Sébastian Chabal, Ben Foden, ‘Mushy’ Buckley, Can Shepherd, Danny Cipriani, Mike Phillips, James O’Connor.
Sale Sharks has had its’ fair share of colourful characters over the years. That Will Addison puts Andy Powell right at the top of that list, then, is truly saying something.
The Premiership side are the big North West representatives in the league and, at the height of the Game of Thrones phenomenon, proudly took on ‘The Night’s Watch’ mantle. Proud Northerners with a definite ruddy, wild streak.
Will Addison made his Sharks debut as a prodigious 18-year-old and spent eight seasons with the club before former teammate Dwayne Peel recommended him to Ulster and, thanks to an Irish mother that allowed him to play for the men in green, a 2018 transfer was sorted.
The Ulster and Ireland fullback recently joined Andrew Trimble and Barry Murphy on Baz & Andrew’s House of Rugby and looked back on his time with some of the game’s biggest misfits and loveable rogues.
Addison was in training with the Sharks senior squad in 2009, the final year of Sébastian Chabal’s five-season stint with the club.
“When I was 16,” Addison recalled, “I was driving down from here, which is about two hours north. I was going into the car park and the first person I saw was Chabal coming out of the car park. But he was smoking and he was in a Smart Car. I was like, ‘Oh man, this is something different!’
“He lived in a fairly central area of Manchester and I think he quite liked the city buzz, so he used to drive a Smart Car. And all the lads used to say that he used to light up [cigarettes] a fair amount as well.”
Addison says the whole ‘Night’s Watch’ concept took shape on a bus journey back from London to Manchester after a game, and everyone bought in.
“Because every time someone buggers up on a night out,” he explained, “or has an incident on the field, or has been sacked by their current club, no doubt Sale will be the one who signs them.
“For me, the one that stands out the most would be Andy Powell, I think for obvious reasons. I was only 19 when he arrived and, at that time, I was really lucky that I was getting a good run in the first team. I was like, ‘Ah, professional rugby’s class. I’m playing week-in, week-out, I’m still at university. And then we just signed Andy Powell so that’ll be great off the pitch’.
“Anyway, he signed and the first trip we had away with him was away in Brive. I was like, ‘Ah, class, I’ll latch onto Powelly tonight’. And I ended up, that night, getting pepper-sprayed so I thought better of that!”
“There’s so many good blokes that I played with, and so many characters,” Addison continued. “We used to make up a team of some of the loose characters we played with, and you’ve got Cam Shepherd from Australia. He would have been one of my best mates, and he’s the loosest guy I know. And then you’ve got Powell at 8, Danny Cipriani, James O’Connor… Marland Yarde is a loose character.
“All these random folk who have had pretty littered, unsuccessful pasts, have all come to Sale and had a good time. We’ve always prided ourselves on our work off the pitch and luckily, in time, the lads that have left have done pretty well on it and are probably challenging for a title now.”
By the time Covid-19 intervened to force a postponement to the season, Sale Sharks were sitting second in the Gallagher’ Premiership table, just five points off Exeter Chiefs.
Addison feels that, even if the season were to resume during the summer month [possibly behind closed doors], Sharks’ squad may be hit harder than others.
“If it starts up again,” he noted, “most of their team is over in South Africa as well. So whether they get those lads back, as well. But they’ve been flying.
“They’ve been building that for a lot of time now and I can remember when I made the choice to move, [Sale Director of Rugby] Steve Diamond said, ‘Well just make sure you back yourself to fulfil your potential because we’re going to be something special here, and that for sure’. And that’s what they’ve done.”
CHECK OUT THAT FULL EPISODE HERE:
UBSCRIBE TO BAZ & ANDREW’S HOUSE OF RUGBY: https://playpodca.st/house-of-rugby-ie
Ulster and Ireland fullback Will Addison joins Barry Murphy and Andrew Trimble in the virtual House of Rugby studio to discuss farming, blisters and Friday broncos. The lads chat to rugby agent Dave McHugh and dip into the classics – R.E.M, Good Will Hunting and Munster vs. Sale.
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