South Africa and Australia will all be in
there, but of all the northern hemisphere
teams, England has an equal chance with
anyone else. On their day, England can
pretty much beat anyone.
It seems in 2019 that there are
more teams this time who have
a good chance of winning the
Rugby World Cup...
I’m with you, and also because it’s in
Japan, a different country that we haven’t
been to before. The advantage England
has is Eddie Jones, who has family
background in Japan and he’s played
there and coached there, so he knows the
social setups, the etiquette and the
climate. It’s typhoon season, I believe. It’s
going to be very hot one minute and
crashing down with rain the next.
Not many people have talked
about the conditions
I don’t think people realize what we’re in
for... A friend of mine went over last year
for Sky TV and she stayed in the same
hotel that England are staying in this year
and on the 20th of September, which is
the date of the opening match, they had a
typhoon there! She sent a video and the
weather was shocking, absolutely
shocking. You wouldn’t be able to
play a game in it.With that bit of inside knowledge
will you be packing extra wet
weather gear?
You’ve got to take everything because we
go backwards and forwards all over the
country. The first game is in Sapporo
which is in the north and can be quitechilly, but lucky for us it’s an indoor
stadium. I don’t like working in the rain.
No matter how good the cameras are it’s
always difficult in the rain and it takes
the joy out of it, but you have to pinch
yourself that this is the World Cup and
we get paid to go to it.Looking back, was rugby your first
choice sport?
No, I’m a football man at heart. I started
in 1975 on a local newspaper in
Birmingham. That first year I talked them
into letting me cover Aston Villa as it was
just on the edge of our circulation area, so
we used to go there every Wednesday or
Saturday. They got to the League Cup
Final that year and won it. That was my
first time to Wembley Stadium, 1975.
I remember my Dad having to take meDave rogers
Rugby photographerAlthough renowned for his rugby
photography, Dave’s first sporting love
was watching his local team Wolves play
at Molineux Stadium. Seeing the others
working on the pitch seemed like the ideal
job and he began his career as a press
photographer at the Birmingham News
and Mail Group for four years, then joined
Bob Thomas Sports Photography and
Allsport picture agency. Today, he is the
head of rugby at Getty Images, the official
photography agency of World Rugby. His
work isn’t just devoted to rugby – he’s also
covered football and cricket World Cups.
Having shot hundreds of rugby matches in
his career, Dave says he has only paid
once to watch a match, when he went to
see Jonny Wilkinson play for Toulon!Profile
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