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
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments