16 2GS Saturday September 12 2020 | the times
McConnochie is desperate to
add to his two England capsthen come back into the Premiership,
which is much more drawn out — the
league is a long old slog — was weird.
“I tried to prepare as much as
possible. I talked to people about it,
knowing that people have come back
in the past and their form has dipped
going back into club rugby. However
much you prepare, it hits you hard.
“The reset was a massive thing for
me. I had not really had time off since
the summer of 2017. I definitely
needed that switch-off time, where it
puts everything into perspective.
“I have been involved in a charity
organisation for almost two years
now and I was doing more hours for
them [during lockdown]. During that
period there was a lot of heightened
anxiety and depression among
people. It was good to be there.”
McConnochie was alerted to the
voluntary role by his mother — “she
has always been keen on helping
people” — so undertook the online
training and joined the platform in
November 2018.
“It can be tough, emotionally
draining,” he says. “You get
conversations from relationship
problems to suicidal thoughts.
You try and help them; you
can be a sounding board
for them.”
Does he find it
rewarding? “It is hard
because sometimes you
don’t get the closure
you are hoping for.
Sometimes they could
just tell you they don’t
want to talk any more
and so legally you can’t
keep going and asking
questions.
“For me it was a very
good thing, especially
coming into Bath and
having all these internal
pressures, trying to perform
and get picked and win a
contract.
“It was a good thing to gain
perspective. In those three
hours when you are on call, you
are not thinking about rugby. All
you are thinking about is the
person you are talking to at the
time. If you have had a shit day in
rugby, much worse things couldRuaridh McConnochie anticipated
the “World Cup blues” before they hit.
The Bath wing had sought advice on
how to handle the inevitable
comedown after six high-pressure
months in the England camp,
fulfilling a lifetime ambition of being
capped and playing at the
tournament in Japan, but it made no
difference.
For all his efforts, the 28-year-old
could not avoid a slump in form. It
took time to decompress from the
intensity of the World Cup and
readjust to the slower grind of the
Gallagher Premiership. With only one
league appearance for Bath in two
months, there was no England recall
for the Six Nations.
Over the previous four years,
McConnochie had enjoyed one great
achievement after the next: winning a
silver medal in sevens at the Rio
Olympics in 2016, earning a contract
with Bath, forcing his way into the
club’s starting XV and then breaking
into England’s World Cup squad.
What he never lost through that
giddy rise to the top, nor forgot when
the going got tough in the winter, was
a sense of perspective.
For the past two years,
McConnochie has volunteered as a
counsellor for a mental health charity
called Give Us A Shout. The
anonymous text service is
predominantly used by younger
people who are struggling to cope.
They might be seeking help for
relationship problems, anxiety or
depression, or experiencing suicidal
thoughts.
McConnochie increased his
commitment to the service during
lockdown, when the number of
people reaching out for help
increased markedly. The work can be
emotionally draining but it makes an
important difference and the by-
product for McConnochie is that it
puts the challenge of winning rugby
matches into its true perspective.
Consequently, he has emerged from
lockdown as one of the form wings in
the Premiership, with five tries in four
games for a Bath team that are
mounting a serious challenge for a
berth in the semi-finals.
“I definitely had a big slump in
form coming back from Japan,” he
says. “I was still trying as hard as
before but I had been in camp with
England for almost six months and it
takes an emotional toll that you are
not aware of at the time.
“There were definitely the World
Cup blues. To go from an
environment where there was such
high pressure, doing everything we
could to win that World Cup, and
‘Helping someone
who is suicidal puts
rugby in perspective’
be going on for people around the
country.”
Communication has been critical to
Bath’s revival. Yes, the signing of Ben
Spencer, the scrum half, has made a
big difference and the squad have
responded positively to Neal Hatley’s
promotion to head coach. The
starting point, though, was
encouraging players to talk, to share
how lockdown had affected them and
their families, to discuss the Black
Lives Matter movement, to get to
know each other as people.
McConnochie says his experience
with the charity has helped him to
“approach difficult topics with people
and be non-judgmental.”
