Anthony Watson is used to his teammates treating him as the ‘special one’. As the solitary member of England’s World Cup side with unattached next to his name, the winger is in the unique position of being the only squad member employed by the Rugby Football Union rather than a club. “You know what it’s like with rugby players,” says Watson, a touch wearily. “Very little goes unremarked.”
The jokes about extra food at lunchtime and his company-man status, however, mask a deeper, darker reality. Watson’s entire rugby future would have been on hold had the RFU not stepped in to pay his wages for this summer. “I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a stressful period,” he says quietly, gazing down at his fingernails. “There were definitely days when I was expected to play in big games and would be under a fair bit of stress outside rugby.”
Without the RFU’s intervention, Watson and his family would have been left in a highly awkward position. Many clubs are feeling the economic squeeze and his most recent employer, Leicester, were reluctant to pay someone who would have been unavailable to them. Which is how one of the country’s top players, set to play in his third World Cup, found himself in limbo. “I’m really not sure what I would have done. Being brutally honest, I would probably have had to go to France,” he says. “But my desire has always been to play for England for as long as I can. To represent my country has been my dream since I was a kid. I don’t want that taken away because of things out of my control. As I say, I’m very grateful a solution has been put in place.”
Having poached Leicester’s entire coaching team, some would say the RFU owed the Tigers a favour. Watson, though, neatly sidesteps the term ‘centrally contracted’. “No, that’s definitely not the right phrase. It’s a short-term solution to allow me to figure out what I want to do afterwards.” In a perfect world he would like to rejoin the Tigers after the World Cup but, as yet, has not signed with anybody. “I’ve loved it at Leicester. It’s a great rugby club. I feel like they have a drive to improve and win that I haven’t really been around for too long, apart from when I’ve been with England.”
Given the way he was unceremoniously squeezed out of Bath after nine years – “I learned more about the business element of rugby” – the 29-year-old is well qualified to discuss the harsher side of professional rugby. The serious achilles and ACL injuries that effectively curtailed his career by two years – “It took a lot out of me mentally and physically to come back from that … being taken away from the game does change you” – have been additional obstacles. You half expect to find a slightly jaundiced figure sitting in the Twickenham sunshine.
Instead Watson sounds more motivated than ever, seemingly strengthened by his trials and tribulations. As with everyone else connected with England’s World Cup final disappointment in 2019, he also has a sense of unfinished business. “Going one better than we did last time has been a motivation for a very long time,” he says. “I’ve made no secret of how much that game hurt me and how much it fuels what I do. I use it a lot as motivation – which was why I was so desperate to play in this World Cup. It’s definitely something that has stayed with me and something I want to put right.”
It is also a massive driver, Watson reckons, for others in the squad – “whether they say so or not” – with the disciplinary furore over Owen Farrell adding to the collective sense of resolve ahead of a defining tournament. “We’ve got a lot of motivation, given how turbulent the last 18 months have been. That makes you insular as a group and I think that’s very important going into a World Cup.”
So could it conceivably be third time lucky, following England’s pool exit in 2015 and their 2019 Yokohama heartbreak? Watson certainly feels better equipped mentally. “In 2015 I was pretty young. I just wanted to play as well as I could. I’m not ashamed to say it: I was probably a little bit selfish then. Now I just want to help the team. That’s all I want to do. You can get obsessed with trying to do things from an individual perspective. All I want to do is help this team achieve what we want to achieve. The contract situation made me realise that things move on without you or with you there. You’ve got to make the most of opportunities when they’re there.”
And maybe, just maybe, all his injury setbacks were needed to jolt him into the real world. “Calling it a blessing in disguise is bang on,” Watson says. “It’s definitely changed my perspective. I learned so much through the achilles rupture and the ACL. I would change some of the long-term effects they have but I wouldn’t change how much I learned through that time. Appreciating how good it is to do what you do and how much you rely on it for a sense of happiness. You find a different motivation you didn’t know existed.”
Becoming a father to a young son, Kai, has also made him suitably appreciative of everything his dad Duncan and his Nigerian mother Viv – his parents met when Watson Sr was working in petrochemicals in Africa – did for him. “I’m very lucky to have the parents I do,” Watson says. “Being mixed race gives me a breadth of understanding some people wouldn’t have. Diversity of thinking allows people to be themselves … you don’t want 33 robots. Having a Nigerian side and an English side … I take things from both cultures. My dad definitely taught me about having a work ethic while many of my morals are based around my mum’s. Growing up around the church has been pretty fundamental.”
Is religion important to him these days? “I’m not going to sit here and say I go to church every week but it’s definitely something I try and base my life around.”
His uncle Mark, incidentally, was also once a Concorde pilot and it is Watson’s soaring ability and class – “He has incredible talent” murmured Steve Borthwick this week – that England still value massively. They could do with an upbeat performance in Dublin but Watson is adamant all is not yet lost. “We definitely need to get the country onside but the proof’s in the pudding. Whilst I don’t want to say that people need to have patience, we want to do our talking on the pitch. We’ll be looking to put out a performance that hopefully the public can grab hold of. I genuinely believe that on our day we can beat anyone.”
But what is now the team’s primary aim? To be competitive? A surprise package? “To win the World Cup,” replies Watson flatly. “I don’t think anyone here would be happy to say: ‘We did alright, we’ll take that.’ It’s not what we’re about. I think it’s a waste of time. If you go in with expectations like that you’re likely to fall short.” Elementary, perhaps, but Watson is clearly a man on a mission.
