From terrace fan to Exeter No9: The inspiring Will Becconsall story
It’s been quite the crazy leap for rookie Exeter Chiefs scrum-half Will Becconsall in recent weeks. There was the 20-year-old on March 25, helping Exeter University squeeze out a National League Two West draw at Old Redcliffians. He trooped home from Scotland Lane that Saturday evening thinking nothing else but how the remainder of his season would likely be spent fighting it out for the mid-table college side. Except it dramatically wasn’t.
Chiefs’ implosion on the road the following day at Bath infuriated Rob Baxter. The long-serving director of rugby seethed at his post-game media briefing, claiming there would be immediate changes to eradicate the stodginess that had left them feeble and inconsistent on the road in the Gallagher Premiership. He was true to his word.
By the following Tuesday evening, young guns such as Becconsall had been told they would be starting the Heineken Champions Cup round-of-16 game versus Montpellier and the rest is potential history in the making. The French champions were eclipsed on the more-tries-scored rule after extra time. Then six days later, URC champions Stormers were swatted aside at Sandy Park, qualifying Exeter for this Sunday’s dandy semi-final trip to France.
Becconsall has played across the Channel just once before, a cameo off the bench in an away pool match at Castres in December. But the challenge of trying to dethrone title holders La Rochelle in Bordeaux is another thing entirely for the academy-contracted apprentice with just 10 first-team appearances to his name, three in the second-string Premiership Rugby Cup where he was a mid-March trophy winner.
It’s a rags-to-riches acceleration and Becconsall, beaming to RugbyPass over Zoom while sitting in the Sandy Park main stand after erecting a teepee tent for a club function, giddily began his story with that fateful weekend five weeks ago when Baxter lost his temper with his first-team regulars.
View this post on Instagram
“I wasn’t involved in that Bath game, I was playing a Nat 2 game with Exeter Uni, but when I heard it [what Baxter said], I was thinking, ‘This is quite a big week just to try and really prove myself, try and get my name in the mix, that sort of thing’. The team went out Tuesday night and when I saw it, straightaway I called my old man and told him all about it. Pretty over the moon to be fair.”
And why wouldn’t he, given his maiden European start then went so very well? The denouement of that Montpellier fixture remains his favourite moment so far since getting handed the No9 Exeter jersey. “I’m really enjoying it, just trying to take it all in, to be honest. I would say definitely that Montpellier win when it went to extra time and it was a draw-win, that was the best.
“I was off the pitch by the 100th minute. We were on the bench as he [Jack Yeandle] scored and after the [Joe Simmonds] kick had gone over, we were still all quiet until the coaches came down and said, ‘That’s it, that’s the game. We have won, we have scored more tries’. Then the celebration started.
“You get the whole crowd singing Sweet Caroline and it’s pretty electric when you are out there. Then straight back into the changing rooms, everyone is buzzing and singing the Chiefs song and you go back out and get to see all your family and the fans want to see you as well. It’s pretty surreal to be fair.”
It was 14 years ago when Becconsall took his first steps in the game, his father taking him along to minis at Falmouth. “Dad was the coach back then and was probably my coach until I was 17. He is still someone who now you can just call and tell him all about my day of rugby or whatever.”
Truro School and Exeter Uni were other staging posts along the path to the pro ranks, but Becconsall hasn’t forgotten his first adult-level match – getting called off the Falmouth bench and pretty quickly getting a snarky telling-off.
“I remember I came on and the first lineout I stood in the wrong position to try and catch the ball or something and got a little telling off from one of the second rows. But after that, it was like, ‘Right, head down, you have got to make up for that and just keep going’. It was good fun.
“Definitely, the home games were fun. You would get quite a lot of fans coming to watch at Falmouth and they just celebrate after, stay on, celebrate at the bar, there would be some live singing on and there would be a good atmosphere.”
View this post on Instagram
It was around the same time the seed was sown to become a pro. “I have always kind of wanted to be a professional rugby player since day dot really but it’s probably around 16, 17 when I was, ‘Right, I can actually go for it now. I started putting my eggs in that basket and I really went for it’.”
He is not the first rugby pro in the Becconsall family. That accolade when to his uncle Garry, a fellow scrum-half whose clubs number Leicester Tigers in the late 1990s. “The main driver was probably my dad still, not too much my uncle. It was my dad. Rugby was something I loved as well, and it has been that way ever since.”
All the while, he is keeping his studies ticking along. “Sports science. I’m in my second year, so I have got one more year to go.” What specialist line would he go into if he wasn’t a rugby pro? “Maybe, physio. It’s really just to stay with the sport.”
