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So welcome to the sample and 
podcast formerly Sports talks. 

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Now, why did I change it? 
I change it, I change it. 

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I changed it because I felt too 
confined. 

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I felt a bit like I had to just 
keep going on there snc 

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Merry-Go-Round when my life had 
evolved and my career has 

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evolved and I'm at a point in my
career now Are, you know, I can 

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go in whatever Direction I want 
in a point in my life as well, 

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which is really powerful to me 
and really, really motivating in

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that way, you know, battling 
with some some demons. 

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As we all do, some Temptations 
to a, you know, whenever you see

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the bloody Six Nations on the 
TV, want to be out there 

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coaching and doing all that. 
But you know, it's part of the 

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COS do you want to grow or do 
you want to stay? 

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And I want to grow and that's 
been I really like the story of 

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my life is always being growing 
on to the next learning new 

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skills, doing different things, 
becoming a different person. 

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I think that, you know, the most
noble pursuit of Master is the 

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Mastery of self, and if that 
means that you keep growing, 

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then you should. 
I think it's Eeveelution. 

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And I think it's wonderful, but 
it doesn't mean that I'm not 

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going to stop. 
Stop talking about speed. 

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I love to be the coach speed all
the time and my certification 

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sport speed, and the work. 
Shops in everything like that. 

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You know? 
It's my love, it's a passion of 

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mine and I love doing it. 
And bringing these ideas to you.

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And he's coaching techniques and
and the application of stuff is 

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really important and the 
foundation of everything that I 

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do. 
And but you also can talk about 

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other things we can, you know, 
bring on guests, that run gyms, 

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we're going to bring on mindset 
people. 

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We're going to bring on the 
bloody Postman, whoever the 

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sample and podcast is that Sits 
who I want to talk to when I 

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want to talk to him, why I want 
to talk to him and how I want to

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talk to them about whatever they
want to talk about. 

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And I think that's a huge part 
of it. 

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I remember, you know, I've I got
on a podcast that it meant that 

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I made it. 
You know what it means is really

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what I thought is that you know 
I get a podcast and people value

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me and show me value. 
But you know, it's that approval

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for my for myself and you know 
from someone else rather than 

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just you know pressing record 
and doing it myself and That's 

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basically how I've done things 
from speaking and training and 

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all those things that I just 
went and did it and then built 

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it and I was it. 
And so, that's what I'm going to

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do again. 
But don't forget that you can 

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watch these vote on Spotify, 
think if you turn the phone, if 

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it's on the phone or, you know, 
I will upload them to YouTube as

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well. 
So there's plenty of opportunity

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for you to see me talk to you as
well. 

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Not just listen to me because We
will be doing whiteboard 

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sessions. 
We do know is a cool stuff, 

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which I'm really looking forward
to sharing with you. 

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And, you know, I just wanted to 
start really impart by telling 

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my story and sharing part of my 
story and I'm going to tell you 

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so many stories, but I'll tell 
you the cliff notes. 

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And the goal is to keep these 
quite short unless we have 

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guests on or special special 
things. 

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You know, these are going to be 
hopefully under 10 minutes. 

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And, you know, today I just want
to tell you the story of how 

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from underweight 13 year old 
rugby player. 

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I ended up, you know, working 
for the team that tried to sign 

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me the day. 
I broke my leg and that's a 

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pretty cool story that I think 
so. 

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Yeah, I was, I was, I was young 
and I was skinny and I got let 

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go from saracens for being too 
skinny, but I was tall, you 

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know, I'm currently six foot 
four and about 100 kilos and 

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Myra Rugby player and weight 
was, you know, 98 and I was to 

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about 10% body fat at the time. 
And that was that was solid. 

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I was very athletic and, you 
know, the moment probably a bit 

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too heavy play American 
football, but that's for another

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day but different sports. 
But so I was, I was told that I 

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was too small and it really 
knocked my confidence as a 

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player and over the years and 
ended up about 17 getting asked 

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to play for the first team at my
local club. 

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And then Simo came into My life,
and he told me if you're going 

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to play for the first team Sam, 
you need to lift weights. 

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You need to get stronger, you 
need to protect yourself. 

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You know, I was 17 by then and 
still very skinny. 

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As about 70 kilos 6-foot 1642. 
They didn't have much left in 

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me, growth wise and Simo play 
for England, and for wasps 

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before, just as the game turned 
professional, and he took me 

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under his wing and, you know, on
a Monday night I'd have to run 

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up to the Local Rugby Club, 
which was about 25 minutes run. 

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And then he brought me into the 
gym which was an old storage 

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room and had been turned into a 
gym for the lads at the Rugby 

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Club and mainly, for Simo. 
And it had some mismatched 

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donations, but there was loads 
of resistance machines and 

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there's a squat rack in the 
corner and a old hand bike are 

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dying thing. 
And you know I turn up thinking 

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right? 
I'm going to be lifting, some 

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big old weights and now Samoa 
was like you see all these 

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machines. 
You going to Do 10 reps of each 

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one and you're going to do it 10
times through, and then you can 

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go home and then you come back 
the following week, and then you

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can just going to try and add 
more weight, and that was it. 

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And that was my training 
program. 

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And you had bench press. 
So you had chest, press your 

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shoulder press. 
You had row had leg extension 

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hamstring curls with calf raises
adapter, like inside outside, 

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like you name it, it was there. 
And you know I was it was a 

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tough circuit, I was sore but 
over time I started bulking up 

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start putting on weight and you 
know taught me something really 

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useful about General 
preparation. 

