The bizarre connection between Beyonce and London Scottish's new boss
Championship club London Scottish have suddenly got a connection with Beyonce Knowles, the globally popular American singer and actress. Fresh from a season where the club finished ninth in the second tier after just four wins in 14 outings prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the Richmond-based Exiles have ramped up their coaching staff ahead of the 2020/21 season which has given them a link with American showbiz royalty.
Their new director of rugby is Matt Williams, who has been recruited from Chinnor, the outfit he took from the bottom half of National 2 towards the end of the 2013/14 season to promotion into National 1 in 2018/19, a level where they impressed over the winter.
That progress convinced them to recruit Williams, who grew up playing age-grade internationals at hooker for England before carving out a very different career away from rugby as he worked in the entertainment business alongside Beyonce, MTV and Disney while also producing several TV shows and movies.
Speaking about his breakthrough in the USA, Williams told the Rugby Journal last year about taking off to the States on a whim to try and make a success of a girl band he had put together in the UK. They led to his Beyonce connection.
“This was overnight and out of nowhere. They came from all around England, and I auditioned 200 girls to put the band together. I was so naive, I literally thought, ‘I’m going to put a girlband together because that sounds cool and sexy and I’ll put seven girls together because the Pussycat girls had five’. It was that naïve. I cast these girls, I got music for them, I choreographed them – I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but it worked…
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“I knew nobody, so I picked up the phone, got on a plane and battered the door down until somebody listened to me. I was in New York with a CD and pictures of the girls and I got myself a meeting with an A&R administrator which to me sounded huge. It turned out to be nothing more than a secretary in a cloakroom, so I’m sitting in this room that’s literally 2m x 2m, playing this music, pretending to be really cool, and not realising that the person I’m meeting can do zero for me.
“But then by complete fluke this woman was administrating the I Am… Sasha Fierce album for Beyonce Knowles, and her dad, Mathew Knowles, comes storming in shouting ‘have you done this, have you done that’, and this lovely lady says to him, ‘this man has the UK’s Pussycat Dolls, you need to listen to it’.
“He pulled me up to the top floor of this building in New York, I walk into this floor that’s like a scene from a Hollywood movie – a huge open-plan room – he sits down, puts the music down, and says, ‘this is brilliant, I’m in’. And that was it. I only had six songs – written by a guy I’d found in the middle of Tottenham. He signs the girls, and moves them to Houston.”
Many years later, it’s a Championship level pitch in south-west London where Williams will now be looking to impress in a new partnership with ex-Scotland international Steve Scott, who came to the Exiles as forwards coach in 2019.
“I’m excited to be joining the Exiles as the club moves into the next chapter of its deep history and I’m looking forward to working with a coach with such a stellar CV as Stevie Scott,” said Williams after to the London Scottish website after his appointment.
“I’m under no illusions of the task ahead as we fight budget restrictions and the transition into semi-professional rugby, but in a world where we need excitement and happiness in our lives post Covid-19, I’m confident I can build a squad and culture that will make the Exiles’ family proud to support.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Good 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.
17 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.
7 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.
17 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?
7 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.
7 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.
26 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 🤐
17 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….
26 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….
17 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….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
7 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
17 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
17 Go to comments