Rugby's 'Celebrities' - Neil Francis hammers Gavin Henson and Danny Cipriani.

thomond2006

Rugby Analyst, Neil Francis - The celebrity trap

Both Gavin Henson and Danny Cipriani promised so much as young players, but now they are little more than wasted talents

'It takes two hours to get ready. Hot bath, shave my legs and face, moisturise, put fake tan on and do my hair – which takes a bit of time." It could be your missus getting ready to go on a big night out but no, read on.

"I need my fellow players to say I'm looking good, I need it for my confidence. It gives you a boost. I don't want Charlotte to do my legs; she can concentrate on her own. Mine are smoother than hers."

March 2006: Friday night with Jonathan Ross – Gavin Henson has his 15 minutes of fame. Ross has his researchers do all the work and even though Henson is a rugby international, Ross goes to work on his Derek Zoolander alter ego. The two hours that Henson refers to are the two hours he takes to get ready to go off and play a rugby match. He is not talking about a social engagement. Ross, sensing a bit of weakness, starts to goad Henson but stops, as he belatedly realises that Henson is completely defenceless – it was like clubbing a baby seal. The interview collapsed as Ross realised that Henson was as vacuous an empty vessel as he had ever interviewed. There was no connect between interviewer and interviewee. Despite being feted as a media celebrity Henson has all the charisma of a coffin lid and it would be unfair to slag him.

Henson's model is a precursor and a disquieting precedent for the celebrity rugby player. We currently have two in the northern hemisphere – Henson and Danny Cipriani. They are good friends and that is not a coincidence. They, like quite a number of talented sportsmen, have this self-destructive genome in their DNA which leads to unfulfilled potential, distracted agendas and depressive mentality which is precipitated by early retirement and disillusion. Both of them are well on their ways down this path. It is plausible to suggest that we will not see either of them play a serious game of rugby union again. The question we have to ask is whether the disappearance of this Jedwarding pair is good or bad for the game.

Putative logic tells us that Henson is a quality player. I can't say that I agree with that. It's true that he played a part in Wales' two recent Grand Slams. He also played a large part in Ireland's recent Grand Slam. His playing qualities are obvious. He has a booming boot, he's a quality place kicker, he has good hands, he is good defensively and, despite a lazy gliding style of running, is deceptively quick. Yet there is something missing. How is it that you can have style without substance?

Never really a team player, he is more a self-contained unit within the team. When he famously took the ball from Gareth Thomas at the end of the Grand Slam game in Cardiff in 2005 and said, "Give me the ball and start celebrating", the braggadocio of the moment hid the fact that his 14 teammates, although quite happy to have this talented individual on their side, didn't see him as part of their team. That Welsh success in 2005 led to a surfeit of Welsh players in the Clive Woodward-led Lions squad to New Zealand.

Henson's inability to mix and form relationships on that tour was noted by anyone who was involved. It didn't help that he had written some pretty harsh and perhaps untrue things in his 'bewke' chronicled in the press pre tour. It begets a lack of intelligence that you accuse the tour captain of dirty play, even though there was a chance that Brian O'Driscoll would end up playing in the centre with him at some stage. What was he thinking?

After O'Driscoll's serious shoulder injury ended his tour, his loss was exacerbated by the media selection of Henson for the second test. This was a Welsh media selection and, surprisingly, Woodward did not have the cojones to resist and bowed to playing the Spice Boy. It was the worst performance I have seen from a midfield player in a Lions jersey. It was claimed that he was injured. Either way, he did not make the third test. With the obvious exception of the Welsh 2008 Grand Slam, Henson's career was pockmarked with injuries and undistinguished performances and quite a few sordid instances on the rugby field. Off the pitch there were any number of unsavoury incidents, including a drunken altercation on a train back to Cardiff where Henson was arrested along with a few friends – it's straight out of Dirty Sanchez

Henson's relationship with Charlotte Church led him down a different path and his rugby career suffered. Whether he wanted at age 26 to be a great player, it seemed that he wouldn't or couldn't do the hard work necessary to achieve it and being a celebrity was the easier path; the path of least resistance. The two lifestyles are incongruous. Reading about yourself in OK or Heat magazine dulls the competitive juices and work ethic of an elite athlete and your ego is magnetised to such an extent that you lose your desire to go out and do the things that make you a minor celebrity in the first place. Blaming injury, Henson took a career break, which is still ongoing.

