England Rugby Star Mat Turner On Vegas Wedding, Jail, Teammates, Poor Southern Hemisphere Defence & Six Nations

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Every week, England 7s star Mathew Drew Turner takes on the role of brazen, if not cheeky, reporter for RWU.

LONDON, ENGLAND – Hello, people! Hope everyone has been in good form lately and hasn’t let anything effect them in a negative way. So where to start? Should I begin with with my nearly getting married in Vegas, the fact that I’m still jet-lagged or foolishly talk about my run-in with the law? Hmmm… Got it. After much thought (and a quick phone call from my coach – the wise Ben Ryan), I’ve decided to start with none of the above and go with my thoughts on the Six Nations, the start of the Super 15 season and our England Sevens SquadThen we will get back – briefly – to those 3 aforementioned topics.

The Six Nations: It’s just how I expected it to be; Not many tries and lots of kicking (barring the Ireland vs Italy game). The games lack inspiration and sometimes come across a bit stale and beg two questions: 1) Does it look that way because the defence is that much more organized than that of the Southern Hemisphere? [open forum] 2) Is it the ever-present and always-hampering weather factor?

Super 15: When you watch the Super 15, you are forever on the edge of your seat, thinking it won’t be long til the next line break or moment of personal brilliance. Yet again, is this a cause of the defensive structures in place or are the players that little bit sharper down South? I’m open to have a debate about it with anyone.

England Sevens Stuff: After three weeks of traveling, I’m sure a few boys were pretty keen to get home to there loved ones or to their Xbox’s! Me, the later of course (sigh), but here are a few stories from our travels:
Marcus Watson was bloated for 5 days straight.
Congrats to Isoa Damu has his long-awaited lil’ boy and he has already been signed up by England Sevens! At the rate Damu is going, they will be playing together! (He is the youngest looking old man I know).
Dan Norton owes me £5 he knows why.  Yet again, managed to make it through a whole night without buying a round.
Tom Mitchell has confessed he listens to Elton John’s Tiny Dancer before games and that is how we know he is gay. And there’s nothing wrong with that!

Now to the juicier bits:

Yes, it is true I nearly got married in Vegas, but when we got there they were closed! In hindsight, that was a life-saver; it’s all about timing. As much as I like to just dive in and not feel the temperature of the water, there are a few things that don’t apply to that saying.

Chris Cracknell and myself successfully managed to convince people we were in a band and have gigs booked all the through the summer.

Nick Royle went metal-detecting with steal cap shoes on and thought he had struck gold. (He really goes metal-detecting).

Lastly my run-in with the law in America, I was driving 29 in a 25 zone but the lovely copper gave me his business card, what a nice man!

Only a few weeks till we are away again and everyone know we need to pick up our game in these two tourneys, so training has already been taken to a new level! You can expect lots of Tweets on status and from the boys saying “DOMS” or in John Brake’s case, Witness the Fitness.