As the World Cup beckons, Matt Mullan tells Emily Horton about the highs and lows of playing and training in the England squad
He may be a prop on the pitch, but in the great marauding pack of Twitterati, Matt Mullan is decidedly back row.
Unlike some international sporting stars, the 28-year-old does not spend his spare time filling our Facebook feeds, nor pruning his pecs on Instagram. With this particular athlete there is no self-promotion or celebrity entourage: just a cherished family life and relentless dedication to his craft.
Windsor Magazine August 2015
Matt Mullan
When I first caught up with him, he was holed up at Pennyhill Park, England’s Bagshot training HQ, having just returned from Denver, Colorado. There, in the Mile-High City, away from the media glare, he and the rest of the 45-man national squad hunkered down,
continuing the countdown to September 18, when the World Cup itself kicks off.
Sadly, since then, Matt’s World Cup dream has come to an end with England head coach Stuart Lancaster recently announcing he has cut a further seven players from the team – Matt included.
“Despite knowing that the selection process was inevitable at the end, everyone in the squad became very close after seven weeks in camp,” he tells me now back at home in Marlow.
“I am hugely disappointed to leave that camaraderie, but just to have been named in the extended training squad was an honour," he says gamely.
"Of course, I am hoping that the boys will be successful, because I know how hard everyone has worked.
“It was unbelievably tough in Denver,” he continues. “The training that we were doing at altitude was a level that I have never experienced before."
Competition to make the final team is inevitably intense, because, as Matt tells me, "to go all the way and play in a home World Cup would be the pinnacle of anyone's career.
“Everyone is fighting for just a few places. When you’re out on the training pitch, you are looking over your shoulder wondering how everyone else is going. You’re constantly telling yourself that you need to be at the top of your game.
“That said,” he continues, “Denver was brilliant because the freedom of being away allowed us to socialise a lot more. I got to spend time with guys that I haven’t been able to get to know as much while at Pennyhill.
“The team-building activities in particular were great, such as when all 45 of us were together white-water rafting and having a good laugh – and the pressure of selection simply didn’t enter our heads.”
Camp life, I learn, is about mucking in and getting on with those who, at other times of the year, are fierce opponents in the club game.
“Everyone gets on well in the England camp. There were four of us from Wasps, my Premiership side – James Haskell, Joe Launchbury, Elliot Daly and I – but it’s definitely not a case of coming in and not socialising with boys from the other clubs.
“Earlier this year we played against Harlequins in the European Cup and then, that same night, we came into camp to prepare for an international. Unfortunately, Wasps didn’t win that particular game, but it makes no difference: you’ve still got to come straight into England training.
“In fact, you might find yourself rooming with one of the boys you’ve just been playing against, so you really have got to get on with it.”
One rival from that Harlequins match was the England captain, Chris Robshaw. Matt is unequivocal in his praise of the Redhill-born player.
“I can’t speak highly enough about Chris,” he says. “Everything that I expect a professional to be, Chris is it. He is incredibly diligent – both on and off the pitch – constantly at the top of his game.”
Matt’s own career began in his teens, when he first played for England Under 16s. He has become one of the finest loosehead props in the country and a respected vice-captain of Wasps. Ever since his first taste of international glory as a schoolboy, the England rose has always smelled sweet to Matt.
“Once you’ve had the experience of playing for England, continuing it is something to which you aspire. You just love it. When you're 16, singing the national anthem and about to play for your country, there is absolutely nothing bigger.”
"And I don't think that the sense of grandeur and occasion is lost as you get older. If anything, it increases as you become more aware of the sacrifices that people have made to get you there."
Matt alongside Tom Wood: Photo Credit Getty/RFU
As Matt returns to Wasps to prepare for the new season, he also remains on World Cup standby, should there be any injuries during the tournament.
“Before I left, Stuart cautioned me not to switch off fully. He said that I am only one injury away from being recalled, so I need to be ready to get straight back into it if I receive that phone call.”
The ascent has been steady for Matt. From the Under 16 team, he progressed to England Under 18s, then Under 20s, and then to the England Saxons (the national Second XV). His first full England cap came at 23, against Italy in Rome, under the tenure of coach Martin Johnson, previously captain of the legendary 2003 team that brought the Webb Ellis Cup home from Sydney – England’s only World Cup triumph to date.
To the new kid on the international block, it was a moment of double delight: not only the fulfilment of a long-held career ambition, but an encounter with one of his greatest sporting heroes.
“It was surreal, but I just had to get on with it,” he reflects. “You can’t be walking around at training thinking: ‘Oh my God, there he is…’”
Since that day, despite several injury setbacks, eight further England caps have followed. And Matt is hungry for more, as well as continuing success for his beloved Wasps this year.
“You’re always aiming for the next big thing, the next big goal,” he says. “It’s always at the forefront of your mind.”
No doubt it is the same for the likes of scrum-half Danny Care, tighthead prop Dan Cole and hooker Tom Youngs – all accomplished contemporaries of Matt whose careers have, in many ways, walked in step with his own.
“I have got to know these guys really well from growing up playing at national level and training with them,” Matt says of his friends who have maintained their positions in Lancaster's squad.
One of the joys of playing rugby, Matt tells me, is the respect among his colleagues. A sense of courtesy, he says, retains an important place within the ethos of the game.
“The England shirt in particular means so much, but not just in terms of results: it’s a question of what it represents. People do look up to the national team and aspire to be in our position. Whether it’s a six-year-old playing on a Sunday morning or a fan in the stands watching the Six Nations, we want to be good role models for them and rise to our responsibility.
“Even away from the field, our actions are seen by such a wide audience that it really does matter how we act. As players we don’t always appreciate that at first, but it’s true.”
Matt himself comes over as a serious and sensible individual, refreshingly self-effacing. He is, I would think, the epitome of what Lancaster demands of his players with his so-called ‘culture of responsibility’.
And yet, in a way, that very call seems vaguely at odds with the essence of rugby as a full-blooded contact sport. Matt’s own position in the scrum demands a great deal of aggression. I wonder whether the inner beast can be both tamed and unleashed at will.
The contradiction, however, is merely apparent.
“What I like about prop is the fact that it’s one of the few positions where you go head-to-head with your opposite number,” explains Matt.
“I’m not a very confrontational person off the pitch, but every time there is a scrum, it’s you against one other guy. It’s not at all about being outwardly aggressive, but about having the ability not to take a backward step – no matter what.”
Matt’s instincts for determination and discipline are deeply ingrained, inculcated within him from schooldays at Bromsgrove School, Worcestershire, where he learnt his craft under the head rugby coach, his father, Paul.
“Growing up with my father as the school coach, I had to go above and beyond what was expected, so as not to be seen as getting special attention. In some respects it was a bit harder for me to win praise, but it has set me up well for the harsh realities of professional sport.
“Of course, a lot of it is just about dusting yourself off and getting on with it. There are always hard decisions and situations, and you’ve just got to take it. What matters is how you handle the good and bad times on a personal level – that’s what really makes the difference.”
And how are the players dealing with the pressure so far, I ask?
“Undeniably, there is huge expectation, but if the country can get behind the team and build momentum, then that’s a big threat to the other nations coming in. England is in a tough group, but that’s not always a bad thing – if the team can progress, it will be ‘battle-hardened’ for the later stages.
The moral of the Matt Mullan story? Foster team spirit and keep up the good fight, which his teammates will be doing from September 18 as he wills them on. The world will be watching. England expects...
Look forward to more rugby star interviews in our Rugby World Cup Souvenir issues, out next week...Can't wait 'til then? Check out our RWC2015 for more rugby stories