Senior management in the Welsh and Ospreys camps would, from time to time, pop up on Ceefax or engage in sound bites in the briefs sections of newspapers wondering when he would come back. "The door was always open." "The phone was always on." Unpaid leave of absence. How in the name of God would anyone else get away with it? Why such levity? He had problems. What type of problems? Bradley Davies, the Welsh second row played against France in February, a day or so after his mother died.

Henson hasn't laced a boot in over 18 months because... well because he couldn't be arsed. I'm just wondering how his contract is still valid. I wonder if the Welsh Rugby Union is still testing him. Everybody else has to go through all those procedures. Henson has dropped down to an improbable 11 stone. I can't understand how. How or why are the Welsh Rugby Union so understanding or lenient? Do they know something we don't?

Henson's relationship with Church broke up two weeks ago after getting engaged a month prior to that – fuelling more soundbites and more celebrity mag gossip – yet there was no sign of Henson at pre-season training for Ospreys. Henson has gone on record as saying that he wants to play in the World Cup in 2011, which is great news for the Andrew Bishops of this world who have busted their balls for the last two years while Henson was out partying. A day after he made that statement it was confirmed that he would be appearing in Strictly Come Dancing – I think he has made his mind up. I'd say his teammates have too.

Danny Cipriani is in the stupid but saveable department. His inherent talent is obvious – far easier to discern than Henson's, but he too has been "infected" with the cult of celebrity.

Cipriani's rap sheet is just as extensive as Henson's having first come to national prominence when bedding Larissa Summers, formerly Darren Pratt, where the red-tops so eloquently put it "the 20-year-old fly-half had no idea that before her sex-swap op the stunner had very different tackle." Cipriani had the usual late-night punch-ups, suspensions and celebrity bust-ups before he met glamour model Kelly Brook who he coincidentally finished with at the same time Henson finished with Church. It is significant that Cipriani's other big news story was related to the time that Josh Lewsey (everything that is good about rugby in an English player) knocked him out cold in a training-ground spat. The two players shook hands and made light of the situation, but if it hadn't been Lewsey then there was a queue of players waiting to administer some well-earned medicine.

Will Greenwood was given grief for suggesting that the reason Martin Johnson dropped Cipriani from his squad was because he was deeply unpopular within the squad. Greenwood could not have been more correct. Cipriani's unquestionable talent was not going to save him.

Cipriani destroyed an out-of-sorts Ireland side in Twickenham a few seasons ago. It is rare that an out-half has searing pace. Cipriani was only slower than the electric Paul Sackey in the England squad at that time. Regular sprint sessions with Margo Wells (wife of Allan) kept him in great shape. He cut Ireland to pieces. That was, it looks like, his best match at age 20; his burgeoning talent left to wither on the vine.

As we write, Cipriani is due to head out to Melbourne to play in the extended Super 15 for the new franchise Rebels. The side is coached by respected coach Rod MacQueen – a World Cup winner in 1999. Stories are floating about in London depending on who you believe that Cipriani has had trials with West Ham, QPR, Fulham, Reading and Spurs. He has had a few reserve games with QPR and it seems a code switch is imminent despite signing a three-year deal with the Rebels. MacQueen is only getting a taster as the rumours fulminate.

When news came out that Cipriani was to leave Wasps, a club from whose academy he graduated to win the Heineken Cup, Lawrence Dallaglio was moved to ask why. He was, after all, on the board of management at the club.

