By Mr Bow Jangles
September 1 2003

As most of us are unfamiliar with the current squad our roaming reporter Mr BJ has taken it upon himself to get out and meet the players. From today onwards Mr BJ will be interviewing a player a week finding out about their views on rugby matters as well as dipping into their life outside rugby.

THE BOW FILES: CHRIS MORGAN

Personal Stats

Name: Chris James Morgan
Age: 21
Position: Flanker
Weight: 16st 3Ibs
Height: 6ft 2inches
Born: Southmead, Bristol on 6th November 1981.

Playing Career

Bristol Shoguns (2000 – present)

Full Appearances 6 (14 sub) 1 try
United Appearances 9 (3 sub) 1 try
U21 Appearances 29 (8 sub) 2 tries
Total: 44 (25 sub) 4 tries

Representative:

Somerset & England Schools.
Eng U21 (1 cap v Wales)

Debuts:

Club: 23rd October 2000 v Oxford University (lost 11 – 5)
1st XV 19th August 2002 v Newbury (won 83 – 14)
League 10th February 2002 v Wasps (lost 34 – 16)

Background

Family:

Dad, John = Financial Adviser
Mum, Lynda = Works for the Council
Sister, Suzannah = Student at Stafford University
Girlfriend, Carly = Works for Mercedes

Schools, Colleges etc..:

§ Kings of Wessex, Cheddar
§ Scholarship at Millfield

Rugby Clubs:

Burnham-on-sea RFC (started out as a loosehead prop!)

Questions

Bow: What inspires you to play rugby? What gets you through the rough patches?

Morgs: “To be honest, even when we lost a couple of games last year I still enjoyed training and picking up a rugby ball, playing rugby. It’s the enjoyment; I enjoy rugby that much you can always overcome the bad times as soon as you go training. You forget that the weather is sh*t, you forget what’s going on elsewhere and just go out and enjoy it.”

“I was pretty upset last year when I pulled my hamstring in pre-season especially considering I was trying to break into the first team. Those times are hard just because you can’t get out there and pick a rugby ball up, but you get better, it all comes back and you’re happy again.”

Bow: What’s the worst injury you’ve had?

Morgs: “Just my hamstring last year, it kept going and popped out about 3 times. I’ve not had an operation, or anything like that .”

Bow: Did you always wanna be a rugby player? Were you good at any other sports?

Morgs: “When I was a kid I wanted to play football but I was pretty crap and they’d always stick me in goal, so my dad took me to the rugby club at Burnham-on-sea coz he liked rugby…he played rugby. Then I just played rugby, that’s all I did apart from a bit of athletics in the summer…my dad also played athletics, he got me into athletics, but I was never great at it…they just made me throw stuff! Once I was at Millfield I was completely rugby orientated. I played rugby through the winter, then sevens through the spring and in the summer season I’d just train for next season.”

Bow: Who do you look up to in the club?

Morgs: “Last year, the person who always inspired me was Arch, he was amazing, he was captain, a good bloke and a good player. I respect everyone in the squad this year; I like everyone as a player. Sean’s done a lot; he’s been at a lot of different clubs before. Then there’s Hilts. He’s the most senior player, he’s achieved a lot in his career, he’s played international rugby and he played at the highest level with B*th. Then of course there’s Hill and Haag the coaches who I look up to a lot too.”

Bow: Who would you most like to meet in World Rugby? Play with? Play against?

Morgs: “I’d like to meet Jerry Collins the New Zealand No.8 just because he looks like an absolute mutant!! I’d love to see how big he is. I’d like to play with him.”

“I have to say I have always wanted to challenge myself against Richard Hill (Saracens one!! Ed.) as a player. He’s the player I probably look up to the most in world rugby because he’s the kind of player I’d like to be and he’s achieved a lot. I also made my full debut against Richard Hill, which I quite liked.”

Bow: What’s your impression of Super 12 rugby compared to English rugby?

Morgs: “Well Peter Thorburn was here last year and he used to say the super 12 was like a sprint and the Premiership was like a marathon. The super 12 is 12 games in 10 weeks, whereas the premiership starts in September and go all the way through to June next year. It looks a lot quicker. “

Bow: Do you think your game is suited to super 12 rugby?

Morgs: I’d like to think I could adapt. There’d be things I wouldn’t be so good at and others I would. I’d have to adapt. Darryl would say that the game over here is a lot more physical than super 12, because you’d have forwards running straight at you and you knew you would get smashed!!”

Bow: What are your aspirations in rugby?

Morgs: “Short term, I’d just like to be the best player I can be and pin down a regular place in the Bristol starting XV. Of course I wanna try and aim for the top long term, play for England and the Lions.”

Bow: Who’s the best and worse dressed person in the squad?

Morgs: “It pains me to say it but Sean Marsden is the best dressed person in the squad, I don’t like to say it but he is!! Gerry would come close to worse dressed with his mullet, but Richard Hunt is the worse dressed player in the squad, he has got a terrible dress sense!”

Bow: Who’s the joker in the squad?

Morgs: “Marko always makes me laugh but I have to say Hobbo and the front row boys are the jokers in the squad.”

Bow: Who’s the quiet one?

Morgs: “Baileys quiet, he’s a laid back quiet bloke. Huntys quiet off the pitch, but in training he’s quite vocal.”

