Dom Day Interview: Life after rugby, why Bath would be bouncing and Saracens culture makes them dark horses
Dom Day retired from rugby during Covid and admits he was at a bit of crossroads before his business began to blossom
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“Retiring and moving into the next chapter is way more difficult than I ever expected. I had to make my own structure, my own day. I always remember after I retired at Saracens, I was ill once and I didn’t know how to make a doctor's appointment!”
Dom Day, the former Wales international, is reflecting on a journey that over the last seven years has taken him from the professional rugby environment into the world of health and well-being.
In 2018, alongside former Saracens teammate George Kruis, they launched fourfive, which has become one of the leading supplement brands across the country
“Me and George, we joke quite a lot that we are literally just two old rugby players!” Day tells TRU. “We are very lucky to have some great people in our team who are way more savvy at business than we are!
“We put our names behind this brand and we want the best products on the market. We wouldn’t be putting it out there if we didn’t fully believe in it, and we didn’t think the products would be effective and help people.
“We’re lucky enough that we played rugby for 15 years and our story ties into fourfive. A good brand, a good story and a good product. That has got us to where we are at the minute and we are still here!
“We want to help people and to be able to combine that into a business, that is super fulfilling for us. We would have loved to have had these products when we played rugby so the fact that we can help, not just rugby players, but anyone in terms of optimising their day, it is a nice feeling.”
That ‘nice feeling’ which Day alludes to is a by-product of the growth of fourfive, which has recently led to the launch of Hydro, the ultimate Informed Sport-tested solution which provides optimum levels of electrolytes and hydration throughout the day.
However, as Day admits midway through our conversation, that feeling of transitioning into ‘the real world’ was anything but ‘nice’ to begin with.
“When I retired, it was the middle of Covid,” Day says. “I was actually chatting to my wife about this the other day. When you go into rugby, the path most trodden is you’re in school, you’re with your mates every day and then more often than not, you get picked up by an academy and you’re with your mates again.
“You then move through the ranks and for myself and George, that was the same up until I was 34/35.
“It is only in the last few years that I came out of that structure and went to not having that at all.
“In terms of the number of players who drop out of rugby way before being prepared for it, especially in the modern day with the Worcester’s, Wasps’ and London Irish’s, it can be so many players who are not prepared for it. I was guilty of it.
“You live month to month, get a solid paycheck but certainly not enough to warrant not having to work for the rest of your life. It is a difficult thing to balance and get through.”
In 2019, Day brought the curtain down on his playing career whilst at Saracens, which is where he met Kruis and became interested in CBD, the category in which fourfive originally launched.
But because of the support of the six-time Premiership champions - as well as the RPA [The Rugby Players Association] - Day was able to navigate through an uncertain period in his life.
“Saracens are an unbelievable club in terms of their support off the pitch," Day says.
“If I didn’t have fourfive now, I don’t know what I would be doing. George and I got this up and running with the help of the RPA, with the help of Saracens but for me, that was only planned in the last two years of my career.
“I should have been planning from the beginning of professional rugby, putting stuff in place. I was doing things in and around property, but definitely not enough to keep myself going after the sport.”
But with fourfive seemingly thriving - with the award-winning brand also supplying over 25 professional sports teams - the transition from player to businessman has been a positive one for Day.
That said, rugby is never too far away from his thoughts with both of Day’s former Premiership clubs - Saracens and Bath - still in the hunt for silverware this season.
This applies a lot more to the latter. Johann van Graan’s side have already lifted the Premiership Rugby Cup this term, and are guaranteed top spot and a home semi-final in the Premiership whilst they are also preparing for a European Challenge Cup final against Lyon.
“They look strong, don’t they?” says Day, who spent four years at Bath. “You look at some of the players they have lost to injury like Ollie Lawrence for example, but the strength and depth they have in the squad and the way they are going about things has been impressive.”
In last weekend’s 36-14 loss to Bristol Bears at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, Bath rotated heavily with the likes of Will Stuart and Finn Russell being wrapped up in cotton wool.
With the Challenge Cup final just around the corner on May 23rd, you suspect Bath may rotate again for Saturday’s Premiership meeting with Leicester Tigers and in truth, the Blue, Black and White have earned the right to do that.
“That city deserves a Premiership or a big trophy,” Day adds. “I know they won the Premiership Cup but I remember playing in the Premiership final for Bath [in 2015 v Saracens] and it was some event and it was so disappointing to lose.
“They are lining everything up to go and win it this year and I would probably say, for the first time in a while, I would put my money on them winning it. The city will be jumping if they do.”
Bath’s final two Premiership fixtures do come against top-four candidates Leicester and Saracens, so should they continue to rotate their squad, it could have a bearing on who joins the table-toppers in the play-offs.
In terms of Sarries, Day spent just over two seasons in North London between 2017-19, with the club lifting the Premiership title twice as well as the European Champions Cup during that period.
Despite hitting a bump in the road at Sale (4th) at the end of April, Mark McCall’s charges currently sit fifth in the Premiership standings and are only outside the play-off spots because they have won one less match than the Sharks.
Aside from when the club were relegated for salary cap breaches in 2019/20 and competed in the Championship the following season, Saracens have never missed out on a top-four finish and Day believes the club’s culture - both on and off the field - is a reason behind this.
“I have never been part of a club where off the pitch, everyone is so together,” Day explains.
“I always tell this story because it has always stuck with me but I was at Melbourne Rebels before I went to Saracens and when I was there, there was a delivery to my apartment and it was a big, beautiful vase with flowers in and it was addressed to my wife.
“My first reaction was: ‘Who the f*** has sent this?!’ but it was from Nigel Wray. The point behind it was a welcome to the Saracens family and if she or the family needed anything, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
“That never happens at other clubs. From the top, through to Mark and down to the bottom, everyone just helps each other.
“In training, in most clubs I was at, if you don’t get selected, you are on the other team that is being run against if that makes sense?
“Usually at clubs, you have got a bunch of guys who are moping around because they haven’t been picked, which can be negative, but at Saracens, that team was always like: ‘How can I help the first team to win this week? What can I do to help Saracens be successful?’ It is that culture that I think translates to what they are doing on the pitch.
“They have been in this position before [challenging for a top four spot]. We have seen changes at the club over the last 12 months in terms of that squad, but whether they can challenge this season or next season, I don’t know but they’ve always got that foundation to build on.”
Saracens travel to Northampton Saints on Saturday off the back of a crushing 75-28 win over Newcastle Falcons, in which new British and Irish Lions captain Maro Itoje was amongst the try-scorers.
During his time at the StoneX Stadium, Day played alongside an emerging Itoje and believes the now 30-year-old can not only spearhead another Saracens charge into the top four, but is also an ideal candidate to skipper the Lions this summer.
“First of all, Maro, what a player! Tried and tested, year after year. He is one of those guys who really does give it their all.
“He has been at Saracens his whole career. What an ideal person to show the new faces we have seen at Sarries this year what playing for that club is all about.
“He just leads from the front. Someone like that is probably what you need on a Lions tour. I am looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds.”