Tony Hanks and Shaun Edwards took the phone calls. The terms "exasperating", "vulnerable", "no loss" and "too high maintenance" were used. It has been well documented that Cipriani had an awkward and tough upbringing but it seems he brings a lot of his off-field problems directly onto the field and it grates and sparks with all his teammates. Wasps were happy to let him go. Their fervent hope is that when he brings his suitcases with him to Australia he leaves his baggage behind.

The Aussies will be a different kettle of fish to his situation at Wasps. They don't take any ****. If Cipriani turns up with the same attitude, his talent won't be worth a warm pitcher of piss.

I think Cipriani's stay in Australia will be short lived, if indeed he pitches up at all, and it won't be long before his talent is extinguished. It is written in the stars, it will be impossible to reverse his fate.

Two shining lights, like a moth drawn to the flame, hypnotised and seduced by the cult of celebrity. Rugby has no precast mechanism to show them the side door. They chose it themselves – self regulation. The game won't miss them.

http://www.tribune.ie/sport/rugby/article/2010/aug/22/rugby-analyst-neil-francis-the-celebrity-trap/

Great article from Franno.

Do you think that a celebrity life hampers a player's rugby career?

I was reading a debate on the subject on Rugby World and ironically it was Sean Holley (part of the Ospreys coaching team) who slammed the idea that a celebrity life and a rugby career could co-exist.

Will Carling believed it could (provides an escape from rugby etc) and yet (afterwards) he spent weeks trying to motivate Cipriani. He failed and said in the media that he seriously questioned Cipriani's passion for the sport.

Thoughts?

[Jackass]

I'd rather be a world class talent rugby player (on my day) that spent a bit too much time posing for magazine shoots and hanging out with my super model girlfriend and doing tv interviews and living the hollywood lifestlye, who subsequently underachieves on the rugby field, than be a fat lazy talentless oaf that leans on rucks to inspect them, and tries to hide on the pitch only to try and forge a career elsewhere as a sensationalist, plagerising, unoriginal joke of a hack churning out tired old articles that were cute and sassy about 4 years ago.

What next Franno?

Erm...let me know when you find another good rugby forum thread, I'll read the synopsis in the indo. I don't know which is funnier, his attempt to pass as an actual journalist or the fact that someone is paying him for this type of sh*t.

It may be silly season for everybody else, but it's still moran season for Franno.

Judgement Day

Well I have to preface my comment by saying that I don't remember much of Neil Francis' days on the rugby pitch but it's a nice no nonsense piece of journalism. One only has to look at the bad patch that BOD went through when he appeared to be more interested in being in Hello magazine than in his game. Players heads are frequently turned by big bucks and the lure of fame and start to believe in their own PR, but who can blame them as it's only human nature. Look at Beckham as a prime example of someone who has become something of a joke as a result of his lifestyle, and Ian Botham as a player who went through it and came out the other side. I suppose where Franno is coming from is the position where we think we own our sportsmen and hate to see wasted talent - which of course we don't and it's their own damn business if they choose the high life. That said, it's a shame to see Gavin Henson on the slide whereas Cipriani, Toby Flood, Andy Goode, Charlie Hodgson and all the other pretenders to Jonnos boots can take the plane down under, drink themselves under the table or go wild altogether and I'll be happy.

outwest

i agree with henson, but danny has gone because for the right reasons, a few years playing super 15 will make him a better player, when johnson gets sacked by england, danny might get back in england set up

sure bod was like them a few years ago.

Diom

Neil Francis.... hahaha

Crass and unimaginative hack. He is giving out about celebrity rugby players, yet he cannot cope with his relatively diminutive celebrity. At least the players he is citing are talented.

redroar1942

[Jackass] wrote: »

I'd rather be a world class talent rugby player (on my day) that spent a bit too much time posing for magazine shoots and hanging out with my super model girlfriend and doing tv interviews and living the hollywood lifestlye, who subsequently underachieves on the rugby field, than be a fat lazy talentless oaf that leans on rucks to inspect them, and tries to hide on the pitch only to try and forge a career elsewhere as a sensationalist, plagerising, unoriginal joke of a hack churning out tired old articles that were cute and sassy about 4 years ago.

