It was the shock that Sam Warburton felt first, followed by a helplessness that then morphed into a sense of having let down his team mates and country before the fears struck of being moulded into a modern-day sporting pariah.
A total of 1,128 days and 45 internationals have been played since the Wales captain’s last World Cup ended in the ignominy of a red card from referee Alain Rolland for an adjudged spear tackle on France’s Vincent Clerc in the 2011 semi-final.
Warburton can run through the incident as if it were yesterday, his tone almost apologetic for the tackle that reduced Wales to 14 men for more than an hour in an agonising 9-8 defeat.
“It was more shock than anything at the time,” he says. “You don’t realise how many people are watching on TV at that moment in time as you’re in your World Cup bubble
Warburton is sent off in the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup after being judged to have spear tackled France's Vincent Clerc (above)
“I then had to sit down on the side of pitch with this guy with a camera five metres away from me for the rest of the first half. So he’s waiting for me to slip up and moan and I had to bite my lip.
“At half-time, I listened to speeches, no one came up to me, giving me space I guess. I just watched the rest of the game in shock, helpless, knowing I couldn’t influence the game. That was punishment in itself.”
With Wales effectively out of the World Cup – albeit with a third-place play-off against Australia yet to come – the reparation began two days later as he exited an Auckland taxi with coach Warren Gatland and a Welsh Rugby Union lawyer and press officer in tow.
His only route to the hearing was along a street of bars and cafes filled with World Cup revellers of a multitude of nationalities.
“I was walking along and suddenly all these people stood up clapping and cheering as they obviously were supporting me for whatever reason. They didn’t agree with the decision, felt sorry for me, liked the way Wales had played or whatever.
“It was really nice to see the amount of support,” he adds. “I thought I was going to be a villain in the changing room afterwards and I thought people back home were going to hate me for losing them the World Cup but it was completely the other way.”
His redemption on the field came immediately in the form of his return match, fittingly against French opponents Racing Métro, and his opening gambit: a tackle to take out one of their props, which he describes as one of the best tackles of his career and a move that “finally put it to bed”.
In its retelling, Warburton gives off the sense of wanting to repay that debt of gratitude to the Welsh public in his second stab at leading his country at a World Cup.
Warburton during this year's Six Nations
There is a parallel from then to now, with Wales once more finding themselves with their backs against the wall following the late withdrawals through injury of Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb. There has been the usual doomsday reaction, to the extent that Warburton says light-heartedly, “you’d think someone has died”.
But that is not to belittle the sense of loss. The team’s captain is the first to admit that both players were guaranteed starters and both were set to be talismanic forces, scrum-half Webb with his attacking style and full-back Halfpenny with his ever-reliable boot.
Like any member of the Wales squad would, Warburton tries to put a positive gloss on the setbacks and makes the point that “I don’t think you can call yourself World Cup contenders if can’t afford to lose two players”. But then he admits that it makes an already tough campaign in the “pool of death” with Australia and England that much tougher.
“We have a tendency in Wales that the more pressure on us, the better we tend to perform,” he adds. “I think it will bring us together. We’ve been in this position before, players with bad injuries, and we seem to come together.”
Warburton has not been without his own scares in the lead-up to a World Cup that will be partially played on home soil with the Millennium Stadium hosting two of their pool games.
A knock from the lock Jake Ball in training left him fearing his tournament had ended before it began with a recurrence of a nerve injury in his right shoulder – which has struck twice before, leaving him out for two to three months. This time the lay-off, which began as part-paralysis of the shoulder, lasted merely a matter of days. “For two or three days I panicked I’d miss all the pool games and then it’d be a struggle to get back into the team,” he admits.
In the build-up he has avoided going out in public too much, he and his wife Rachel avoiding the cauldron of expectation in Cardiff bar the occasional foray to their favourite restaurant which they frequent on a Sunday night when the crowds have dissipated.
His wife is well versed in the journey from 2011 to 2015 that has entailed the number one requirement for holiday bookings being a good gym to ensure Sam can maintain his fitness – including on their honeymoon last summer – and the Jekyll and Hyde character on and off the field.
“I am a totally different person,” he says. “If I walk down the tunnel on a team run I say hello to everyone and have a chat. On match day, I couldn’t even tell you who’s in the tunnel, I’m there to do a job.
“Before playing rugby you know it’s 80 minutes of pain. It’s the physical side of knowing you’ll get battered by the hits and will run as hard as you can for 80 minutes. It’s exhausting, so there are nerves not about failing or dropping a ball, just what you’re going to have to put your body through. That’s the most nerve-wracking and hardest bit.”
With what has gone on in his World Cup past, the nerves will be even greater now, though the time has come to detach the two tournaments. Redemption, he insists, is irrelevant: “People will ask about the red card but it’s not the red card that makes me want to go one step further, it’s just losing in general. That’s the reason I want to get to the final. I’m not preparing for a third-place play-off.”
Sam Warburton is the face of Duracell #PowerCheck, an objective measure of player and team power and longevity at Rugby World Cup 2015. Follow the conversation at www.facebook.com/Duracelluk or @DuracellUK on Twitter
