Alex King

As the best side in the league, most thought Gloucester had the Premiership title sewn up in 2003, but inspiring Wasps to a 39-3 win in the final was Alex King, a fly-half who is now, almost twenty years later, trying to finally make amends to The Shed.

Tactical substitutions have been allowed in rugby union since 1996 and yet, in 1998, when England conceded eleven tries with a revolving door defence against Australia, not once did Clive Woodward turn to Alex King. “The funny thing about the tour of hell,” begins Alex, before stopping himself, “well, actually there wasn’t much funny about it – it was the hardest itinerary an international team has ever taken on. A Test against Australia, two Test matches against the All Blacks and then why don’t we fly to Cape Town and have a Test against South Africa too? 

“All in about five weeks at the end of a long, long season,” he adds. “I did my knee before that tour too, so I should never have gone on it.

“But, no, the funny thing was, I was on the bench for the first Test match in Brisbane, and I’ve never asked Clive this, but given we lost 76-0, I can’t believe he didn’t bring me on – just to see what I could do, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have made it any worse. 

“My abiding memory of that game was the press-up boys behind the posts,” he continues. “It was sort of a matchday gimmick to entertain the crowd and every time there was a try, they had to do a cumulative number of press-ups, so if the score went to twenty, they did twenty press-ups and so on.

“But Australia were scoring at such a rapid rate, they couldn’t keep up with the press-ups, they hadn’t finished the last set before they had to do more – in the end they just held up their hands and gave up.” 

Given the tour’s infamy due to England losing every game, including those against New Zealand A, New Zealand Rugby Academy and New Zealand Maori, it’s perhaps good that few associate Alex with it. It was a reflection of  how few chances he was given by England, especially given his presence at the heart of an all-conquering Wasps side – albeit this tour was before that had really kicked in. A cap from the bench against Argentina, topped with a try, the year before, was then followed with another against South Africa after the 1998 tour, but then just three more caps from 2000 to 2003, exactly the time his Wasps side were tearing it up across Europe. “It’s weird because I was a better player from 2003 to 2007, than I was back in 1997,” he says. “But, for whatever reason, other players come along, and opportunities pass you by and, you know, I’d much rather be grateful for what I did achieve rather than look back and think ‘if only’. Ultimately, you get what you’re given, but I had a pretty good run, to be honest.

“But making decisions like that is what international coaches get paid the big bucks for and you can’t argue with Clive’s record, it was phenomenal,” he admits, “I just feel maybe after 2004, there may have been opportunities where I could have got back in. Anyway, water under the bridge, as they say.”

Tetley’s Bitter Cups, when domestic cups were a big thing, multiple Premierships and European Cups, even Top 14 titles in France; Alex is simply one of the most decorated fly-halves of his generation. “I played in, I think, ten finals with Wasps, maybe eleven,” he says. “The first one was the Tetley’s Bitter Cup against Saracens and we got absolutely spanked by Michael Lynagh, Philippe Sella and co – he [Lynagh] gave me an absolute education on how to win a final. They won 48-18 and it was a pretty chastening experience in front of 70,000 at Twickenham.”

Learning their lessons quickly, Wasps won a year later, 29-19 against a strong Newcastle side with Va’aiga Tuigamala, Jonny Wilkinson and Gary Armstrong among their ranks. Another year on, they won again, this time against Northampton 31-23, as winning started to become a habit. 

“I think Wasps had a bit of a reputation for attracting waifs and strays,” says Alex, “players that hadn’t quite made it at other clubs. 

“But ultimately, Wasps’ biggest thing was allowing people just to be themselves, to bring their characters. Whether you were a coach or a player, everyone was hugely welcome. 

“As long as you worked hard, you were decent lads and you fronted up every week, you got the respect of your peers and the coaching staff and, together, we built a team and had some incredible adventures.

“I remember when we went to Paris to play Stade Francais in a two-leg Parker Pen Challenge Cup quarter-final, and we’d won the first leg at Adams Park, but everyone was saying that the second leg would be a different story, with their team so star-studded.

“But we won on a freezing night in January and that was sort of the making of the team, it gave us huge confidence going forward that we could challenge anyone and I think we went on a huge, huge streak. We beat Bath in the final, and, ironically, we beat Gloucester in the first Premiership final and that really set us on our way forward.

