Open Side: The Official Autobiography
‘A terrific book. No one put their body on the line quite like Sam Warburton. ’ Brian O’Driscoll ‘It was an absolute privilege to play against Sam. An inspiring leader with an equally inspiring story to tell. ’ Jonny Wilkinson Sam Warburton OBE was not only a titan of Welsh rugby, but an icon of the game. Having represented his country as a player and team captain at all junior levels, he propelled himself to international attention in 2011 when named as the youngest ever captain of Wales for the Rugby World Cup. Despite his tender age, Sam’s immense displays for club and country were recognised still further in April 2013, when, at just 24, he was named the Lions' captain for the extraordinary 2013 tour to Australia. Four years later, after a year ‘in the wilderness’, Sam was named Lions’ captain yet again for the historic tour to New Zealand, thereby becoming the first ever Lions Captain never to lose a series in the professional era. Intelligent, calm, thoughtful – in many ways seemingly the exact opposite of the smash and crash of modern rugby – Warburton’s edge never came with his size, but with his depth of thought, his reading of movement, and his understanding that, to be a uniquely successful leader, one needs to set goals that far exceed the ambitions of even the most ferocious of opponents. In leading other men, and in pitting himself against the world’s best, Warburton was forced repeatedly to push himself to the very edge of his physiological and mental limits, the 21 significant injuries over that period a painful testament to his sacrifice. Open Side is therefore not simply a chronology of events or a celebration of statistics. Written in a compelling but soul searching style, this is an astoundingly personal book exploring the nature of leadership, the value of self-control, the precision of mindset and of course the future of the game. It is also a deeply personal meditation on the sacrifice of body, the torment of injury and the pain of retirement, a decision Sam was forced to make in July 2018, at just 29 years old. Never before has a rugby autobiography given such intimate access not only to the realities of the dressing room and the heroes and villains of the modern game, but to the unique mindset required to make someone a genuinely great leader of men.
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HarperCollinsPublishers
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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
FIRST EDITION
© Sam Warburton 2019
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019
Cover photograph © Andrew Brown
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Sam Warburton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
Extract from Western Mail, 17 October, 2011 courtesy of Western Mail/Media Wales
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Source ISBN: 9780008336578
Ebook Edition © September 2019 ISBN: 9780008336608
Version: 2019-07-23
To my wife Rachel, daughter Anna, my family and close friends – thanks for being on the journey with me, supporting me and helping me through all the tough times. I could never have done it without you.
CONTENTS
1 Cover
2 Title Page
3 Copyright
4 Dedication
5 Contents
6 PROLOGUE
7 1 WHITCHURCH
8 LEADERSHIP 1: PERSONALITY
9 2 TOYOTA STADIUM, CHICAGO
10 LEADERSHIP 2: PROFESSIONALISM
11 3 EDEN PARK
12 LEADERSHIP 3: PERFORMANCE
13 4 MILLENNIUM STADIUM
14 LEADERSHIP 4: PERSPECTIVE
15 5 ETIHAD STADIUM, MELBOURNE
16 LEADERSHIP 5: POSITIVITY
17 6 TWICKENHAM
18 LEADERSHIP 6: PERSISTENCE
19 7 WESTPAC STADIUM, WELLINGTON
20 LEADERSHIP 7: PEOPLE
21 EPILOGUE
22 APPENDIX A: THE FUTURE OF THE GAME
23 APPENDIX B: MY BEST WELSH XV
24 APPENDIX C: MY BEST INTERNATIONAL XV
25 About the Publisher
LandmarksCoverFrontmatterStart of ContentBackmatter
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Friday, 30 June 2017
The Rydges Hotel, Wellington, New Zealand
Two in the morning.
Can’t sleep. The witching hour, when the darkness comes flooding in: thoughts tumbling and cascading over each other like a Snowdonia river in full spate. The darkness comes flooding in, and it’s all I can do to stop it drowning me.
Everything hurts. My body, my mind, my heart. Everything. I’m a wreck.
It’s easier to list the parts of me that aren’t in pain. My eyelashes. That’s pretty much it. I’ve had more than 20 injuries over my career: the concussions, the broken jaw, the plate in my eye socket, the trapped shoulder nerve, the hamstring torn clean off the bone, the knee ligaments.
Before I go out to play these days, I have to neck painkillers while the physios strap me up like an Egyptian mummy. I have to stand there butt naked in front of them, cupping my twig and berries, while they bind my knees, my ankles, my shoulders and my elbows.
It’s not just tonight. It’s the relentless grind: week on week, month on month, year on year. Smash and be smashed. Try to recover. Smash and be smashed again. The equivalent of strapping myself into a car like a crash test dummy and driving it at a wall every weekend.
I get out of bed. Shards of pain as my feet touch the floor. I push myself slowly upright, gritting my teeth as the aches flare and settle.
If my body’s only at around 70 per cent fitness, my mind feels around half that. I’m exhausted, but also wired: antsy, yet craving rest. Yes, these are the small hours when everything seems worse, but even in broad daylight the doubts and questions are never far away.
