Writing for InTouch Magazine #4- Ben Cohen

An interview with rugby player Ben Cohen, written for a magazine produced by myself during my time at university (May 2007):

A lot has happened in ten years. Tony Blair took over as boss of Britain, Manchester United won a football treble, fears about the Millennium Bug came and went, Cardiff built itself a new, world class stadium and disasters aplenty occurred in the shape of 9/11, New Orleans and the Tsunami. There have been ups and downs, peaks and troughs, good days and bad days.
As Ben Cohen celebrates his testimonial season with Northampton Saints he can look back on a decade in which he has visited the extremes of elation and the boundaries of utter despair.
A born-and-bred Northampton boy; the massive, shaven-haired winger makes a surprisingly unimposing figure as we sip tea surrounded by Saints’ fabulous, new, state-of-the-art stadium.
In his heights, Cohen was in a world beating England side, winning a Heineken Cup and starring for a Northampton Saints side knocking on the door of domestic triumph in the league and cup.
Cohen has also seen dark depths in the last decade too. None more so than the death of his father in November 2000, just nine months after his fiery international debut against Ireland, where he scored a brace of tries.
“I nearly gave up rugby that year,” Cohen remembers, “It was so hard to deal with the death of my dad, and it made nothing else seem important. It put rugby into perspective. But what it also did was made me come back stronger. I could enjoy my rugby more and it took a bit of the pressure off that I was always putting on myself.”
Cohen’s dad, Peter, had been involved in a nightclub incident and suffered fatal head injuries. For Cohen to pick himself up from that was going to be a challenge. He withdrew from the subsequent England squad to face Australia that autumn, before returning for England’s latest Six Nations blunder in 2001. The shining head of Keith Wood was enough to halt Cohen and his team-mates a Grand Slam in a competition halted by foot-and-mouth disease.
The millennium was definitely a professional success for ‘Big Ben’, a Powergen Cup final loss to Wasps being erased by a nerve-jangling 9-8 win over Munster in the Heineken Cup.
“That is definitely the high in my club playing career. Being at Saints has never been dull. We have been in finals in many of the seasons, and then when we haven’t been challenging for titles we have been battling relegation. It definitely isn’t quiet around here!”
In the last five or so years, Cohen has gone from being disputably the premier winger in the world to merely on the fringes of the national set-up. One of the first on the England team-sheet, he was a stalwart in the victorious England team of 2003. Along the way he has fought off competition from a menagerie of brilliant speedsters, including the likes of Dan Luger, James Simpson-Daniel and Austin Healey. So where did it all turn sour for the Northampton lad?
Cohen pulls no punches in his self-appraisal: “I just haven’t performed to the standard I want to be playing at. I have been really disappointed in my own performances this season just gone.
“I have been hit by some setbacks, such as an injury near the start of the season, and being dropped by England did affect me, I admit that. But it is up to me to get noticed again and get picked by Brian Ashton again.
“I need to concentrate on my own game for the rest of the season, and put all my effort into Northampton staying up, then in theory the international calls will follow.
“I know my game has been lacking, but I do think that I am good enough to be in the team. It is now my mission to get Brian (Ashton) to pick me- and time is running out for the World Cup.”
It will be tough to get back into the national side following encouraging displays from the likes of David Strettle, Mark Cueto at Sale and the returning Jason Robinson.
Nevertheless, in an indifferent season for the towering England winger, one great point is he claimed his 100th try for his club against Bristol.
“That game was brilliant. I had gone a couple of games on 99 tries, and the pressure was on to get the ton. That made it all the more nerve-wracking for me and then when I got it, it was absolutely fantastic.
“It was at home too and I remember the whole crowd cheering. I’ll never score that try again. It means I’ll have to get 200, hopefully that won’t take too long!”
If Cohen is damning about his own game during the 2006/07 campaign, he is just as so when talking about the way Saints have performed this term.
He agrees with many of his team-mates that the side hasn’t clicked this season, but defends comments from pal Matt Dawson that Franklin’s Gardens has become merely retirement home for Southern Hemisphere players.
“Look at the players we have brought in over the past few years from the Southern Hemisphere,” Cohen begins defiantly, “Bruce Reihana and Carlos Spencer have been electric in the backline, and the likes of Andrew Blowers and Corne Krige were superb for us during their stay.
“We have had a lot of fantastic players leave us also, though. They have been hard for us to replace. It is a bit like England when all those players retired after the World Cup, you have to rebuild from the bottom again. Since our Heineken Cup win in 2000, we have lost Tim Rodber, Paul Grayson, Budge Pountney, Nick Beal, Matt Dawson…and the list goes on.
“We need to find some continuity, which has been hard with injuries to key players like Bruce (Reihana), Carlos Spencer and Jon Clarke. If we can get some belief back into the side, then we will be a lot stronger.”
It is noticeable that the teams that are prospering at club and international level have had a core squad for years. Ireland has had the same lot of players for as long as seven years, with a backbone of Ronan O’Gara, Paul O’Connell, Brian O’Driscoll, John Hayes and Malcolm O’Kelly.
It hasn’t just been players, but also coaches for Northampton that haven’t kept the same. Since the Heineken Cup win, they have employed John Steele, Wayne Smith, Alan Solomons, Budge Pountney and now Paul Grayson is at the helm. Almost one coach a season can’t be good for any club, let alone a struggling one.
“Having so many coaches over the past few years has been unsettling for the team. Each one brings with him a personal touch and style of play, which means we are constantly being set new goals for the way the team will be shaped.”
Cohen is supportive of his ex - team-mate and now the new man in charge: “Grays (Paul Grayson) has been left to pick up the pieces from all the other coaches, and it must be hard for a relatively new and inexperienced coach.
“Personally I like the way he does things, and I think what we need to do now is persevere with him, whether we are relegated or not. We need to help him with our playing performances.
“If we go down it is not down to him. He has done a great job under the circumstances.”
With the end of the season looming, surprisingly for Saints, relegation is not the only thing on their minds. European glory is in the offing with a semi-final coming up against Wasps in Coventry, and after Cohen played a vital part in thwarting Biarritz Olympique’s dazzling attack in San Sebastian, he is rightly proud.
“It is a great achievement for us,” he says, “With all that is going on in the league most people expected us to get battered in France. They were the favourites for the whole competition and we beat them. It gives us a lot of belief back in the league. It’s the confidence boost we needed and hopefully it can drive us off the bottom of the league table.”
With all the furore of possible European trophies and relegation on the lips of every green, black and gold supporter at the moment, it is testament to Ben Cohen’s stature at the club that his decade at the club hasn’t been overshadowed in any way.
Ticket sales for his testimonial dinner have gone through the roof, with hundreds of fans wanting to see their local hero yet again in the limelight.
The support isn’t unnoticed: “I have grown up supporting this club. It’s a fantastic place, with fantastic supporters and staff. I’m from around here so it feels great to have been at my club for ten years.
“I really appreciate everything that has been done for me here, the way the club have looked after me and the fans helped me, through the hard times like with my dad. I’ll always be thankful for that.”
From club to country, Cohen must now look forward to the next ten years, and what ups and downs might await him. His future, as always, is down to him.