What next Franno?

Erm...let me know when you find another good rugby forum thread, I'll read the synopsis in the indo. I don't know which is funnier, his attempt to pass as an actual journalist or the fact that someone is paying him for this type of sh*t.

It may be silly season for everybody else, but it's still moran season for Franno.

Hay lets not go too far. There's slagging a man who deserves it but calling him a Moran is just too much

mrboswell

Check the dictionary for the definition of useless...... Neil Francis won't be far away.

danthefan

Diom wrote: »

Neil Francis.... hahaha

Crass and unimaginative hack. He is giving out about celebrity rugby players, yet he cannot cope with his relatively diminutive celebrity. At least the players he is citing are talented.

Talent wasn't the issue for Franno. He was a very talented player.

durkadurka

danthefan wrote: »

Talent wasn't the issue for Franno. He was a very talented player.

Yep effort and fitness were the problem. He was class for a good 15 minutes or so.

Amazotheamazing

Franno suffered a bad injury early in his senior career and openly admits he never tried or played hard after it, he was frightened of being paralysed. Fair enough, I'd be the exact same but I wouldn't have the nerve to then write in a national paper about players lacking commitment. You'd also think he'd be more mindful of Henson's injuries, the guy missed a lot of rugby due to legitimate injuries that must have made him wonder if his body could even take pro rugby.

Cipriani is different, he had one injury that could have finished his career and considering he comes from a pretty poor background, no wonder he's tempted to go for as much money as possible, whether it's in the s15 or in football.

handsomecake

in their defence,if you were a professional rugby player and charlotte church or kelly brook wanted to lick your apple bag ,would you say no? yeah they have questionable attitudes but christ we would all bag a celebrity missus if we could

Diom

danthefan wrote: »

Talent wasn't the issue for Franno. He was a very talented player.

Was talking about his "Journalism" career. Should have been clearer.

buck65

That's a fairly decent article by the big man. Don't really know what is objectionable about it. Personally I like Franno as he puts his foot in it often but carries on regardless. Frankly a breath of fresh air in an otherwise staid profession.

mrboswell

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Franno suffered a bad injury early in his senior career and openly admits he never tried or played hard after it, he was frightened of being paralysed. Fair enough, I'd be the exact same but I wouldn't have the nerve to then write in a national paper about players lacking commitment. You'd also think he'd be more mindful of Henson's injuries, the guy missed a lot of rugby due to legitimate injuries that must have made him wonder if his body could even take pro rugby.

Cipriani is different, he had one injury that could have finished his career and considering he comes from a pretty poor background, no wonder he's tempted to go for as much money as possible, whether it's in the s15 or in football.

I thought he was paralysed

I'd say Henson suffered a lot with those horrific lag shaving cuts and fake tanning sessions - never mind being married to yer one! Poor guy.

subfreq

Good article and an old era player venting his spleen on a subject a lot of his old colleagues are watching with distain.

The two he mentions are the prime candidates but it's now a feature of the generation coming though in rugby who will never have any contact with the amateur game.

I think there is a few from every nation who have the potential to fall into the same trap that these two did.

You will see more friction between players, coaches and unions as player managers have a bigger impact on careers. In the past it was all about getting to the highest honour of pulling on the national jersey. It's a sad but unavoidable part of professionalism that the contract and finance will be priority for a lot of players.

I wouldn't dare tar all or even the majority of Rugby players with this brush but it's unavoidable that the culture will change. I hope like most that the traditional values we all love are still safeguarded in the coming years.

Amazotheamazing

mrboswell wrote: »

I thought he was paralysed?
.

Not sure what you mean, he spent a lot of time rehabbing a back injury that must have felt like being paralysed but he was able to play Internationally again after the injury and is still walking, running, playing golf etc, afaik.

mrboswell

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Not sure what you mean, he spent a lot of time rehabbing a back injury that must have felt like being paralysed but he was able to play Internationally again after the injury and is still walking, running, playing golf etc, afaik.

