'It's by far the best job in the world'

GERRY THORNLEYtalks to Wales captain Sam Warburton, a young man with maturity beyond his years

TALK ABOUT an old head on young shoulders. Sam Warburton is almost as impressive off the pitch as he is on it. Epitomising the new breed of Welsh professionalism, you can readily see why Warren Gatland has made him Wales’s second youngest captain of all time behind Gareth Edwards.

Warburton only turned 23 on Wednesday, when the management presented him with a birthday cake and, he claims, ate most of it themselves. Nor were there any celebratory drinks.

“He will have a few beers but when he’s in that zone like now, he won’t,” Gatland said yesterday. “Only when he’s finished, then he’ll have a few drinks. For now his focus is the World Cup. He’s a great athlete, he’s been unlucky because he didn’t have a lot of games playing behind Martyn Williams (at Cardiff) but in playing just six Celtic Leagues last season he was named in the Celtic League team of the year.”

“He’s a fantastic athlete and the modern seven that you’re looking for, and the closest thing that I’ve ever seen to a McCaw, Pocock and Broussouw, and he might even be better. He’s been unfortunate with the number of injuries he’s had but he carries himself really well. He doesn’t say a lot within the squad and he was a bit nervous about accepting the captain’s role to start with at 22 but I said: ‘Sam, you don’t have to say a lot, just go out and lead by example. Just put your body on the line like you do.’ And that’s what the guys around know when he’s out there. If you were picking a Lions squad today, you’d be picking O’Brien and him as your two sevens.”

Indeed, the clash of these two young tyros will be worth watching alone.

Having fulfilled his top-table media obligations in front of the media throng, Warburton eased himself onto a couch and chatted amiably. With this game in mind, the Southern Hemisphere does not have a monopoly on sevens.

“Yeah, I’ve been watching him (O’Brien) play and he’s been brilliant. I’m impressed by the way he played eight and six in the Six Nations as well, and I’m more familiar with him playing six, but he can play seven just as well. I think he’s definitely been one of the best players in the World Cup. I’ve always thought he’s been one of Ireland’s best players since I noticed him a few years ago.”

Warburton smiles as he recalls their first meeting in a Leinster-Cardiff League match, when O’Brien carried hard at him. “It was a pretty big collision and I’ve been impressed with him since then. It’s going to be a huge tussle at the weekend. Maybe a clash of styles, but all the backrow, Heaslip and Ferris are also in great form, and both have fantastic attacking and defensive capabilities. So it’s going to be a massive task for us as a backrow but you play rugby so you can have good tussles like this.”

Polite, good humoured and easy-going, another striking feature of an audience with the young leader of the Red Dragonhood is how genuinely respectful he is of the opposition. He’s also clearly captaincy material, as Warburton was skipper of the Wales side that finished fourth at the IRB under-19 World Championships in 2007 and then captained his country in the inaugural IRB World Junior Championships in 2008.

Seemingly as cool as a breeze about leading his country into a World Cup, he admitted: “There were concerns I did have before I came out to be honest but a Six Nations in Wales is a bit more chaotic than this because all the eyes are on the All Blacks out here and it kind of takes the pressure off you. Obviously it’s getting a bit bigger now that we’ve got to the quarter-final stage. But we also have a psychologist out here who helps us switch off every evening, and I’ve seen him every day this week. I think that’s pretty important. You’ve got to be able to switch off at the weekend.”

Although all his mother’s roots are Welsh, both parents were born in England. “My dad’s a Londoner and my mum is from Somerset, but Warburton comes from up north somewhere, Bury I think. My last name is actually double-barrelled, it’s Kennedy-Warburton, and that’s definitely not from the Rhondda Valleys,” he laughs.

Both he and his twin brother Ben broke the family mould in playing rugby, for although a Cardiff boy, “my family were football mad and my father brainwashed me into being a Spurs fan since I was six-years-old. I played football and rugby together but at about 15 I concentrated on the rugby.”

Indeed Warburton played football for his secondary school team alongside Tottenham and Wales left-back Gareth Bale, and had a trial with Cardiff City at 14. But by then he was at Whitchurch High School, where his skills were honed by former Wales under-21 coach Steve Williams and current top-flight referee Gwyn Morris.

Cardiff-born, by 15 he’d been recognised by the Cardiff Blues academy, to work with their nutritionist and fitness coaches, and was also soon playing for the Welsh Under-16 team as a reluctant number eight, although he admits now “it was a pretty useful developmental tool for my ball-carrying”.

By then too, there was only one career Warburton wanted. “I remember watching Jonny Wilkinson DVDs and Jonah Lomu videos. For Christmas my parents got me a Lions shirt with number seven on the back. I used to wear it everywhere, and I’ve always wanted to play for the Lions. It’s been a massive ambition of mine. I can get quite passionate when I think about the Lions,” he admits with a chuckle. “I love watching the tour videos.”

Now, it seems, he’s living the dream. “It’s amazing. I remember when I was about 10 or 11 I told my mum I wanted to be a rugby player, lying on the bed as you do as a kid, and she said: ‘You’ve got to be realistic though Sam. Very few players make it as a rugby player.’

“But I was always so determined to do it, and I think I’ve been very dedicated since I was about 15 with my diet and training. I think you have to be quite selfish to make it, and sacrifice a few things. I didn’t really go out and socialise with my mates as much as I could have done. But the experiences I’ve already had as a 23-year-old, I wouldn’t swap it for the world; for any university experience or travelling. I think what I’ve been able to do is something amazing and it’s by far the best job in the world that I can think of.”

His parents admit his dedication definitely did not come from them, and he attributes it to the competitiveness of being a twin. Ben played for the Blues from under-16s to under-20 and for Wales Under-16s, but was plagued with injury, though now is a physiotherapist for the Newport Dragons.

“We’re best friends, never argue and get on great, but we’ve always been very competitive against each other and I think that might have helped. Even in school we always helped each other with our homework, or advised each other. We got exactly the same grades all the way through school, which is a bit strange. But I think we’ve helped each other both academically and when it comes to sporting achievements.”

So, in some respects, Warburton is two players in one. At times, that looks about right.