Cornwall, where he hails from, is quite the rugby hotbed. Becconsall knows all about the Twickenham finals the county contests at senior and U20s, but it was Chiefs – across the border in Devon – who captured his heart early doors. “Me and my dad had season tickets from the age of nine, maybe 10. We had that for a couple of years and then my dad actually became the fifth official for Exeter, so we did that for about three years as well.
“He would get four tickets a game, so I’d be able to take my mates up with me to watch. I was always down the south stand standing on the seats, it was good. I’d definitely get a pack of sweets, that is for sure.” His best fan moment? “I remember watching the 2017 semi-final against Saracens when Henry (Slade) puts it about five metres out from 60-odd out and then (the pack) going over to win, that was definitely one of the best moments.”
View this post on Instagram
From boy to young man, from terrace fan to on-pitch rookie. Having watched at home in Cornwall with his parents and sister when Exeter conquered Europe in the behind-closed-doors 2020 finale, Becconsall understands how important the fans are and Sunday’s chance to succeed in front of a partisan French house is firing them up.
“The atmosphere is cooking. Everyone is looking forward to Europe, a little away day in France – you can’t go wrong there,” he enthused going on to describe the dynamic currently in the team and how his own try celebrations are proving infectious (he is usually the first man on the scene with the congratulations).
“As a nine you are the first person to the breakdown normally so if someone does get tackled you have got to be there to pass it away – and it’s just like it worked out that if someone makes a linebreak then you are normally the first one there when they score the try. I have got to say celebrating some tries, especially when you have boys tackled to the ground and it is just a massive pile on or whatever it is, God, I love a try.”
More please, then. “It’s coming to the end of the season, so everyone wants to perform and we are still performing for each other, we are still trying to perform for the badge, and everyone is willing to help each other out and get the best out everyone. If you have a bit of criticism from someone you still take it in. I’m happy to be told, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t have done that there’. It’s good.
“Tempo and hopefully a bit of control,” he continued, describing his style of scrum-half play, adding he has no issues about shouting to make himself heard.
??????? ??? ??? | Chiefs v Stormers ?
Take a look back at our @ChampionsCup Quarter Final victory over @TheStormers – from inside our camp ?
Including Exclusive Interviews with Will Becconsall, Olly Woodburn & Tom Cairns! ?#JointheJourney
— Exeter Chiefs (@ExeterChiefs) April 26, 2023
“I would say when it is bossing my own teammates, yeah (I would shout). When it’s the 10 is not there then I will do it, but Joe is quite good with also helping it out because he has played a lot of games and knows when it is right to kick or when it is right to go and when he wants the ball, I have just got to give it to him.”
Becconsall isn’t daunted by the imposing Baxter either. “Rob is quite easy to talk to at the minute. When I started, I was. ‘That’s the boss, it’s a bit scary and what have you’. But over the last six months, I am quite comfortable talking to Rob around the club, and on game days he just gives you that bit of extra motivation to help you out where he can.”
As for his 84kg weight, “I’d say I have definitely put that on over the last year or two. As a kid, I was definitely very skinny and very light. I have definitely put some weight on now which is good. Eat a lot more and run a lot less.”
Golf is his go-to away from rugby, except his handicap has suffered this year. “I had that shoulder injury and was out for 12 weeks, so the handicap has definitely got a bit higher. Hopefully, I will get it down a bit in the summer when I play against my dad a bit more. I got it down to about 11. Now I am about 16. I play next door, we have got the Exeter Country Club that we can use, and then in Falmouth, there is the golf course there.”
Long-term Becconsall has grand hopes and dreams for a lengthy playing career, an imagination added to by his recent Welford Road encounter. “It was pretty awesome seeing Ben Youngs the other week (at Leicester versus Exeter). I have watched him for quite a while on the TV… I’d love to put the England shirt on, that’s for sure, but at the minute it is definitely step by step, plan each day and keep hoping for the best.”
"I've a meeting with my pillow…" ?
– @Ultan_Dillane was brilliant craic on @RugbyPass. Linguistic gaffes, the Skelton sauna club, tackling Meafou, leaving @connachtrugby for @staderochelais, @propadzsports and more ? #LARxEXE #HeinekenChampionsCup https://t.co/3ootxUpVFU
— liam heagney (@heagneyl) April 24, 2023
Comments on RugbyPass
late 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
4 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?
9 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.
9 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.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments