EX-ENGLAND STAR REVEALS HOW HIS COACHING AND MENTORING SERVICE IS DESIGNED TO BRIDGE THE GAP ‘BETWEEN DREAMS AND REALITY’

Red Rose legend Will Carling tweeting in defence of Cadan Murley this week shone a light on the pressures facing players in an England team which cannot buy a win.

“For those throwing the mud,” he began, before highlighting what the Harlequins wing did well on his Test debut as a counter-point to criticism of those two defensive lapses in Dublin.

The visit of France to Twickenham on Saturday reminds us that this is history repeating itself. Twenty years ago this very month England lost Le Crunch on home soil and one man took the brunt of the abuse.

There was no-one standing up for Charlie Hodgson after he missed three penalties and a last-gasp drop goal and England, despite scoring the game’s two tries, coughed up a 17-6 lead to lose 18-17.

“This is something I will have to learn to live with,” said the man who would become all-time leading points scorer in the Gallagher Premiership. “I don’t need people to rub it in that I didn’t do this or that – I know that.”

A fly-half whose 44 points on debut remains the most ever scored by any England player in a Test match, Hodgson was booed that day by elements of the Twickenham crowd.

A playmaker who went on to star for the Lions’ midweek team in New Zealand and win multiple Premiership and European Cup titles, he went on to receive hate mail.

It was a chastening episode and one that, despite 38 caps and 269 points for his country, left a scar.

“Unbelievably isolating,” he says, two decades on, when asked by Planet Rugby to recall how it felt to be in the eye of the storm.

‘You have to suck it up’

“No matter what people say to you it just feels like you’re the only person who’s dealing with it. I suppose in that moment you are. You have to suck it up, there’s no getting away from it.

“I ask myself if I’d spoken to somebody earlier and had that guidance would I have dealt with situations differently? Perhaps I would. Would I have let those things affect me differently? Probably, yes.

“There’s a lot of hindsight, isn’t there? You learn these things as you go. For me, it’s about drawing on those experiences and using them in a positive way.”

Which brings us to where we are now, England in much the same mess they were in 2005 – eight losses in 11 Tests compared to nine in 11 back then – but Hodgson, thankfully, in a better place.

Rather than shy away from the most challenging moments in a rollercoaster playing career, the 44-year old has chosen to embrace them by creating Rugby Buddy, a coaching and mentoring service designed to bridge the gap “between dreams and reality”.

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“I’m well aware that my career was not always plain sailing,” he says with a wry smile. “I certainly had some great times but, also, some really shitty times.

“It’s about trying to draw on those experiences in a positive way and highlighting to people that, no matter where you feel you’re at and what’s going on, there’s always a positive element.

‘I’ve lived it all’

“I understand the trials and tribulations associated with the rugby world, I am all too aware of how difficult it can be. I’ve lived it all. That feeling of not being good enough early in my career left me anxious and stressed on many occasions.”

Hodgson’s intention with Rugby Buddy is to coach and mentor early stage, aspiring professional rugby players to build the mental resilience and mindset essential for success.

He got the idea from his friend Jade Heusen, former professional ballet dancer and First Artist with Birmingham Royal Ballet, who came up with Ballet Buddy (balletbuddy.com).

Heusen recognised the need for customised support and mentoring for kids going through ballet school from the age of 11. It resonated with Hodgson.

“It’s like anything, if you share an issue with any of your mates it becomes a little bit lighter,” says the Halifax-born father-of-five. “But when you are in that moment it can be very difficult to share.

“I never felt in a position to say something to other people. It was a macho environment where people didn’t really share, didn’t show that vulnerability.

“Rather than search for it [help] I kind of sat on my hands and didn’t really move forward. What I probably should have changed was my approach towards it. Really thought about it.

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing. You deal with the situation that is in front of you. I’m sure we all look back on certain situations that we would change. My default was always to internalise things. That’s what I’d always done.

“The older I got the more I recognised the need to open up a little bit more. I chose to do something about it. And now I help the younger generation do something about it too, before it becomes an issue.”

It might not help England players in action against Antoine Dupont et ses amis on Saturday, but Hodgson’s hope is that it will better equip the Red Rose stars of tomorrow.

To find out more about Rugby Buddy visit https://rugby-buddy.com

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2025-02-04T15:42:32Z