“I think the boys that went off and won the World Cup in 2003, then came back and we went on that incredible European journey.”

Again, an away win in France, was pivotal to the side’s belief. “The group stages [of the Heineken Cup] culminated down in Perpignan, where I think there were fifteen citings – all Perpignan players – as we played in their absolute bear-pit of a stadium. It wasn’t that big, but it was so gladiatorial,” explains Alex. “I’m not sure they’re even allowed now but the fans were in these metal cages, like the old football stadiums, and when it’s packed on European days with 12,000 Catalans, all in yellow and red, and with all the bands playing ... well, it’s everything you could imagine for the south of France.”

That 34-6 away win would be the catalyst for a first European and league double for Warren Gatland’s Wasps. “We probably didn’t have the strength or depth of other teams in England, but we probably had a nucleus that was as strong as anyone really,” recalls Alex, “and we won four Premierships – although I’d left for the last one – and two European Cups in that golden era. 

“We had internationals like Lawrence [Dallaglio], Shawsy [Simon Shaw], Joe [Worsley], Josh [Lewsey], Stuart Abbot, we signed overseas stars like Craig Dowd and Rob Howley, we had good young English players and club legends like Paul Volley, Fraser Waters and Will Green – guys that had been there and done it for the club. Then, when you have Gats’ style of management and Shaun [Edwards]’s work ethic and  desire to make us the best defensive team in Europe, it was a special time. 

“And, during that time I played with Dom [Waldouck] and George [Skivington] too,” he says, namechecking his fellow coaches at current club Gloucester. “It’s great to know that, a decade or so later, I get the opportunity to work with them on the coaching side and we still talk fondly of those days back at Acton and High Wycombe. The game has moved on, but ultimately it’s still about people and getting the best out of them.”

When Alex arrived at Kingsholm as the new attack coach last summer, there was another familiar face at the club: his successor at Wasps, Danny Cipriani. “Yeah, we knew him from when he was young, because Whitgift School [where he was a pupil] used to come up twice a week to do kicking practice with the Academy coaches and all the staff were always saying, ‘what a player this guy is going to be’.  I actually played against him when I was at Clermont in a European game and he was phenomenal that day – I was like, ‘wow, I left at the right time because I wouldn’t be playing for Wasps if I was there now’.

“It was probably just a shame for him he didn’t stay in one place for a long time. Ideally, it’d have been great if he’d stayed at Wasps for twelve years, but he went off to Australia. It was interesting, not having really seen him for twelve years, to come back and work with him at Gloucester and it’s a shame how things have worked out. But, rugby is a professional sport and things happen; hopefully it [Cipriani’s departure from Gloucester] is the right decision for everyone involved.”

At 46, Alex is the older head in the Gloucester coaching team. “By far,”
he adds, “which is a bit of a worry now, but they bring a lot of energy, and Dom hasn’t got kids yet, so he really brings loads and loads of energy.”

It doesn’t feel that long ago that Alex was the young kid on the block. While he acknowledges the role his Wasps coaches – from Rob Smith and Nigel Melville to Ian McGeechan, Gatland and Edwards – played in shaping his thinking, those first steps into coaching at Clermont, as backs coach, were hugely influential. “We did play some good rugby at Wasps, it wasn’t just defence and kick chase, we played some outstanding stuff with Mark van Gisbergen, Tom Voyce, Josh Lewsey, attack players.

“But going to France to work with Joe [Schmidt] and Vern [Cotter], they saw the game very much from an attacking side,” explains Alex, “they had an appreciation of playing to space, understanding where space was, getting tempo into the game, initiative, looking for opportunities with the ball rather than trying to destroy another team’s attack.

“It was fascinating, I learnt a huge amount from them, and I was lucky enough to spend another five years in France as a coach, enjoying everything that’s good about French rugby, and Clermont is a special place to get a rugby education.

“Stade Marcel Michelin is one of the iconic rugby stadiums in Europe; when it’s full and rocking on a European night, there’s no better place to watch club rugby in the world, I’d say. 

“My son was born in France and there are huge emotional ties to that town and what it means to us as a family too.”

