Varsity Match 2019: James Horwill plays it by the books for life after professional days at Cambridge University
Life was very different for James Horwill the last time he played at Twickenham.
It was on June 2, and he was captaining the Barbarians to a 51-43 win over on England XV in his farewell from the professional game.
Horwill heads back to HQ tomorrow with Cambridge University to face Oxford in the Varsity Match, but in just 192 days, so much has already changed since he brought down the curtain on a 15-year professional career.
“I’ve hardly watched that much rugby,” says the 34-year-old lock. “I’ve watched a few Quins games – I went to one a couple of weeks ago – but I haven’t really watched too many just through doing other things.
“You keep across the scores and see where it’s all going, but you don’t have the time to anaylse it.”
We are meeting during a rare gap in Horwill’s diary as he balances family life and hitting the books.
It is in part coincidence that the venue is one Cambridge institution, Fitzbillies, to discuss two others, the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University RUFC.
But convenience was a compelling draw – Horwill has swapped the wide open expanses of Surrey Sports Park in Guildford as his office for the Old Addenbrooke’s Site of the Judge Business School on Trumpington Street.
There has been little chance to think of the life left behind, with any spare time dedicated to his wife and one-year-old daughter. And of course, the odd rugby match here and there, but now back as an amateur.
What is immediately striking is how much the new way of life appears to suit Horwill.
If you did not know his background or rugby heritage, the 6ft 7in strapping Australian would be just another of the legion of academics in the city.
Background reading, assessments, assignments, note-taking and preparing for lectures now fill his days as he studies an executive MBA.
It is a course that has opened up a different world far away from the life of the pro game.
“I think it is one of the best parts about it,” he says. “You do meet interesting people but the life of being a professional rugby player is in a bubble.
“It’s been great to go in and spend time with people that have a completely different mindset and done some amazing things. It makes you feel you haven’t actually done that much.
“I played sport for 15 years professionally, but these people have found things to cure diseases, others have done amazing work through science or business.
“A lot of people are very interested in the world of professional sport because across the board it’s quite a public profession. People want to know how it works, what it’s really like.
“It works both ways, and I think that’s the great thing about the course and Cambridge, particularly the diversity.
“They really promote that diverseness for people to work with each other from different backgrounds to help each other.”
Horwill was clearly focused on what his next steps would be after retirement, but it is a difficult subject and one which can cause struggles.
He describes the transition from professional sport as being complex, and says that having something to get his teeth into, and put his energy towards, has been ideal.
“I think everyone is different when it comes to transitioning from sport, but I think having something to retire to is helpful, but also in an aspect that having something to give you a bit of flexibility,” he says.
“You speak to a lot of guys that went straight into something just because they wanted to go into anything.
“They didn’t like what they were doing but were stuck doing something for two years they hated, and that didn’t help their transition.
“It’s been good for me, but it might not work for everyone.”
Making that transition even comes down to the simplest things, and Horwill admits that one of the biggest tasks is just organising life.
Managing time becomes a big thing as, in his own words, “professional sportsmen have more time on their hands than when you’re not”.
“It sounds quite basic but in professional sport, you get told where you need to be, at what time, what you need to wear and what you’re doing,” he explains.
“You basically don’t have to think.
“You come out, and it’s up to your own thoughts. It’s definitely a challenge because it’s different to what you’ve done and about managing your time.”
In a slightly different way, it is these type of life lessons that members of Cambridge’s squad, which has many undergraduates and an average age in the low 20s, are also figuring out.
Husband and father Horwill and fellow second row and former international Flip van der Merwe are further along in their life experiences.
But the age range is nothing new as Horwill was 32 when Marcus Smith broke into the Harlequins first-team squad aged 18.
The difference is the broad range of abilities and rugby backgrounds at the start of term.
Some may have come from professional academies, while others may have just played for fun or at school.
“It’s a big mix of people,” says Horwill, “but the skill has definitely improved throughout the year.
“I think the standard is strong, but it’s a uni rugby side. We’re not pretending to be professional outfit or a semi-professional outfit, we’re a university side and I think we go quite well as a uni team.”
There have been times during the build-up matches to the Varsity that you would give a penny for the thoughts of Horwill.
Viewing from the stands has brought its own levels of frustration during the term, but both of Cambridge’s internationals have been the embodiment of calmness and patience.
It may be a conscious effort at times, but Horwill explains that it is about understanding the squad and that one game matters more than any other – which took a while to get used to after a career when winning every game was all important.
“Sometimes these guys put a lot of pressure on themselves because they want to get this game coming up, and it’s such a big game and it’s of huge importance to them, and to me,” says Horwill.
“They over pressurise themselves so me getting frustrated is not going to help the situation. I try to drive the standards as much as possible but you need to work out how that’s done and the way we go about it.
“It was given to me pretty early on – ‘there is one game that matters, so just worry about the one game that matters’.”
In order to achieve that goal, Horwill has been there to support captain Stephen Leonard if and when required, but has been keen to observe and absorb the cultural elements and expectations of Cambridge.
His priority has been to “only add impact where it’s useful, not just talking for the sake of talking. I’ve tried to make sure I don’t speak too much but whatever I do say has a purpose and a reason”.
He added: “Steve is the captain and that’s the way it should be. He has done a great job, I think, so it’s about helping him but also about leadership.”
It is fitting and poignant that in the same year Horwill wins his first Cambridge Blue, it marks the 10-year anniversary since another great Australian, Dan Vickerman, led Cambridge to victory at Twickenham in 2009.
Horwill and Vickerman were club team-mates and then second-row partners for Australia at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, but Vickerman was forced to retire through injury a year later and in 2017 died by suicide.
“He was a fantastic rugby player and spoke so highly of this place,” said Horwill, who is the recipient of the second Dan Vickerman Scholarship and was presented with the award by Vickerman’s widow Sarah and two sons.
“What happened was incredibly sad. Like we talked about before, the transition is difficult. Even the people who you think are most prepared struggle. I think that’s important to understand.
“He had such a big impact on the club, you can tell by the way people speak of him that were around when he was here.
“He was a great man and since he’s passed, you can understand the impact he’s had on a lot of people not only on the rugby field but off it.
“Hopefully, we can emulate a little bit of what he was able to achieve, particularly in the Varsity Match.”
Read more:
Varsity Match 2019: Emma Pierce keeps a rich sporting heritage running at Cambridge University RUFC
