Coping well with relentless pressure of a weekend job review

The Harlequins tighthead prop tells Johnny Wattersonabout life as a professional rugby player and his experience of living in London

MIKE ROSS is the tighthead prop for Premiership team Harlequins. He is from Ballyhooly, Co Cork, but now lives in London and was recently selected for the Ireland A squad for upcoming internationals against English Saxons and Scotland A.

This is my third season with Harlequins. Basically I had a trial back in 2006 at around April or May of that year over in London. Based on that trial, I was offered a three-month trial period and it then basically kicked on from there. I was finally offered an 18-month deal and signed up again in 2007 so I will be here in London until June of this year.

I was 26 years old when I came over to Harlequins and it was the first time I had been anywhere out of Ireland for more than six months.

I’d been to places like America for student-type stuff and I played for a while with the Boston Wolfhounds.

So coming over, I suppose, I was excited but also a bit anxious because it was probably the last chance that I was going to get to have a professional career in rugby. Because I was 26 it was a sort of make-or-break move.

When I first arrived I stayed with Mike Worsley, the former ’Quins prop. But eventually I bought myself a house in Twickenham, which is not too far from the Harlequins grounds at The Stoop. It’s about half a mile away.

We train on Wimbledon Common and usually I pick up two other guys from the team, Jim Evans and Ollie Kuhn, and head off.

I do very much enjoy the life. We probably only work for about 20 hours a week but there are not a lot of days off and during those days you may have to go in for a rub or just recover from the training or a match.

But I can’t complain. I’ve done a nine to five job and I appreciate what I have got.

Prior to coming over I did a degree in bio-technology in UCC. I worked in a food lab for about two years and that’s where I had the experience of regular hours.

There is no comparison. When I’m playing rugby I don’t feel like it’s a work day. I enjoy it. It’s not difficult to do.

The training can be very tough, especially pre-season but you get used to it. It’s actually a frame of mind.

You can’t go out during the week and Friday nights are not what they used to be because we usually have a match at the weekend.

It’s very different from home. I come from a small village between Cork and Mallow called Ballyhooly. Moving to London was different. I was used to a lot of space and I’m living in a terraced house now. It does take some adjusting but I think I took it in my stride.

The only problem is that it is a finite career and it is going to come to an end. You cannot go on forever. It is and it isn’t real life. The weeks go very quickly and every weekend is like a job review, shall we say. There is pressure to perform.

If you mess up at this level there is no way to cover up and you answer to your team-mates and your coach.

The pressure can be relentless but I think the highest pressure is probably at the most successful clubs like Leicester and Munster where if they don’t win the Heineken Cup or the Premiership then it’s seen as a failure. That’s where we want to get to at Harlequins.

I found it pretty easy to settle in here. It is a very welcoming club and there are other nationalities here. A couple of Kiwis, guys from Oz and some Island boys.

And you do see a bit of glamour. Richmond is just down the Road. Richmond Park is close by and Kew Gardens too – really lovely places.

I’d like to live back in Ireland but you never know. I wouldn’t mind doing some coaching. Sometimes I do sessions with the local club in Fermoy, if I’m home, but I don’t get home that often. I enjoy that but it’s tough. You need to be of a certain type of mind to do it well.

But as I say, I’m here until June anyway and I’m enjoying my playing very much.