An opportunity back in England with Northampton was too good to turn down though. “It was, for a number of reasons, including having a young family at the time,” he says. “Saints had got to the [Premiership] final the year before [losing 37-17 to Leicester], and had made some cracking signings in Alex Corbisiero and George North, and you could see a strong squad getting stronger. And, you know, we then got that famous double the following year: the Challenge Cup and the Premiership in that epic final against Saracens [when they won 24-20 in extra time].”

But despite the success, a poor start to the 2016-17 campaign when they were ninth in October, saw Alex depart. “It was a shame really,” he admits, “because in 2015 we finished top of the tree. And we lost to Saracens, ironically in a semi-final, and obviously, you know, a lot has been said about Saracens ... I don’t need to go into that. 

“Then the following year, we’ve finished fifth and it was a sort of transition time at the club because they invested heavily in the stadium and you know, maybe the squad wasn’t boosted as well as it might have been. 

“But, no regrets, it happens. A lot’s happened at Saints since then, people have moved on, but I’ve still got fond memories of Saints, I’ve still got friends there and you know, that’s rugby in professional times.”

He also wasn’t out of work for long, with Vern once again picking him up for ‘two cracking years’ at Montpellier as part of a star-studded coaching and playing line-up, before Gloucester came calling. Here, with his former Wasps team-mates, he has one aim. “I think that the real focus of us here at Gloucester now is just to improve,” he says, “to improve the team by improving the development of the players. 

“I don’t care what age you are,” continues Alex, “I think there’s always room for improvement. So even the experienced guys are getting challenged to improve their game.”

To do that, he’s choosing role models from a wide range of disciplines. “I try and give examples of good professionals, so you know, for a lot of our young nines, you’d reference Aaron Smith because he’s ultimately the best passer of the ball in the world. 

“And it’s more about his work ethic, really,” he adds. “With the access to information we now have, you see the amount of work that these guys do. 

“While that might be Aaron Smith with his passing, it might be Steph Curry with his basketball skills or Tom Brady with his throwing. Yes, there’s no secret that they’re the best at what they do because they’ve got talent, but it’s also because they just worked so hard. 

“And it’s just about getting the fundamentals done day in, day out. So when it comes to that clutch situation, they nail it, 99 times out of 100. 

“You see them on TV, and we think all these guys are just naturally brilliant. And they are naturally brilliant, but they work – they work harder than anyone to constantly be the number one.

“It’s up to us as coaches to be innovative in how we drive that, and how we set up practice, to make it purposeful but, ultimately, it’s the players that have got to take it on board and really want to become better.”

When they do get better that’s one of the best bits of the job, but for Alex it’s also about the partnership between player and coach. “I think that’s the satisfying bit, when a player comes to you and you form a relationship that will hopefully last a long time,” he says. “I’ve got coaches now that I’m still close to who helped me in my career. 

“There are guys I still go to for advice,” continues Alex. “Shaun [Edwards] is probably the guy I speak to most, not always about rugby, but about life and you know, what’s happening. He’s just got an amazing capacity to engage in that sort of emotional side and I think for a lot of my Wasps’ generation, Shaun would still be up there as one of the most important people in their careers for sure.”

When it comes to Gloucester, the most important people have always been the fans. “I’m trying to think of other clubs with fans that have the kind of reputation The Shed has,” ponders Alex. “I mean, they’re a little bit like that in Leicester, but as a collective, I just think The Shed is world famous.”

Their absence has been noticeable, not least as we speak to Alex during the club’s Squad of Thousands campaign to engage fans in the covid era. “The guys have been developing their own methods to get themselves up for the games without the fans,” he says. “Initially, the first few weeks were very, very strange, it was like an A-league game where there’s no one in the stadium but the press or whatever. 

“But now, you know, these are professional games, and I actually think the referees have been under less pressure too, there’s not been a need to make a sort of knee-jerk reaction on the basis of what they collectively hear 10,000 people saying.”

After we speak, fans return to Kingsholm, and he knows how important that is. “Gloucester is synonymous with rugby,” he says, “and the people of this town have just been crying out to get back into it.”

Now, they’re back, and with the side showing glimpses of recovery, at least, Alex and his former Wasps are giving them something to cheer about too.

Story by  Alex Mead

Pictures by Henry Hunt

This extract was taken from issue 14 of Rugby.
To order the print journal, click here.