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'It's one of my major regrets': There is something Rhys Priestland would do very differently if he had his time over again
Bath out-half Rhys Priestland has revealed that his lax approach to mental health in the earlier part of his career is one of his biggest regrets as he prepares to head back to Wales and keep his career going with Cardiff in the Guinness PRO16. The 34-year-old has spent the last six seasons in the Gallagher Premiership after establishing himself at the Scarlets and breaking his way into the international set-up under Warren Gatland in 2011.
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Priestland went on to play 50 times for his country before the 60-cap rule for players based outside Wales made him unavailable. His decision to join the Blues will now put him back in the mix under Wayne Pivac and he goes there having played 91 times in the Premiership, 71 of those appearances as a starter with Bath including Friday night’s loss to Sale.
These past few weeks Priestland has been the Bath ambassador for the RPA’s Restart mental health charity, a topic close to his heart as he admitted to RugbyPass that if he had his time over again he would bring a different attitude to rugby and life rather than allow himself to be suffocated by the negatives – as was the case during numerous years not so long ago when he didn’t have the tools to cope better with the pressures.
“I’m a lot better,” he said. “It’s something I have had to work hard on. I was guilty a bit at the start. If someone asked me how are you after not even a poor performance, if things outside rugby were getting me down, you’d just brush it off and say I’m fine.
“It seemed like the macho thing to do but I now realise you don’t have to do it on your own, there are people out there who can help you. It is something I have worked hard on and it has made me a better person. I’m nowhere near as miserable to be around if some things don’t go well on a rugby field anymore and that is important as well because it has helped me realise there can be more to life than rugby.
'I'd had another year on my deal but I thought I can't do another year of that, so I made the choice to exit my contract'@RestartRugby ambassador @lutherburrell is loving life at @FalconsRugby after a fruitless year in rugby league, writes @heagneyl ???https://t.co/nVVTKqbdaP
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 9, 2021
“I definitely wasn’t (the most confident player I could have been). If I had my time again that is one thing I would have focused more of my time and energy into that. At the time I couldn’t see the wood from the trees. I didn’t realise how important it [mental health] was. It’s one of my major regrets from my career. There we are.”
Set to be replaced at Bath by Danny Cipriani, Priestland reckons he will now return to Wales a better player due to the greater level of mindfulness that came to the fore during his time in England. “I think so,” he continued. “Although I haven’t achieved or we haven’t achieved what we sort of set out to achieve every season since I have been here (at Bath), I can look back at my time and definitely think I’m a more rounded person.
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“Probably a better person as well so hopefully I can take those experiences back with me and if I can play any sort of part of influence any players at Cardiff who are coming through that would be great.
“It’s a fantastic initiative,” he added about Restart and its ambition to grow awareness around mental health in rugby. “One thing that has come from this pandemic is how important people’s mental health is. It’s something I have struggled with in the past and it’s something I have been very proactive with in terms of trying to make sure my mental health is in the best state it possibly can be.
“The more awareness that we as rugby players can bring to this sort of subject and what the charity stands for and what the campaign is trying to achieve the better, that it is okay not to be okay. There is still a stigma in rugby that it is a macho sport and you just have to get on with it but it’s not the case. The world has moved on and this charity can hopefully help people and make them realise they are not on their own.”
“I spoke to Rory Best and he got everything fixed…They look after you very well in Ireland. I was very impressed by how they looked after him, let him get everything he needed to get fixed and helped him rehab and get looked after. We don’t do that over here." pic.twitter.com/db0yee7rf5
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 9, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 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 comments