Just meant he didn't do an awful lot around the field.

In fairness, it was before my time, but I did hear he was a decent player in school and was considered as potentially very good. Didn;t know he had a back injury though. You certainly don't want a player that couldn't give 100% - very understandable that he always looked lazy on the pitch.

Amazotheamazing

mrboswell wrote: »

Just meant he didn't do an awful lot around the field.

In fairness, it was before my time, but I did hear he was a decent player in school and was considered as potentially very good. Didn;t know he had a back injury though. You certainly don't want a player that couldn't give 100% - very understandable that he always looked lazy on the pitch.

His parents were left with big medical bills too, think he was injured in an Irish game and the IRFU didn't exactly do much to cover his costs. I don't really blame him for minding himself afterwards, who wouldn't, but he must understand better than most what it's like to be an injured athlete.

mfceiling

Diom wrote: »

Neil Francis.... hahaha

Crass and unimaginative hack. He is giving out about celebrity rugby players, yet he cannot cope with his relatively diminutive celebrity. At least the players he is citing are talented.

Not a word i would associate with henson i'm afraid....one tackle and one kick against england many years ago do not constitute talent!!

PhatPiggins

mfceiling wrote: »

Not a word i would associate with henson i'm afraid....one tackle and one kick against england many years ago do not constitute talent!!

Sorry but if you think thats true you don't know much about rugby.

pappyodaniel

Neil Francis, as a player, sums up everything that was wrong with Irish rugby back in the 80s. Outside of Dublin, the rugby public were left scratching their heads as to the continual selection of Francis on the international team. A big lazy lump who shied away from the rough stuff. If I remember correctly, I think it was Mike Teague (Gloucester) who decked him in a 5 nations game thus making him a hero down in parts of Munster, Connacht and Ulster. An English man punches an Irish man and we cheered for the English man

As a journalist though, I actually enjoy listening to his rants. He's a cartoonish figure and always entertaining...just a pity he can't back up what he writes with a proud and honest past playing career.

Amazotheamazing

pappyodaniel wrote: »

Neil Francis, as a player, sums up everything that was wrong with Irish rugby back in the 80s. Outside of Dublin, the rugby public were left scratching their heads as to the continual selection of Francis on the international team. A big lazy lump who shied away from the rough stuff. If I remember correctly, I think it was Mike Teague (Gloucester) who decked him in a 5 nations game thus making him a hero down in parts of Munster, Connacht and Ulster. An English man punches an Irish man and we cheered for the English man

As a journalist though, I actually enjoy listening to his rants. He's a cartoonish figure and always entertaining...just a pity he can't back up what he writes with a proud and honest past playing career.

For a guy who makes his living out of rugby, he's fairly ignorant about some players. for example, when Earls came through for Munster he'd been a star for Munchins in the schools, had won a Grand Slam with the Irish u20's and been scoring a fair bit for Garryowen (at the time). Everyone pretty much expected him to be an important player for Munster, there was even a 10 page thread on Leinsterfans "giving out" about Munster not playing him (at the time Fitz was tearing it up for Leinster). Anyone who followed Irish rugby had heard about him.

Anyhow, Franno managed to avoid all the hype and predict Earls would be another J. Kelly* and didn't have enough talent to be an Irish regular. Iirc, Earls goes on to score a hatrick in the same game. By comparison Tony Ward often gives his impressions of young players coming through and really gives a feel he lives and breathes Irish rugby.


*No bad thing, Kelly is one of my favourite Munster players.

Sandwlch

pappyodaniel wrote: »

If I remember correctly, I think it was Mike Teague (Gloucester) who decked him in a 5 nations game thus making him a hero down in parts of Munster, Connacht and Ulster.

Not sure that you do. Was that not Tony Copsey (English alright, but playing for Wales) ?