“We have been pretty good at the
club, trying to talk to each other more
and engage more,” he says.
“Connections off the field can lead
to performance on the field. We have
taken massive strides forward. We
have built up an element of trust and
that has been shown on the pitch.”
Bath play Sale Sharks tomorrow, a
clash at the AJ Bell Stadium between
two of the four teams looking to join
Exeter Chiefs in the play-offs. “We
have spoken about this scenario being
unique, like a smash and grab
moment,” McConnochie says.
“Whoever comes out of the lockdown
and reacts in the best way will win the
Premiership and that is what we are
hoping to do to.”
McConnochie has emerged from
lockdown in prime form, forcing
Eddie Jones to take notice before the
Autumn Nations Cup not only with
his tries but his all-round
performances. “The feedback I have
had from Eddie was to go back to
what I was doing when I got picked,
which was beating defenders and
keeping myself as big an aerial
threat as possible,” he says. “I
can only train as hard as I can,
try to get better and
hope for success
with the club first.”
This time last
year, McConnochie
had just made his
England debut in a
37-0 win against
Italy and he was
settling into the team’s
pre-World Cup camp in
Miyazaki. He made one
appearance in the tournament,
against the United States —
scoring a try — and the next
day shared a quiet beer with
his father in the hotel bar.
“That was seriously special,”
McConnochie says. “He absolutely
loved seeing me making my
dream [come true] and playing
for England. Everyone assumes
when you have made your
England debut that you
have done it, but it is
the opposite. You
are hungry for
more.” The World
Cup blues have
well and truly
cleared for Bath’s
Good Samaritan.Ruaridh McConnochie’s
work as a counsellor rid
him of the World
Cup blues, writes
Alex Lowe
Tomorrow
Wasps v Bristol Bears
12.30pm, BT Sport Extra
Leicester Tigers v Northampton Saints
2pm, BT Sport 1
London Irish v Worcester Warriors
3pm, BT Sport Extra
Sale Sharks v Bath
3pm, BT Sport Extra
Saracens v Exeter Chiefs
4.30pm, BT Sport 1This weekend’s action
All the noise and confusion
surrounding Owen Farrell’s
five-match ban for a head-high tackle
that left Charlie Atkinson, the
teenage Wasps fly half, lying
unconscious on the artificial turf at
Allianz Park has exposed major
problems with rugby’s disciplinary
system. Three things need to change:Centralise all citings
World Rugby should take central
control of the judicial process across
the whole sport. The reason for this is
clear. Although the panel for Farrell’s
hearing was independent, the charge
was brought by the RFU and the
communications around it managed
by the RFU.
The optics screamed conflict of
interest. Farrell, captain of the
England men’s team, was represented
by Richard Smith QC, the England
team lawyer. Eddie Jones, the
England coach, appeared as a witness
in defence of Farrell and therefore
against the RFU, his own employers.
It is entirely understandable why
the immediate reaction from people
would be: “Isn’t it convenient that
Farrell’s ban was cut in half so he willMy plan to overhaul
be available to play for England?” The
reality is that the RFU, having
prosecuted the case, had nothing to
do with the eventual decision from
the three-person panel, who
determined due to the severity of the
injury that Farrell’s tackle was “totally
unacceptable” and should be
considered a top-end offence which
carried a recommended ten-match
ban, before aggravating/mitigating
factors were applied.
The whole process would be
considered more independent if
World Rugby ran it. The sport would
also benefit from greater consistency
in terms of the process and decisions.
It is ludicrous that each domestic
and international competition has its
own disciplinary process, with
different citing windows, different
procedures and different levels of
transparency.Show us your working
Transparency and communication
has to improve, whether the process is
run by the RFU or World Rugby. The
judicial panel follows a four-stage
sanctioning checklist of factors when
determining its decision. That chart
should be made public in the same
way as World Rugby published its
high-tackle framework last year.
It would bring much greater clarity
and understanding to the process and
the final decision. For example, the
RFU’s press release stated that
testimony from Jones, Mark McCall,Ben
Kay
Sport Rugby union