Hard man likes laid-back life

The Brasserie Coll off the Place Sault in the centre of Castres is your typical French cafe. Brown and wooden, basic and comfortable, the dozen or more locals chat quietly by the counter over a few glasses of beer or pastis, sip espressos in groups or read a newspaper. Jeremy Davidson walks in, shakes hands with the menfolk, kissing cheek to cheek with a mademoiselle, and exchanges salutations.

It probably wouldn't have to be a known rugby watering hole for everyone to know him. Now in his third season with the southern French club, the 26-year-old Irish Lion has the added responsibility of captaining the local team, which is close to the heart of Castres' 50,000 or so population.

He clearly likes the responsibility and in particular the respect, as opposed to the recognition, which comes with having established himself in Castres and French rugby. Hereabouts, as he explains, you have to earn respect and he has enjoyed the achievement and the lifestyle.

"It takes a while to get used to. It's very laid-back. Life is at a completely different pace. The guys just have a different attitude to training. When I first came over they didn't train hard at all and now it's a lot more professional in two years. We've got a new fitness trainer and new training facilities, but the first year I came here I literally had to train two or three times a week by myself just to keep my fitness up because they were so laid-back they'd drink maybe 20 cups of coffee a day, smoke about 40 cigarettes, play a bit of cards and that was life for them. I couldn't believe it."

"It took me a while to settle, but now I just love the laid-back lifestyle and the rugby has become a lot more professional, players are a lot more dedicated. You get into the way of things, and earn respect, and it's very important to gain respect. At the start they sort of look at the foreigners and think "they're over here to get in the way, earn our money and curtailing the chances of young French players." But once you start playing well in front of a home crowd they accept you very openly and it's a great feeling to be accepted in a small rugby town where everyone knows who's in the team from week to week."

Being identified as both a foreigner and quite a high profile Lion, one would have thought you'd have to be hard just to survive, but then the gentleman that is Davidson off the pitch is a hard man on it. "Eye gouging, or getting kicked in the head, obviously over here in the French championship you can't let that go without doing something about it. You have to retaliate sometimes but generally you try and get the guys to ignore and just play their rugby and generally after a while the rugby takes over. It's not as dirty as it used to be but you do have to stand up for yourself. You'd get exposed over here if you can't stand-up for yourself. "The refereeing has got a lot more strict, the players are more professional. You just can't take the liberties that you used to. If a team was getting beaten on their home ground they'd just start a brawl, but they just can't do that any more."

While this has improved French discipline, it's still not comparable to the more programmed and disciplined English which, coupled with French players' dodgy away mentality, undermines their results in Europe.

Davidson likens Castres to a slightly smaller version of Limerick, except that it has one club team instead of four or five. Castres is essentially known for two things and both are inextricably linked. Pierre Favre was a small pharmacist 10 years ago who developed "some wonder cream for varicose veins or something like that, patented it throughout the world and set up a massive pharmaceutical company."

Aside from becoming the town's main employer, Favre also backed Castres, becoming their main benefactor, and so generated the financial wherewithal to lure first Davidson, and latterly the likes of former French skipper Raphael Ibanez, Gregor Townsend and Kiwi man mountain Norm Berryman.

Davidson's contract was extended for a further two years last season, and though he has a get-out clause at the end of this season he doesn't anticipate using it. "I love playing for Castres Olympique, and even though I'd love to go home it's brilliant, it's something that not many people would do in their lifetime, spend three or four years living in France."

After the earlier years of "busting a gut to wear the Irish jersey, which was brilliant, now it's professional not only can you earn so much but you can also go wherever you want."

Indeed, a handsome contract is a nice sweetener but the French franc has nose-dived a little in his time here and he could probably earn as much in England he reckons. However, aside from revelling in the more fluent, running style of rugby and the lifestyle - the five-course meals which are a semi-religious experience and the wine have made him a bit of a foodie - he also has a lovely house 10 kilometres outside the town with its own outdoor swimming pool, which pays host to friends and extended family during summertime.

A genuine and generous man, he remains forever willing to give of his time. Yesterday's examples not only included this interview at relatively short notice, but also a couple of photo sessions. This weekend his parents and his girlfriend Karen are over for tonight's Heineken Cup meeting with Munster, not to mention the Derry Gaelic football doctor Ben Glancy, whose daughter Claire has been given a base by Davidson to learn French as a favour to his one-time Dungannon mentor Willie Anderson.

Such acts are typical of the man according to Anderson. "I admire him immensely and particularly his decision to go to Castres. He could have stayed in a sort of comfort zone in England or Ireland, especially after the Lions tour, but instead, being a true professional, he made a big decision and took on a different and more demanding challenge."

The flip side of that, as Davidson concedes, is that in an Irish context out of sight is a little out of mind. "It did worry me when I first came over here but I'm a firm believer in that if you're playing well for your club, guys (selectors) can't look the other way, and luckily we've qualified for the European Cup and I've got a chance to show myself in the shop window."

It's luckier still that Castres drew an Irish team, and possibly best of all that Munster and Mick Galwey are tonight's visitors. As well as everyone else who is visiting him this weekend, messrs Gatland and O'Sullivan will also be present in the Stade Pierre-Antoine this evening.

Due to a couple of elbow operations last season, despite playing regularly for Castres, Davidson was content enough to make the Irish bench. This season he's hoping for an injury-free run and the chance to regain his Irish place, perhaps finally one day forming that dream ticket with Malcolm O'Kelly.

At the end of it all, there's no ignoring that this is a Lions year and as a proven Lion he'd have a discernible edge if he was in the forefront of Ireland's locks. Looking back on the summer of 1997, Davidson says "it was the most dedicated team I ever played on in my life. One thing that will always stick in my head is something Ian McGeechan said before the second Test. `If we win today you'll see Lions team-mates one day in the street, and you'll pass each other, maybe without saying anything, but with just that look, because you'll have done something special that no one will ever be able to take away from you.'

"I'll never forget that."

There's a wistful look in his eye which says Jeremy Davidson wants it again. But, he says, you have to be down to earth about it and set your goals one by one - play well for Castres, get into the Irish team, play well for Ireland . . . and step one is tonight. In sight and in mind.