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'I hate this...': Why England hooker Blamire nearly quit rugby
England hooker Jamie Blamire has his father to thank for convincing him to continue playing rugby as a teenager after the Newcastle Falcons forward became fed up with the long drive from West Cumbria to train with the Gallagher Premiership club’s academy. The 24-year-old has scored six tries in his first five Test matches, becoming in the process the first England player to score tries in his first four test appearances.
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That strike rate has seen him quickly become a key member of the England squad with coach Eddie Jones of the belief that the forward can potentially make a significant impact in the upcoming Guinness Six Nations championship where he is battling with Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jamie George for selection.
“I was about 15 or 16 when I came over for my first Falcons academy session and I played mainly rugby league at the time,” said Blamire to the Newcastle website before linking up with the 36-strong England squad for this week’s preparation camp in Brighton.
“It’s a long old drive from West Cumbria to Newcastle, a good two hours each way, and I just remember thinking, ‘I hate this, I don’t want to go back’ as I was sitting in the car on the way home. I don’t know why I was feeling that way, to be honest.
“It’s because I was playing mainly rugby league from the age of around six, I was from a big rugby league town and I didn’t really understand too much about rugby union at that stage. I have to be totally honest in saying I didn’t enjoy those first few sessions.
Ex-England boss Lancaster has taken a deep dive into one aspect where he feels Andy Farrell's Ireland have it much better than Eddie Jones' England… #England #Ireland #SixNationshttps://t.co/LRw6NPd1p2
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 25, 2022
“It’s nothing against the club – I was just learning the game, but I’m glad that my dad convinced me to stick with it. Rugby union really grew on me to the point where I can’t imagine playing rugby league now. I started enjoying it more and more, and the Falcons academy coaches Jimmy Ponton and Mark Laycock were really good in terms of how they developed me as a player.”
Blamire was just 16 when he moved away from home to join the Newcastle ACE scheme at Gosforth academy. He went on to play in the national ACE final before turning professional at the end of his two-year programme and now a first Six Nations is the latest tournament on his horizon.
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“I hadn’t seen the Six Nations until I was about 15 or 16. I was just into rugby league when I was a kid and didn’t watch union at all. I have obviously grown to understand and enjoy the game more as I have started playing but yeah, it’s not something I was ever into when I was growing up.
“It’s nice now to have a bit of an idea of what it is going to be like going into an England camp, but at the same time the whole Six Nations thing is new to me.”
Comments on RugbyPass
wel the crusaders were beaten by a queensland reds side that hadnt beaten them at home since 1999 and queensland reds partied like it was 1999
4 Go to commentsHard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
4 Go to commentsYeah nah, still not sure on Havili tbh. Even though I’m a Crusaders fan through and through I’d be stunned if Razor considers him after seeing some of the stunning talent coming through up North.
4 Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
5 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
5 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
238 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
20 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments