Anthony Watson’s try for England against Wales last week came with a sense of deja vu. An obvious feeling of cathartic release, too, after spending so long out with injury, but underlying it all, a familiarity. For Watson had scored the try before, diving into the left-hand corner and dotting the ball down with his right hand. In fact, he had done so only days earlier during one of his visualisation blocks – a preparation method the 29-year-old winger swears by.
“I don’t really judge my quality of games by tries but to be able to score in the corner was nice and something I had spent a lot of the week visualising,” he says. “That is how I try to calm myself down before games. It is weird how it happened exactly how I had pictured it. Literally in that corner, because I was playing on the left wing and it was finishing with the ball in my right hand in that kind of style.”
