by Dylan James
NOW that he is relishing life in West Wales, Grand Slam-winner Ian Gough takes time to reflect on a stellar career in professional rugby.
Gough’s career started in very dire circumstances, he and Stephen Jones earned their first caps on the day they lost 96-13 to South Africa in 1998. However, by the end of his career, he had two Grand Slams under his belt, captained his country and registered 64 caps for his nation. Gough explained that his career lows made the highs all that much sweeter.
Resurrection under Gatland
After falling out with former Wales head coach Steve Hansen in the early 2000’s, Gough was left out of the 2003 World Cup squad, and Hansen’s excuse was that Brent Cockbain was an inch taller than him. Gough explained “there wasn’t a great deal I could work on with that”.
Even Gough himself thought he was dead and buried after the 2007 World Cup in France. Wales were dumped out by Fiji at the group stage in a 38-34 scoreline and things didn’t look good for any Welsh player involved. Gough was also omitted from the Autumn test squad in ’07 by Robin McBryde and Nigel Davies, and he thought his international days were numbered.
However, with a new coach in Warren Gatland, Gough explained he was resurrected. The former Dragon featured throughout the entirety of the 2008 Six Nations, secured a Triple Crown and the coveted trophy itself.
Captaining Wales to Grand Slam glory
Gough explained that his proudest moment was leading out Gwenan and Manon Gravell versus France in 2008, a game which honoured the life of their father Ray Gravell, who passed on just one year prior.
Ray Gravell played 23 times for Wales and also earned caps for the Lions, and Gough admits that the years have slipped by ever so quickly, saying that the fact the two girls are now in their twenties scares him!
The game saw Wales defeat France 29-12, securing the 2008 Grand Slam, where Gough won his 50th cap and captained Warren Gatland’s team to glory. Gough referred to the occasion as the day he hit his “absolute peak”, and that it was also a peak of the good times over the course of his career.
Having endured such disappointing lows, namely the altercation with Hansen in 2003, Gough never believed that he would have hit the heights that he did.
Putting the critics to bed
The current Wales team have experienced a huge amount of criticism over the last year, and had an awful 2020 under Pivac, but now they emerge as 2021 Six Nations champions with a new bloodline of talent busting onto the scene. Gough has been through similar criticism himself, and said that it doesn’t take a lot to change the fortunes of a team.
Gough said that Gatland didn’t “re-invent the wheel” when he came into the Wales job, but he made “the little one percenters” like bringing in Shaun Edwards as defence coach, and more generally, “nailing the environment”.
The devil is in the detail, Gough explained, and the critics don’t always know the full picture. There are clear similarities between Gough’s Wales and Pivac’s, and the former eluded to the idea that people could notice what was missing in the Wales of 2020, but Pivac just needed those little changes to make a big difference, which it seems he has managed to do!
Does he miss the game?
Gough played for the Dragons, Ospreys, London Irish, Pontypridd and Wales during his career, but he doesn’t miss the game as much as you’d think.
The towering second row explained that by the end of his career, he’d had enough of all the contact and re-occurring injuries, but admits he misses the camaraderie he felt as part of the team, and says this was the biggest factor when deciding to retire.
Life after rugby
With the unforgiving brutality of rugby, it is hard to imagine what one does when retirement looms. In Gough’s case, he has it nailed down to a tee.
Now settled in Pembrokeshire, Gough is enjoying surfing, family life, and the tranquility of West Wales, something I think we can all agree is the correct way to wind down after a particularly intense career in sport.
Check out the clip below, where Gough breaks down his tough start to life playing for Wales.
