‘They just don’t like us, do they’ – Lewis Ludlam on England versus Scotland and the ‘massive’ lesson the Calcutta Cup taught him
Lewis Ludlam in action for England against Scotland. (Photo by Craig Thomas/News Images)
Lewis Ludlam is talking England and the Calcutta Cup and getting himself right up for the game on Saturday.
“Whenever you play Scotland there’s an extra edge, an added intensity to the confrontation,” he says. “They just don’t like us, do they.”
He pauses, and smiles. “Here I go again,” he says and remembers back to his first Six Nations start, in this fixture, and how he predicted ‘war’, called for England to brutalise the Scots and not give them ‘an inch to breathe’.
He recalls the storm it caused, back in 2020, but more, how he sapped himself of all his emotional energy before even making it onto the pitch.
25 caps for England
Ludlam has come a long way since then: playing in a second World Cup, winning 25 caps, a Premiership title and a dream move to French giants Toulon. Oh, and as of a week ago, he is a father.
But that Calcutta Cup outburst remains a seminal moment in his career – one that taught him a ‘massive’ lesson from which, he hopes, England players in action this weekend also learned.
“When you play international rugby everything feels times 10,” he says. “It was easy to be emotional all week at [Northampton] Saints because there wasn’t the pressure there is on the international stage.
“It was my club, it felt comfortable, I was playing in front of my family, my people.
“When you go away with England it is different. You put pressure on yourself, all week. You get emotional, all week. You get to the weekend and you’re mentally drained.
“What I experienced was a real learning curve. It taught me to take the pressure off myself Monday to Friday, enjoy the week, don’t think about the game too much.
“I learned to relax and have faith that come game day I’m going to be hissing, I’m going to be excited, because that’s who I am naturally.”
It is notable England have kept their own counsel this week. No threats, declarations of ‘war’ or anything else that might be construed as provocation.
The tasty soundbites have come from former stars. Mike Brown, talking to Planet Rugby and saying: “We dislike them as much as they dislike us.”
Courtney Lawes, in The Times, writing: “It’s embarrassing that we haven’t beaten Scotland at Twickenham since 2017. It is about time we showed them that we are the better team, the dominant team.”
Will Greenwood, on Instagram, allowing himself to imagine what old team-mate Austin Healey would be demanding were he in the England changing room this weekend.
“The only thing he’d say now is ’15 points, three games, non-negotiable’,” said the World Cup winner. “‘Look at who we’re playing. Look at where we are’.”
Ludlam feels England’s dramatic late win over France a fortnight ago can be a corner-turning moment for a team which went so long without a scalp worthy of note.
He takes comfort from the sound of silence emanating out of Pennyhill Park, the leafy Surrey hotel and training facility where England base themselves in home Test weeks.
It gives him confidence nobody has fallen into the trap he did five years ago when playing the game emotionally in the days beforehand and turning up on matchday with his batteries drained.
“I used to think emotion is something you can bring every single day,” he said, when we sat down together prior to Scotland‘s last visit to Twickenham.
“That Scotland week (2020) I’d go to bed thinking about playing the game, wake up and be watching old fixtures and get excited about wanting to tear in.
“I wound myself up more and more thinking how it would feel in such an historic fixture, singing the anthem in front of family and friends.
“Come the end of the week I literally hadn’t thought of anything else. I was tense and tight. It taught me we have an emotional battery and you can drain it.
“I lost sight of what was important for us as a team to win the game. All I was thinking about was turning up for a scrap.”
Ludlam’s Calcutta Cup build-up is altogether different this time. He is 800 miles south of Twickenham, in La Garde, a village to the east of Toulon, five minutes from the shimmering waters of the Cote d’Azur.
Part of him, of course, wishes he was suiting up for a 26th cap, particularly in a team full of old Northampton team-mates in Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Tommy Freeman and Ollie Sleightholme.
But, actually, he is content to be far from the madding crowd, spending time with partner Hannah getting to know their precious new arrival, daughter Luna.
“In a way of course it is difficult to watch England because you do want to be involved,” he says. “There’s nothing better in rugby than playing for your country and representing your family on the international stage.
“However, I feel blessed with all that I have here.”
Ludlam is playing for a club lying third in the Top 14 and through to the knockout rounds of the Champions Cup in April, when they will host Saracens.
He fishes, he plays the guitar, he is passionate about photography and he is soon to start a business executive degree.
Now 29, he is relishing playing in a new league against new opponents with the luxury of being rotated out of the team every so often purely to enable body and mind to refresh.
“The change of environment really feels like it’s brought the best out of me again,” he says. “It is going to help to extend my career.”
Loving life at Toulon
Toulon, where he plays alongside David Ribbans, Kyle Sinckler and Dan Biggar, has given him that; Les Rouge et Noir, the team from the old port city with the naval base where rugby is a religion.
“I fell in love with playing the game in the first place because I felt like a gladiator walking into the coliseum,” he says. “It felt like a battle, it felt like you were going to war.
“To be at Toulon, where that’s probably more evident than anywhere, really feels like the right fit. Here they love the physical side of the game. Nothing excites them more than their forwards, their maul, their scrum, the big hits.
“To have the chance to play in front of these supporters every week has, honestly, been unbelievable.”