has returned from England duty without delusions of grandeur, just an enhanced confidence he is moving in the right direction.
He has the appearance and manner of the sort of bloke we’ve all played rugby with – big, hearty and honest – but the talent conferred on only a tiny elite. What’s more, that talent has been honed by an education at his club unique in its expediency for a hooker.
The resultant mix of earthiness and the exceptional marks him out as one of England’s hopes in these dark times, with a common touch that player and public alike might warm to. No doubt, a future at the top-table press conference awaits, but he will always be most at home on the changing room bench. For which we should all be grateful.
