Steve Thompson Interview - FIX ME NATURALLY
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1. You'll be joining Wasps next season, how are you feeling about the move?
I'm looking forward to it, they've had a bit of a dip over the last couple of years, but they've made some big signings and the club has a lot of history. Like they say, 'once a Waspian always a Waspian' so I'm looking forward to it.
2. You played in France for Brive, how does it compare to playing in England?
It's quite different, everyone expects it to be like everyone just chucking the ball around, but its actually a big physically sort of game. They've got props out there that are around 145kg who don't actually do that much around the field but when it comes to scrum time, that's what they're there for.
3. With the World Cup approaching, what is the mood in the England camp at the moment?
Everyone gets given three weeks off after the last [club] game, and now we're back at Twickenham just doing fitness camps Monday to Wednesday, and we'll have one more session to do ourselves over the weekend. That goes until the end of June, then the whole camp comes in.
4. And what do you think of England's chances in the world cup?
I think its good. Just over a year ago, if we'd have played our best rugby and one of the big teams had turned up and played their best rugby, we'd have lost the game. Now, if we turn up and play our best game, teams are going to have to play really well to beat us. We've got a good forward pack now, but also we've got backs who can run lines from anywhere so we're looking dangerous.
5. How do you prepare yourself for a tournament like this?
At the moment its just about thinking rugby really, about getting yourself into good shape. I've had a good holiday, came back and put a bit of weight on which I knew I was going to for three weeks after a long season. Going into a World Cup you've got to try and enjoy yourself and have a bit of down time. Now its just working hard over the next two to three weeks, getting into good shape and just build on top of that to a good fitness base. Once the whole squad is in, that's when we start doing a bit of rugby as well.
6. Some people have said that England have the easiest group in the pool stage, but teams like Argentina and Scotland are always touch competitors. What will be the attitude in the first few games?
Well if you look at Argentina they got to the semi-finals last time. Scotland beat South Africa in the autumn internationals, perhaps they didn't have the best Six Nations, but they're a team that can turn up and play good rugby. The Georgians nearly beat Ireland last time round, and I played with some of them in France and some of them are the best players in France. So on paper it might look easy, but its not going to be. Its going to be a really physical group and in a World Cup that's what you want. You want the physical encounters in the group stage, and if you can go through you've already battled to the knock-out stages.
7. What is the highlight of your career so far?
There's a couple of things, when I was really young we won the county finals with all my mates in the East Midlands. That was a real highlight, and everyone laughs when I say it but its true. Playing at Twickenham for the first time, and winning my first cap. Coming back and winning my 50th cap, that's got to be a massive highlight for me, because I was injured when I was on 47 caps and for me it was a massive goal to get to 50.
8. Are there any games you've played in that stand out from others?
When we played Australia away in the tour before the World Cup, and France last season when the scrummage was under a bit of pressure in the first half but we came on and sorted that out. But every game stands out, since I've come back from the injury I'm just enjoying playing for England more and more.