Bow: Who’s coping the most banter in the squad?

Morgs: “Mike Hook. I’ve got to say…we went to the beach yesterday for a day out, we opened his bag and there was a teddy bear in there with a Welsh jersey on!! He also has a really bad 5 o’clock shadow so everyone calls him Texas Pete!”

Bow: What’s the real difference between last year and this?

Morgs: “Everyone is really happy at the moment and there’s a really good team spirit. There’s not as much harsh banter around. We take the piss but its all fun and games nothing personal.”

Bow: Other than Richard Hill, who would you like to be coached by?

Morgs: “Hully, because he has been the most influential person to me in rugby so far. I know that he can get the best out of me.”

Bow: What irritates you most about rugby?

Morgs: “ Nothing irritates me about rugby, but playing rugby full time irritates me sometimes coz there’s no escape. It would be nice to be back at Uni sometimes, but I can’t manage both. Sometimes you need some other things to talk about other than just banter with the boys.”

Bow: What do you think of the city of Bristol and its fans?

Morgs: “I love Bristol, I think it’s a great City. I know a lot of people who have left but love Bristol and keep their houses here. I like the Bristol fans too…. I especially like their banter.”

Bow: What are your first memories of Bristol Rugby Club?

Morgs: “When I was really young as a mini I remember coming down to a tournament at the Memorial Stadium. I also watched from the terraces a couple of times…. I used to love watching Mark Regan play.”

Bow: What would you do if you weren’t a rugby player?

Morgs: “I’d be at Cardiff Uni finishing a chemistry degree. I would probably have become a teacher or something!”

Bow: Who will you miss most from last seasons squad?

Morgs: “ Rhys (Oakley) we are good mates and went through the 21s together.”

Bow: Have you got a pre-match ritual?

Morgs: “I put my right sock on before my left!”

Bow: What are your strengths and weaknesses as a rugby player?

Morgs: “My strengths, I think I’m quite aggressive and I think my support play is quite good and I’ve got big quads!!! My weaknesses, I can be quite poor sometimes on my one-on-one defence in wider channels…. and…. long passing!”

Bow: How do you relax away from rugby?

Morgs: “I have a coffee with Beanie (Sean Marsden) and Marko (Stanojevic) and go to the cinema generally. I try and stay off my feet…its quite sad really I don’t really do any hobbies or anything like that.

Bow: What do you think of the new management?

Morgs: “Haven’t really spoken to them a lot yet, I know Rob Chilvet anyway…I’m just glad they’re here I know they have the clubs best intentions at heart.”

Bow: What do you think Bris’s prospects are this season?

Morgs: “We are all aiming for promotion, but realistically…top 3.”

Bow: Know a good B*th joke?

Morgs: “No, I don’t waste my time coming up with bad jokes about a crap team!!”

Bow: Was there ever a doubt that you’d stay at Bristol?

Morgs: “I had a couple of offers and there was a time when nothing was going on (at Bris), but that was just to keep my options open as at the end of the day I didn’t wanna stop playing rugby. There was never any time when I thought I would be leaving. I was always training at Coombe Dingle and I could see Pete Johnson was getting things together…. I was just waiting for this to happen.”

Bow: What do you remember of the 2 B*th games last season?

Morgs: “ I was on the bench at watched the Wreck game and was on the bench at Ashton Gate. The Wreck was quality coz we hadn’t won there for 20 years. Rhys played really well, I enjoyed the game, we scored some good tries… Higgy scored a great try. Ashton gate was amazing we come out to warm up and do our lap and everyone was chanting…that was brilliant, I loved that…. that was my highlight of last season easily, one of my Bristol highlights apart from my debut.”

Bow: What’s the funniest moment you’ve had in rugby?

Morgs: “When Ben Sturnham knocked out Tony Spreadbury up at Leicester…remember that? It was about 2 seasons ago off a lineout Ben had his head down and started running forward, he just knocked him out!!”

Bow: Darkest moment in rugby?

Morgs: “London Irish last season”

Bow: Who do you owe the most thanks for for your career?

Morgs: “Paul Hull”

Bow: Who do you think will be the surprise package in the squad this year?

Morgs: “Ollie Hodge, no-one knows much about him but he’s a good player.”

Bow: Who would you most like to be stuck on a desert island with?

Morgs: “My girlfriend”

Bow: Describe yourself in 3 words?

Morgs: “Excitable, Loyal and Bullethead!”

Favourites

Colour? White
Food? Tuna
Drink? Cider
TV Prog? Tough Enough (Wrestling)
Film? American Pie Trilogy
Music? Most, Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Footy/Cricket Club? No
Woman? (after girlfriend + mum!!) Jordan

Either/Or

Lager/bitter? Bitter
Eastenders/Corrie? Eastenders
Nurse/teacher? Nurse
Footy/cricket? Cricket
Rock/Dance? Rock
B*th/Glos? Glos
Moody/Back? Moody
Curry/Chinese? Chinese
Night in/out? Out
Beach/Snow hols? Beach
Aus/NZ? Aus
Brittney/Christina? Brittney
Bum/Boobs? Bum
Mullet/Crewcut? Crewcut
Cat/Dog? Dog

Bow: Finally, a message for the fans?

Morgs: “Just keep coming through the gate and support us just the way you have been in pre-season. Keep that up all season and that’ll be brilliant.”