Players opening up

At off the ball, all the retired players spoke freely of their time in professional rugby.

Whether as when these players were being interviewed whilst still playing they were extremely vague and had their guard up constantly. Safe to say it made for very boring interviews.

So what was different?

I think it was the stress of the press. The fear of being misquoted or upsetting someone kept the players’ answers short and generic.

Once the shackles were off and their careers weren’t on the line they could relax and open up.