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Rugby World Cup experience runs deep in unique European family partnership
By Jon Newcombe
Ordinarily you wouldn’t expect a rugby match between the Spanish national side and England A to be of much interest to the residents of Knivsta in Sweden.
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However, the small town, a short drive from Stockholm, has one rugby-mad household who’ll definitely be glued to RugbyPass TV’s coverage on Saturday.
One-time Rugby World Cup player Oriol Ripol lives there with his wife Karin and two children, Astrid and Erik, and has a strong vested interest in the match, on both sides, as a former Spanish Rugby World Cup international, who spent most of his pro career in the UK, with Bridgend, Rotherham, Northampton, Sale and latterly, Worcester.
Ripol can’t claim to be the only, or even the first member of his family to play at a Rugby World Cup – because Karin, whose maiden name was Ljungquist, played for Sweden against England at the 1998 Women’s Rugby World Cup in Amsterdam, while Astrid is a Sweden U18s sevens international, who could, one day, complete a family hat-trick. This writer is only aware of one other instance where a husband and wife have played in Rugby World Cups for different countries – Carla Hohepa (New Zealand) and Karne Hesketh (Japan).
Ripol was part of two Championship-winning squads (Rotherham and Worcester) during his time in England, but scoring in the Premiership final, as Sale won their first, and only, English league title in 2006, is a career highlight, alongside being coached by ‘The Professor’, Wayne Smith, at Northampton.
“Being coached by him at Northampton was life-changing for me. I went from being an instinct player to one who understood his role on and off the ball,” Ripol said.
“Stats were huge for him and he empowered the players to think of solutions or ways of playing different opposition, so it came from us but if we were wrong, he would guide us.
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“To this day, I still follow a lot of his coaching material and use it in my own coaching.”
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As well as starting a family in Manchester, Ripol’s time in the North West of England was productive on the pitch with 23 tries in just over 90 appearances, the most famous being the one at Twickenham that gave Sale a sizeable half-time lead against Leicester in the 2006 title decider.
In wet weather conditions more often associated Manchester than his native Barcelona, the pocket-rocket winger switched from the left flank to the right, anticipating that Charlie Hodgson would dummy a drop goal, and took a pass from the fly-half that gave him an easy run in.
“I was so grateful to be a part of that, it had been a long time since a northern team had won the Premiership, and to get to play alongside great players like Jason Robinson and Sebastien Chabal, Richard Wigglesworth and the current England U20s head coach Andy Titterrell.
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“Titts and I used to be training partners, especially in the gym, and Mathew Tait,” said Ripol.
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“He was a hooker and I was winger but we were both quite short and are similar types of characters, and he was an incredibly dedicated professional, so we got on well, and we’re still good mates to this day.”
Ripol first caught the eye whilst playing for a Spain XV in the 1998/99 European Shield competition; Bridgend liked what they saw and offered him a contract.
After a season at Stade Montois and Rotherham, Ripol joined Northampton. Knowing this was his big chance, the winger put all his energy into making his time at Franklin’s Gardens a success.
It meant sacrificing his Spain career, which ended with 18 caps and an appearance at the 1999 World Cup, against Uruguay at Galashiels.
To date, that tournament is the only Rugby World Cup Los Leones have participated in, so Ripol, now 50 years of age, is part of a select group in Spanish rugby history.
“Uruguay was the game we’d targeted to win and we failed to do that. I wasn’t really happy with my performance but at least I got my World Cup cap,” he said.
“It was a great achievement for Spanish rugby (to qualify) at the time; I don’t believe we were as prepared as they will be now, for example, to play in a Rugby World Cup.
“But there is still a massive difference, as the result between Ireland A and Spain showed (61-24 win for Ireland A, which was the most-viewed match last weekend on RugbyPass TV)
“But to qualify once again is a credit to the people who have working really hard for a few years to achieve that.”
When Spain end their 28-year wait to play in a Rugby World Cup in Australia, it’s fair to say the crowds and the stadiums will be a lot bigger than what Ripol and his peers experienced.
Spain made their tournament bow in the Scottish Borders, with a curious crowd of just 3,761 turning up to see their 27-15 defeat to Uruguay at Netherdale in Gala.
Not many more turned up to see them well beaten (47-3) by South Africa at Murrayfield before they returned to Edinburgh to play Scotland in front of 17,593, another crushing defeat (48-0).
“That’s the growth of the sport and the globalisation of the sport,” said Ripol, referencing the different landscapes, from 1999 to now.
“Of course, Spain will now be watched by more people. It is a great event and a great opportunity for those players who’ll be a part of it.
“It is one thing to be happy to be part of the World Cup. However, you want to compete, you don’t want to get a hiding. So I am hoping they will be competitive.”
Rugby continues to play a big part in family life. While he is stepping down from his positon as performance director of the Swedish Rugby Federation, Ripol is still coach of the Sweden women’s national sevens team, and will shortly be leading them at the Dubai 7s.
“We often watch international rugby and my younger brother (Roger), as you will know, also played for many, many years in France, and he coached Biarritz and is now coaching Stade Montois in Pro D2.”
Watch this weekend’s Spain vs England A match on RugbyPass TV, available everywhere outside of Spain for free.