Josh Beaumont opens up on very different personal battle compared to his electioneering dad
Bill and Josh Beaumont are fighting intensely personal – but very different – rugby battles amid the backdrop of the unprecedented impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the sport around the world. Bill, 68, is attempting to hold onto the chairmanship of World Rugby against the challenge of vice-chairman Agustin Pichot, while his 28-year-old son, a key member of the Sale Sharks squad, is devising ways of completing his seven-month rehabilitation from knee reconstruction surgery while in lockdown with limited training aids.
The electronic vote for World Rugby’s top job takes place on April 26, with the result of the 52-council member election revealed on May 12. But the results of Beaumont junior’s home-based strength training and fitness regime will only be properly tested when Sale are allowed to bring their squad together again for the attempted completion of the Gallagher Premiership season.
With Bill having the most powerful job in the sport, Beaumont is backing his father to retain his role as chairman. “I’m very proud of how hard he has worked over the last four years to grow the game and also look after the players,” said Josh Beaumont to RugbyPass. “I have seen at first hand the amount of effort he has put in. Fingers crossed he is successful in this campaign and can do another four years to continue the good work he has already done.”
While the dates for his father’s re-election fight are set in stone, Beaumont’s own timeline has been severely affected by the coronavirus lockdown. The only positive note was that his move from a flat to a house in the Manchester suburbs happened just before social distancing, allowing him space to create an indoor gym with the equipment he managed to attain.
Before the lockdown, Beaumont was receiving daily treatment and following a personal rehabilitation programme alongside Sale’s strength and conditioning experts, but now that is all done remotely.
Sale are unable to send their physios to his home to deal with the aches and pains around the patella tendon that required two surgeries. The restrictions have left the 6ft 7in forward doing his best to self-treat with equipment collected while recovering from previous injuries.
Weight training aimed at strengthening the injured knee is possible, but Beaumont does not own a bike – let alone a static Wattbike – which could significantly aid his recovery sessions.
“It’s quite hard to judge exactly where I am with the recovery, not being able to work full time at the Sale training ground,” admitted the club’s ex-captain. “It’s coming along quite well and I was able to get some equipment back to the house.
“I have about four more weeks building the leg muscles up to where the other side is. Once I get to that level I can start running again so, hopefully, I will be able to play a bit this season. In normal circumstances, I would be doing two or three conditioning sessions and bike work, but I haven’t got access to a Wattbike and don’t actually own any bike! Even if I did I’m not sure riding around the roads is a good idea anyway.
Good luck to the @SaleSharksRugby lads this afternoon back at the AJ Bell in the @ChampionsCup Gutted I can’t be out there but will hopefully be back towards the end of the season. Thanks for all the kind messages I’ve received over the past couple of weeks ?
— Josh Beaumont (@JoshBeaumont1) November 24, 2019
“The longer I can leave it for that tendon to bed in the better. I have been doing as many different weights exercises as possible but not getting access to the club’s physios and receiving treatment when coming off a serious injury means areas in the leg do get tight and that is the downside at the moment.
“Because of all my injuries over the years I have a load of recovery equipment at home but it’s not the same as treatment from a trained professional who knows how to loosen up the tight areas. The knee got infected, so I needed another operation, and the first couple of months of rehab were pretty rubbish.”
Beaumont ruptured the tendon against Wasps at the start of November and a six-month recovery became seven when the injury got infected. He was hoping to make it back before the end of Sale’s current campaign and now, with the suspended Premiership schedule set to be played in the summer, there is every chance he could still play a part in the bid for the title.
The second-placed outfit have brought in Springbok stars to create a squad of real depth and Beaumont is eager to add his own particular skills to the equation. Picked in Eddie Jones’ first England squad in 2016 before a shoulder injury halted his progress that season, the Australian identified Beaumont as a player who could operate with equal impact as a specialist No8 and second row, a dual role he has since tried to give Bath’s Charlie Ewels.
This could prove a hard-sell to the Celts, especially the Irish https://t.co/ivClAHhYci
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 15, 2020
However, reminding Jones about his unique talents is not at the top of Beaumont’s list of priorities at the moment. “It took us time to get going at Sale because of people coming in at different times after the World Cup. With my injury, we were a bit short in the second row, but Jean-Luc du Preez has been doing a good job alongside Bryn Evans.
“Bryn is an All Black, has that experience and has been immense this season. I have learnt so much from him about the lineout. We also have Lood de Jager, who is a massive guy and gives us even more lineout options. My motivation is to get back and help Sale win something this season.”
Comments on RugbyPass
NZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
22 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
22 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.
22 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.
22 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 🤐
22 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
22 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to comments