I think Franno is the best rugby commentator in Ireland these days. The last remaining reason to buy a Sunday Tribune. Writes well and humourously, gives his own views and doesnt just parrot the group think concensus. Condiders the game as a whole and offers good observations on every aspect of the game.

pappyodaniel

Sandwlch wrote: »

Not sure that you do. Was that not Tony Copsey (English alright, but playing for Wales) ?

I think Franno is the best rugby commentator in Ireland these days. The last remaining reason to buy a Sunday Tribune. Writes well and humourously, gives his own views and doesnt just parrot the group think concensus. Condiders the game as a whole and offers good observations on every aspect of the game.

Copsey, that's the man. He was English though, qualified for Wales, but that's besides the point. I agree with you on his writing, it's blunt and straight to the point and he's never afraid to voice his own opinion, nail on the head about Henson and Cipriani
...I just think his his playing career was less than admirable.

Digifriendly

Neil Francis in my view was a very talented player but rarely seemed to put himself about as much as other players - maybe the reason for this was the one given in an earlier post re injury early in his playing days. I remember seeing him play for a star studded Blackrock side against Dungannon in an AIL game back in the early 1990's and apart from winning lineout ball he seemed anonymous for most of the game. I was reminded of one of the most talented forwards to come out of Ulster in 1970's - Ronnie Hakin (CIYMS) who won a few caps for Ireland and like Franno was a superb lineout ball winner but didn't put himself around the field as much as his colleagues.

Sniedel

Surprised at the number of people who disagree with Franno here. Drivel though his journalism may usually be, I think he made a good point...

How can you be constantly on the front pages of the rags which thrive on scandal and alcohol/drug/sex- related calamities, and then turn in a proper shift week in-week out on the pitch...

Diom

Sandwlch wrote: »

Not sure that you do. Was that not Tony Copsey (English alright, but playing for Wales) ?

I think Franno is the best rugby commentator in Ireland these days. The last remaining reason to buy a Sunday Tribune. Writes well and humourously, gives his own views and doesnt just parrot the group think concensus. Condiders the game as a whole and offers good observations on every aspect of the game.

Blunt, perhaps. To the point, sure. Give his own views, of course.

Not one of those qualities listed above makes a good journalist though. The guy doesn't know Irish rugby. He admits to not watching Connacht play... even against Leinster. I'd hate to hear his analysis of Galwegians vs Cork Con...
He spouts ill-informed nonsense, of the ilk you'd hear down the pub from the local know-it-all.

Ciaran-Irl

"England fly-half Danny Cipriani has thrown his rugby union future into doubt after travelling to the United States for a trial with Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids."

The Times

(No link, because you need to pay for that)

thomond2006

I can't believe the coverage that Cipriani's whereabouts gets.

Who cares where an England/Wasps reject is training?

Making a mountain out of a molehill IMO.

Ciaran-Irl

thomond2006 wrote: »

I can't believe the coverage that Cipriani's whereabouts gets.

Who cares where an England/Wasps reject is training?

Making a mountain out of a molehill IMO.

Agree - but I do think it will be interesting to see if he makes it as a professional footballer. That would be an extraordinary crossover really.

PhatPiggins

thomond2006 wrote: »

I can't believe the coverage that Cipriani's whereabouts gets.

Who cares where an England/Wasps reject is training?

Making a mountain out of a molehill IMO.

Er hello its bloody hot in Colorado. Kelly Brooke in a tank top/bikini !! I care very much thank you.

thomond2006

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Er hello its bloody hot in Colorado. Kelly Brooke in a tank top/bikini !! I care very much thank you.

Eh, they broke up a while ago.

PhatPiggins

thomond2006 wrote: »

Eh, they broke up a while ago.

You mean she's single again :eek: She has no excuse to keep returning my letters now

durkadurka

PhatPiggins wrote: »

You mean she's single again :eek: She has no excuse to keep returning my letters now

Yeah if she could be a good sport and lift that restraining order too...