Newcastle Falcons vs Saracens - Programme

“You can always go back to an
office job when your playing
career is over.”
“I played pretty much every sport while I was there, and didn’t
spend much time in the classroom! I ran, played hockey, cricket,
athletics – everything really. All of my England age-group rugby
was while I was at Sedbergh, through 16s and 18s, and I got called
into England Under-20s’ squad when I was in my last year.”
It seemed for all money like a rapid rise to the top was on the
cards, but there was to be a string in the tail.
“I did three ACLs pretty much back to back in my first three years
out of school,” says Stuart, who has the scars on his knees to
back up the story.
“I’d had a bit of a long-distance relationship with Harlequins while I
was at school because they’d seen me playing at the Rosslyn Park
7s when I was 13. It was nailed-on that I was going there after sixth
form in 2010, but I did my ACL at the end of my first week of my
first pre-season there. I came back, did it again, then when I came
back that time I went out to New Zealand to play four months of
club rugby.
“I played for East Coast Bays just over the bridge from Auckland
in the North Harbour province, which was great, and then came
back to Quins and did the ACL in my other knee. When I came back
that time I fractured my jaw, and then I left the club having hardly
played for them.
“There’s no bitterness towards Quins, and there’s not much
they could have done. I was just spending most of my time with
the physios rather than being involved in the rugby there but I
had good team-mates, and I was living with some of the other
academy boys like George Merrick, who is here with me now at
Newcastle.
“After leaving Harlequins I went travelling for a bit, then actually
came up and played for Darlington Mowden Park for four months.
It was more just helping them out because one of my old schoolmates
was their captain, and from there I joined Richmond.
“They were in National One at the time, but we got promoted in
my first season there and then I had a season with them in the
Championship. They’re not a professional club so I was working
during the day – firstly on a few building sites and then in the city
as a stockbroker. I didn’t enjoy that job at all, but playing rugby
again at Richmond was great.
“After my experience with injuries at Harlequins I wouldn’t exactly
say I’d fallen out of love with the game, but I’d got to the point
where I maybe thought my body just couldn’t do it. I then went
to Richmond and played 32 games in my first season, 24 in my
second and I thought I might as well try and give it another crack.
You only have a relatively short period of time in your life when
you’re physically capable of playing professional sport, and you
can always go back to an office or a building site when your
playing career is over.”
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