Christmas is a juggling act for all professional athletes but, by anyone’s standards, Dan Robson’s life is a blur. He and his partner, Elizabeth, moved house to Leamington barely a week ago and are madly shifting boxes before hosting a dozen guests to lunch on Monday. Thursday involved a desperate dash to Birmingham to buy presents; next up is Wasps’ crucial Premiership game against his former club Gloucester at the Ricoh Arena.
This hectic work-life balance is neatly reflected by the scrum-half’s choice of interview headgear: a woollen beanie worn beneath a Christmas paper hat straight from the cracker. Luckily, keeping busy suits him. Last Saturday he was man of the match in front of England’s head coach, Eddie Jones, as Wasps beat La Rochelle, prompting some domestic ribbing. “My missus has been saying: ‘You should help around the house more often. You’d be man of the match more.’ I’ve told her that’s not how it works.”
There will be little seasonal respite, either way. His desire to continue sparkling for Wasps on Saturday afternoon, this time off the bench, is matched only by a determination to do whatever it takes to gatecrash England’s squad in 2018. At present this involves early morning gym sessions at Broadstreet RFC where, in a bid to improve his passing consistency, he regularly throws different sized balls at the former England hooker Andy Titterrell who is now on Wasps’ coaching staff. “It’s just a kind of mindset,” the 25-year-old says. “If you put a big rugby ball in your hands after trying to pass a tennis ball it’s suddenly pretty free-flowing.”
There is also a faint whiff of now or never. To date Robson, the best uncapped English No9 in the Premiership, has been steadfastly ignored by Jones, with Ben Youngs and Danny Care the two regular picks and Exeter’s Jack Maunder touring Argentina last summer as Care’s understudy. Robson, though, has not abandoned hope and used his summer tour exclusion as extra motivation. “It was frustrating for the first few days,” he says. “You never wish people ill but you’re thinking: ‘I want to be there, I want to be contributing’.”
The first stage of the healing process was to disappear with Elizabeth to the Dominican Republic. “I said: ‘Right we’re going on a two-week holiday and we’re not going to speak about rugby.’ I just wanted to sit on a beach, do nothing and get myself together.” Lying in the sun he made another pledge: in future he would focus solely on things he could control. “Last year there was a lot of chat about the ‘third’ nine and I was getting myself worked up about it. Now I’m putting everything into my rugby and not focusing on ifs and buts or what Eddie’s thinking.”
His outlook has also been shaped by the six years he spent at Gloucester, where he ended up marooned on the bench behind the club captain, Greig Laidlaw. “Sometimes there are tactical reasons and it’s absolutely fine. Other times you just want to tear the walls down. I felt I was playing really good rugby: coming off the bench, playing well, scoring tries. I just wanted a bit of a chance and a run of games. With Greig there I never really got that chance. He was pivotal, with his goal-kicking and his leadership. If it was a close game I wasn’t getting on because of his kicking. Weeks would go by without me playing a minute of rugby. I’d just be sitting on the bench thinking: ‘Is this going to change?’ No matter what I did it was tough to break in. It was pretty negative.”
Perseverance and resilience, however, have been recurring themes in Robson’s rise. Having grown up in Newcastle-under-Lyme as a fly-half – his father, Simon, played for Moseley and England B – he moved to Hartpury College in Gloucestershire to further his rugby, only to struggle to make the second team. Not until he was spotted during a kickabout by the new coach Alan Martinovic did the hard times ease. “If he’d come a year later I probably wouldn’t be where I am today.”
It has been a similarly steady upward progression since he switched to Wasps in 2015. He and his fellow No9 Joe Simpson continue to rotate as starters, pushing each other hard, and extra sessions with the sprint coach Darren Campbell have made him sharper. “In broken play he’s one of the best out there,” says Dai Young, his director of rugby. “He’s also worked a lot on his passing and kicking accuracy over the past 12 months and they’re as good as anybody’s now. I don’t see any reason why he’s not knocking on that England door. That’s Eddie’s decision, not mine, but I don’t think he can do much more.”
Scoring four tries against Sale this season delivered a further nudge and with Danny Cipriani back at fly-half Wasps’ backline has started to purr again. This week’s injury bulletins may have been grim but outwitting second-placed Gloucester would certainly not harm Robson’s England training squad chances, regardless of his various off-field commitments that include assisting Elizabeth with her fashion business. “The last two months have been nonstop carnage. But I like that. I don’t like getting home, sitting on my bum and not doing anything. I’d much rather be having a day off drinking in return for running out in front of a big crowd and playing against Gloucester.”
Should a cap eventually materialise, even so, it will be a reward for realising that less can be more. “Sometimes you can be out there for hours trying to rehearse every little skill. I’ve got better at realising what works for me and what I can do without overdoing it.” It would also be emotional. “If anyone who is eligible to play for their country tells you it’s not in the back of their mind it’s a bit of lie. But for me it’s about making people proud. Dad and Mum have sacrificed a lot over the years to get me to where I am. My partner has sacrificed a lot as well. When you go out, play well and win, it feels like you’re giving them something back. That’s a big motivating factor to me.”
Beneath the piles of Christmas wrapping and removal boxes, Robson’s professional ambitions burn more intensely than ever.