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Is that it doesn't have to be 
too fancy and it's just about 

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conditioning, the body for the 
next piece and over for five 

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months, that was there was a 
whole preseason. 

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So yeah, from July to about 
September when the game's first 

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started, we were doing all of 
that and I had seen some results

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and then he started teaching, Me
how to hang clean and do squats 

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and I was like, well what about 
bench? 

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He was like, fuck bench, you're 
a winner, you're fast. 

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You need to have strong lower 
body and be explosive, sweet 

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house, like let's go. 
So he started teaching me how to

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hang clean and they were like 
these muscle hand clean tool at 

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old bars. 
Like these that didn't Spin and 

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you know it was like just rip it
off the ground and rip it off 

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the thigh. 
Sorry and it was amazing 

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experience. 
And at that time I was 

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captaining the The under 19's 
when I was 17 and playing in the

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first team, and I got into the 
national magazine, the Rugby 

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World for scoring, it was 22 
tries in 22 games, and I was one

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of them and kick and go. 
And I was one of the most that 

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time it was 11 games of the 
regular season says playing 

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Saturday Sunday. 
I was one of the highest point 

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scorers in the country and so it
got a bit of notoriety which 

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then started getting me a bit of
attention and I was phoning this

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time, I was Finding Owning a lot
harlequins, front desk, trying 

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to get tryouts and trials at 
academies and I remember I spoke

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to a guy called Tony dip Rose 
whose Academy Amanda on the 

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phone and I was like 17 year old
kid. 

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Like trying to say to him, I 
wanna come play for you. 

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How do I come play for you? 
What do I need to do? 

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And now I called, you know, back
saracens. 

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I was ringing them up and it was
like I think about it now and I 

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was like that is just So cool. 
And I can't even remember who 

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that person was, if I'm 
completely honest. 

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But I know the fight because 
it's the one that's still in me.

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And and I love it, and I was 
able to be in a position there, 

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where, you know, a couple years 
later, I ended up playing 17 end

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up playing against Bristol. 
The, their second team within 

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the Premiership at the time and 
on a Monday night. 

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Right for Henley Hawks second 
team and for a tryout and then I

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didn't go through, I played and 
it was a good game, you know, 

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Premiership quality players 
experience. 

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So it was really really good and
and then I went back to amersham

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until I was 19 just to fill out 
a bit more wasn't ready? 

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And I'm completely honest I was 
a bit scared and I had so much 

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loyalty to Simo and the teams 
that I was with and you know I 

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wanted to You something that was
never done before I still wanted

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to, you know, when I was a big 
fish at that point, I was I was 

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really valued and that was meant
a lot to me. 

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And I am ended up going on a 
national cup. 

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Run with the under-19s and we 
got to the last 16 to the 

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quarter-final. 
The last eight. 

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Sorry. 
Of the best under-19 team in the

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country in England and we got 
bowed out. 

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We've got when were mauled over 
the line by Red Roof on a really

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wet and windy day. 
And we were like a fast, 

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expansive playing Team, the 
mauling wasn't for us. 

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And and so then I kind of that 
was it and I made my decision 

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and then I ended up going over 
to another team. 

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I went to Henley and then I got 
put on Trot on loan for a 

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four-match loan to get some game
time because I went back and I 

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then ended up getting scoring 
with my first touch of the ball.

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Went over in the corner and felt
amazing. 

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Perfect way to start my campaign
with a new team and then last 

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five minutes played the whole 
game last. 

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Five minutes I was really solid,
we were winning. 

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It was a close game box kit. 
And up, I've chased it from 

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inside. 
My own is on I-95. 

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Meet line were under a lot of 
pressure, and I was like, I need

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to make this tackle to relieve 
the pressure to our over chased,

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a cut across the guy. 
He tripped his knee, hit my shin

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and I broke my leg and is one of
the most and agonizing 

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experiences of my life. 
There's very painful but at the 

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same time as 19 and I realized 
that me playing professional 

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rugby was over so it was a 
really interesting time and it's

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very tough. 
If experience that I went 

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through and you know, that 
there's two thousand seven, so, 

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the championship wasn't a 
professional League. 

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It was either you get into an 
academy under-21s, as a 

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professional player, or you 
don't. 

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And that was it. 
So, it was over and I had a 

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trial pending with Munster over 
in Ireland, and I broke me. 

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Then that was it, that was that 
done broke my leg game over and 

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I fought to try and keep that 
try alive, and it never happened

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and that was it. 
And the the A part of this whole

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story is that that day that I 
broke my leg. 

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The academy manager from wasps, 
turned out to a mission to watch

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me play the day. 
I broke my leg because he was 

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looking to sign me for wasp 
Academy now. 

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Funny story off the back of, 
that is only found that out 

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after Rob Smith employed me as a
strength and conditioning coach 

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for wasps Academy three and a 
bit years later. 

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So sometimes it's not meant to 
be be but sometimes everything's

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meant to be and and that's what 
we take forward from that story.

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So hopefully you enjoyed that 
and I look forward to sharing 

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more about why Eeveelution into 
how I became whatever you think 

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I've become and I look forward 
to seeing you on the next 

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episode. be but sometimes 
everything's meant to be and and

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that's what we take forward from
that story. 

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So hopefully you enjoyed that 
and I look forward to sharing 

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more about why Eeveelution into 
how I became whatever you think 

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I've become and I look forward 
to seeing you on the next 

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episode.