Former Gloucester and England Saxons fly-half Ryan Lamb has opened up on the struggles he faced during his playing days, and the lack of \u201cregrets\u201d over his England exile.<\/p>\n
The 39-year-old had a largely successful professional playing career that spanned over 15 years, taking him from England to France and ending in Wales.<\/p>\n
Despite his extensive travels with the club game, he never quite made the leap to the international ecosystem, but not due to a lack of talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I wasn\u2019t really made for international rugby,\u201d said the now Plymouth Albion backs coach on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in the era where you had some outstanding tens,\u201d he continued, naming Jonny Wilkinson, Charlie Hodgson, Andy Goode, Toby Flood and Shane Geraghty<\/a> as his challengers for the shirt, admitting, however,\u00a0that he believed he should have been capped, claiming that his \u201cface didn\u2019t fit\u201d the selection policy.<\/p>\n Lamb arguably had his chances at England camps under Brian Ashton, Martin Johnson and Stuart Lancaster, but had issues with all three.<\/p>\n Driving away from Brian Ashton<\/p>\n His first England coach was the former Bath man, Ashton. His philosophy was always to play with the ball in hand, to take risks and not pre-plan moves. Watching an Ashton side play was always great for a neutral, but it didn\u2019t necessarily translate to the international stage.<\/p>\n During Lamb\u2019s time with the national academy, he recounted a meeting when he called out Ashton for training the players too hard, which spectacularly backfired.<\/p>\n \u201cI put my hand up,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018listen, I think we\u2019re doing too much, like, blah blah, I\u2019m 18 at a time. I kind of went a bit hard, saying, \u2018This is silly. There\u2019s no need to do this. Blah, blah, blah\u2019. And then he went, \u2018Does anyone else feel like that? Anyone?\u2019<\/p>\n The response was not what Lamb<\/a> had expected. The room was silent, and Lamb had irked the boss.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it boys? Like, f*cking great,\u201d Lamb recalled feeling disappointed. \u201cAnd I just sat back down like that. And then he said, \u2018you stay in after \u2018. Then I didn\u2019t want to be around the boys; I was angry.\u201d<\/p>\n Ashton then allegedly called Lamb an \u201cenergy sapper\u201d, accusing him of bringing those around him down, which led to his first big exit from an England camp.<\/p>\n \u201cI walked out the door, went straight to my dorm and packed all my kit, and I just got in the car, my Peugeot 206, and started driving down the M5.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t the first time he had fallen out with Ashton. In fact, during his time under Ashton\u2019s stewardship, he had an issue with the way Ashton allegedly treated Danny Cipriani<\/a> as his \u201cgolden child\u201d.<\/p>\n Recounting a time when Cipriani and Lamb were expected to play off the cuff and not pre-plan a move during training, he told the panel of the \u201cinjustice\u201d that would fall his way.<\/p>\n Cipriani, in Lamb\u2019s opinion, had pre-planned a move and was rewarded for it, whilst Lamb was berated for playing off the cuff. This was the turning point for Lamb, deciding there and then that he no longer wished to play for Ashton.<\/p>\n Brian O\u2019Driscoll weighs into Leo Cullen\u2019s outburst as Ireland legend \u2018understands\u2019 lack of Leinster \u2018sympathy\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Snapping at Martin Johnson<\/p>\n His next time in the England<\/a> camp would come under the leadership of 2003 World Cup winner, Johnson. His time as head coach was notoriously short, but Lamb still felt his impact.<\/p>\n During one training session, in which Lamb had wanted to sit out due to injury, Johnson had challenged his reasoning, which led to a very feisty response.<\/p>\n \u201cJohno [Martin Johnson] come up to me and went, said something about, \u2018are you injured?\u2019 I was like, \u2018yeah\u2019. He said, \u2018Is it because it\u2019s contact?\u2019 And I went, \u2018you what?\u2019 I was like, \u2018course not, what you on about contact, I play rugby for a living!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then he never spoke to me again after that, never even looked at me again. Never got picked for another camp.\u201d<\/p>\n Sharks gamble on teen sensation\u2019s positional switch amid fly-half rumours while Siya Kolisi starts<\/a><\/p>\n Getting Stuart Lancaster\u2019s name wrong<\/p>\n His final coach at the international level was the then-relatively unknown boss, Lancaster<\/a>. His initial introduction didn\u2019t go well.<\/p>\n Lamb explained that he was running late for a half-back\u2019s meeting after initially being missed out of the WhatsApp group.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve walked up, I said, \u2018I\u2019m so sorry I\u2019m late. So great to be here, great to meet you, Steve\u2019. He went, \u2018My name\u2019s not Steve, it\u2019s Stuart\u2019. And I went, \u2018Yeah, course it is, course it is.\u2019<\/p>\n Andy Goode jokingly told him that he would be out the door after that initial faux pas, but the reality was that he was right.<\/p>\n Siya Kolisi\u2019s honest Sharks admission as Springboks captain issues \u2018tough\u2019 farewell message<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t take away from how good a player he was\u201d<\/p>\n Mike Tindall reflected on his former teammate, saying: \u201cIf I look back now on Lamby, how unbelievable he was, if you put him in today, you would compare him with Finn Russell<\/a> in terms of how to make a read at the line and change it if needs be, and place it accordingly.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you know, some of it then lies on that means, like picking those fights, he didn\u2019t really need to pick those fights, which he definitely did do, and if he got told to do something, he would sometimes purposely do the other thing just to prove a point. But still, it doesn\u2019t take away from how good a player he was.\u201d<\/p>\n