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'Billy keeps walking past saying, Beyonce, what's wrong with you?'
Double Heineken Champions Cup winner Jim Hamilton has amusingly recalled the incredible 24 hours he had when Saracens won the 2017 tournament. The retiring lock got to play 40-odd seconds of the final in what was his last outing as a professional player and he went on to enjoy a raucous night of celebration that he wound up paying a heavy price for the following day when the club took the train back to London from Edinburgh.
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The former Scotland lock had decided to finish his career at the age of 35 and after previously being the sort of player to lurk in the background when it came to trophy presentations, Hamilton was front and centre at Murrayfield for the trophy presentation after Saracens had beaten Clermont in the final of a tournament in which he played some part in seven of his club’s nine matches.
What followed was a memorable night’s high jinks but Hamilton was roughed up the following day, his body suffering the after-effects of the celebrations and he missed out on Saracens selection for the following weekend’s Premiership semi-final at Exeter.
Asked on the latest edition of The Rugby Pod, the show he co-hosts with Andy Goode, if he ensured he was out in front by design when it came to the European trophy lift pictures, Hamilton agreed he did it to ensure he would ‘stay current’ the following year in his first season of retirement. “You’re right it was – what a stroke of genius,” he enthused.
“That is what it was, I knew I was retiring and there is a funny answer and a serious answer. I’m a humble man and in years gone by I was just in the back of pictures, it wasn’t about me. But this one I thought, ‘I’m going out on a high here’. I’d been to the well all season for Saracens, played in nearly every game…
Ollie Hassell-Collins, Harry Potter tattoos and the night out that ended big Jim’s career ?
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“We got to the final and I remember being stood on the sideline against Clermont in Edinburgh and I was, ‘I’m going to be absolutely devastated if I don’t get on’. Luckily there was a knock-on or something and I looked up and there were 42 seconds to go. The difference between being on the bench to being on the pitch, well you saw the celebrations were like I had just won the World Cup. We hadn’t, we had just won Europe but the celebrations were remarkably different.
“I remembered this was my final moment to be front and centre so behind me is Brad Barritt, the captain, even though he is lifting the trophy up. Maro (Itoje) and Owen (Farrell), you can’t even see them. And me and Petrus du Plessis, who was on par with me in terms of stealing a living, we are literally jumping up and down in front in the picture and that went viral because that was the intro to all the games of the European Cup for the year after – so rightly deserved is what I should say.
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“That was my final moment as a rugby player. What you saw in that picture was me, the man who felt he deserved that moment, and that was it, that was the last time I stepped on a rugby field. I was absolutely bolloxed having played 40 seconds and that was it, the final hurrah.”
Show co-host Goode wanted to hear more about the five-year-old triumph and he got Hamilton to make fun of himself by recalling the aftermath of that Saracens trophy win, the celebrations that night on the town in Edinburgh followed by him crashing to earth on the following day’s difficult train journey back to London.
“You’d want to speak to Billy Vunipola because he used to call be the Beyonce of Edinburgh – when you go out and get absolutely mobbed so you had to hide. You could imagine the night out, we’re in The Jam House, me and Kelly Brown are on stage. Genuinely I felt like I was a Red Hot Chilli Pepper, I was flying… I’m living the dream. Get back to the hotel about three or four in the morning and I couldn’t get out of bed the next day,” recounted Hamilton.
“Thought I had food poisoning. Thought I had alcohol poisoning and that was the start of the illness and the retirement that came off the back of that. I remember getting the train back the next day because we had Exeter in the semi-final the Saturday after and I am on the train and I’m lying by the toilet.
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“You talk about rock and roll, I am lying on my back by the toilet, Billy keeps walking past saying, ‘Beyonce, what’s wrong with you?’ Someone’s poisoned me, something has happened and my last memory of that weekend – and everyone’s memory because they have all got videos and pictures – is me in the back of my Mondeo, Kelly’s missus is driving me to stay at their house because I was that ill and my head’s hanging out the window and everyone’s shouting ‘Beyonce’s going home’.”
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
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