"You're going need that wonderful word, resilience to be better able to deal with setbacks. There are always setbacks in this game, and you need to bounce back."

- Simon Amor

You are one of a number of former London Irish Mini and Youth players who went on to achieve International representative honours. You were England Sevens captain and named World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year in 2004. You also won silver at the Commonwealth Games in 2006, narrowly losing to New Zealand on St Patrick’s day.

What are your earliest memories of London Irish, the mini festivals, youth tours and your favourite away club?

My earliest memories are actually being at the Avenue with the wonderful old clubhouse and those two back pitches and thinking how big they were.

But of course, as a young child those are your thoughts. I remember distinctly one of the mini festivals, where the programme title had “10 not out” written on it; they were brilliant because they were just the biggest festivals and best experiences for a young player.

The year before last, my eldest son and I travelled to Dublin for the Under 12’s tour. Playing against De La Salle Palmerston and a few other clubs was just fantastic. Going back to these same places as an adult knowing you did that as a child 30 years previously.
Reliving the same experiences and camaraderie amongst both parents and players. The players themselves were exactly the same despite the 30 years of difference.

And your favourite away club? Rosslyn Park was a good competitive one, we are very fortunate to have some really good clubs around here.

Your Dad coached at London Irish with Clive Woodward but in those early days at London Irish who were the coaches that influenced you and what was it about them that inspired you?

My first coach was Willie Anderson and he was a really tough old player and coach. It was back in the Gary Halpin days, god rest his soul, and other brilliant people. After that it was Dick Best and I was fortunate to get some world class coaches at an incredibly young age.

You made your debut at fly half for London Irish on 17th May 1998 against Leicester; Kieran Campbell was scrum half that day and Adrian Flavin made his debut from the bench. As Adrian has said, the result did not go to London Irish’s way, but you scored a try and two penalties.

Tell us about how you felt making your debut, particularly in a team with two other players who had also come through London Irish junior rugby?

To do that with both Kieran and Adrian, both of whom I still speak with now, and having been together for the previous ten years and growing up together was amazing. Kieran was outstanding that day, he didn't score a try, but my God he was electric off the base of the scrum.

That day I remember distinctly you had Darren Garforth, Richard Cockerel, Martin Johnson playing for Leicester. Opposite me was Joel Stransky, who just won the World Cup and me as an 18-year-old.

I remember distinctly taking a kick at goal. Looking up at the post and in front of me was stood Darren Garforth, Martin Johnson and then Richard Cockerill. At that point, the posts went from looking wide to looking so narrow. The old pitch at London Irish with the Guinness bus there, it was a wonderful experience.

Your distinguished career, especially with England sevens playing against some of the best players in the world, is well documented with themes of positivity but there must have been occasions when the lows kicked in. Tell us how you overcame those times and what encouragement would you give to aspiring players?

Well, there's a few things. First, you must accept that with highs come lows. Actually, it's by experiencing the lows you really appreciate the highs.

The second one is having a bit of self-belief, that's quite important.

What I was also very certain of which I encourage everyone to do, particularly young players coming through, is to have something else going on outside rugby. So, I was always either studying or doing something else, something to get my mind away from the pressure of professional rugby and that was really important in terms of keeping you mentally balanced.

You can't not think about things. People say just don't think about stuff, but of course the brain doesn't work that way. The brain is always thinking; switching itself from thinking about a negative thing about rugby, then switching to thinking about something positive in another part of your life.

What three attributes do you need to become the best in your game?

Well, you need to have a talent and incredible work ethic. To be very successful, you're going to have to work hard.

You're going need that wonderful word, resilience to be better able to deal with setbacks. There are always setbacks in this game, and you need to bounce back.

If you'd like to learn more about Simon Amor you can read his story on the England Rugby website.

Mini rugby is played on Sunday mornings at 10am at Hazelwood the home of London Irish. If you are inspired by Simon's story and want to get involved you can find all the information you need in the Mini, Youth, Membership and Contact sections of the website.

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