Ashton's first Worcester media conference: Quins fallout, family upheaval and that sought-after Premiership try record
Veteran England winger Chris Ashton is hoping Worcester will be a top-six Gallagher Premiership side by the time the 18-month contract he has just signed with the Warriors expires in summer 2022 following his switch this week from Harlequins.
Ashton, who is just four tries away from becoming the Premiership’s record all-time try-scorer, spent less than eleven months at Harlequins after he joined them in a hurry following a falling out at Sale with then-boss Steve Diamond.
With the lockdown soon forcing rugby into suspension, it wasn’t until August that Ashton eventually got to make his debut for Harlequins. However, unable to fit in happily with Quins’ set-up at Guildford and with his family moving away to Northampton in recent months, it was decided it would be best for the soon-to-be 34-year-old to find another club.
This Ashton has done and it was a beaming winger who spoke to media over Zoom on Tuesday at the end of his second day with Worcester ahead of what he hopes will be a club debut next Saturday at home to defending champions Exeter.
Explaining the upheaval he has encountered since his abrupt departure from Sale, Ashton said: “It has been a difficult one. It’s a side of rugby that you don’t really talk about too much to be honest, especially when there are not a lot of people like me who move that much.
“You’re thinking, well how much does a Chris Ashton want? Well, he’d want £200K, £250K. He might get offered £150K, a bit less"
– @TheRugbyPod give their verdict on where the soon-to-be 34-year-old veteran might end up next season #GallagherPrem https://t.co/JxSITFjOtS
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 19, 2021
“Having come back from France (Toulon) and been very much settled in the north-west, for that not to work out and for me to move to Guildford in a very strange time for everybody (due to the pandemic), we just didn’t have that interaction down in Guildford.
“We took a decision based on my family being settled to find a base for us just outside Northampton having not really enjoyed being in Guildford just because of the social aspect of it. That’s the situation we are in now. We’re up in Northampton now and I’m commuting across. I will stay down too here (for training) but who is to say we won’t be on the move towards Worcester.
“It’s all pretty new to us all. I’ll run that past my wife when I get home tonight. We moved out about three, four months ago (from Guildford to Northampton), we’ll see what she says to that. It might be best if I just stay down on my own for the first few months,” continued Ashton, switching to the rugby reasons why his face didn’t fit at Harlequins.
“I probably wasn’t able to contribute as much as I had hoped. The relationships didn’t connect as much. I went in there at a strange time for everyone with Covid. Sometimes personalities don’t match, faces didn’t fit. I’d like to have helped more and had more of a contribution.
“I just had to face up to it and so did the hierarchy, the people in charge at Quins. They had similar views that maybe it hasn’t worked and it might be beneficial to move on to Worcester and I was in agreement with that.
“It [not settling] does happen to a lot of players who probably don’t notice as much as me because if I’m not playing and stuff I don’t feel like I have contributed in the way that I want to and I’m more than happy to try and find that opportunity elsewhere.
“Some other players might not necessarily be in that mindset, they will stick with it and probably not play until the summer. I’m not that way. I have only got a short period of time left in my career and I need to take advantage of that. I didn’t want to miss the next six months of playing time when I could be helping elsewhere.”
Ashton played just eight games for Harlequins, only scoring twice, a very different experience to what he had been used to elsewhere in his career. “Wherever I have been I have managed to find players pretty quickly click, knowing the positions I would benefit from and find the ball.
The questions are flowing in… 'Is Ashton just going to move to a different club each year then?'https://t.co/uDpMQVCB5k
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 26, 2021
“Just weirdly I never found myself in that situation at Harlequins. They were really developing with a young 10 and a very young backline… probably it’s a bit of training time and consistency and when you lose games it creates a different mindset and a different way of playing.
“It was a strange one for me. I’ve never not been able to connect. In 16 years of playing, I have always been able to. I’m still one try in every two games and I want to stick to that,” he said going on to express his sympathy that Paul Gustard, the coach who signed him at Harlequins, left the club with immediate effect last Wednesday.
“He is a great guy, I have known him for a long time. He had a very different role there at Harlequins from before when I knew him at Saracens. He had a little bit of a different mindset on and with a playing style, when you lose games and you’re almost expecting to win these games, it can you knock you off task a little bit and the pressure of losing and trying to find a way to win in a young environment can be difficult.
“It’s not a direction they wanted to go at Quins as Laurie (Dalrymple), the CEO, said. It’s sad to see him go because when he first went in he was the right man for the job, but Quins want to go in a different direction. Gussy is a very good coach and he is not going to struggle as we have seen. He’s already off to Treviso.”
Although Worcester are currently eleventh on the Premiership table, just three points ahead of Gloucester who occupy the relegation spot, Ashton believes the potential for the Warriors to succeed like never before was a major reason why he felt it best for his career to link-up with Alan Solomons’ side.
“I’d like to see the club in the top half of the table. Everything is in place here,” he said. “I have been here two days and can see that straightaway the structure is here to get to the top half of the table. It’s just getting that changeover from where the club has been for so long in the bottom half.
“Teams come here to play and see them as that bottom half of the table. We have seen previously other teams have been able to do it, change that mindset. It takes time. But as long as you buy in and you all want to achieve that, you start to move up and it’s possible. Look at Exeter, they have just won the double. From where they came from and where they are now is worlds apart so it is definitely doable.
“Right now all the ingredients are here. The club has just found itself in that (bottom) part of the table for so long. There is an awful lot of clubs in the Premiership at the moment going through a very similar situation, a very similar stage of having to bring a lot younger talent through and progress people and players in very different ways to what had been done before. So I’m excited to be here and excited to be able to contribute and help us move up that table.”
Ashton has arrived at Sixways looking to score tries but he is just as keen to impart his wealth of experience in a mentorship role to help accelerate the development of the younger players at Worcester, something he was helped with when new to union at Northampton in 2008 after he crossed over from rugby league.
“At Northampton, I was on the opposite end of the spectrum. I had Carlos Spencer and Bruce Reihana who were so good for me. If I could be 10 per cent of what Bruce was to me with these younger Worcester lads, I will have done my job.
Hilarious full interview with Chris Ashton over on RugbyPass' YT channel ?
Chris Ashton reflects on calling James Lowe, too big and slow after Ireland played England at Twickenham! #IrishRugby #EnglandRugby #AllAccess pic.twitter.com/AGCYzizF0n
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 10, 2020
“I have got quite a bit of experience in different environments and different clubs and played with an awful lot of world-class players and under world-class coaches, so I’d like to think I have got a lot to offer… I’m trying to focus a little bit more here on the club and how I can help and develop other people but without a doubt that [scoring tries] comes top of the agenda, I have a job to do playing too and I want to make sure I can definitely do that.
“I can offer how I know I can play into this team and I have no doubt that is what is going to happen. I would love to break the record. I feel like I’m 40 tries away at the minute, not four. I’m really just a bit conscious that has been said quite a lot to me… I just want to be there when I am past it and I can crack on,” said the winger Ashton, adding that it was possible he could revive his Toulon role and operate as a Worcester full-back due to Melani Nanai’s recent season-ending operation.
“I’m happy to play either. It has not been discussed yet. They are a bit conscious of me taking a lot in. It was discussed before I came. Like I say, I’m happy to do both. Wherever the coaches feel I can fit in best at the weekend I don’t mind.”
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