The British and Irish Lions will hope to avoid ‘the baptism of fire’ James Haskell endured on his debut for their tour of Australia.
The Lions face Western Force Down Under, live on talkSPORT, looking to show more fight than they did in their 28-24 loss to Argentina.
Haskell was the youngest Wasp to make his debut in the PremiershipGettyHowever, not so much that Andy Farrell‘s side risk igniting scenes akin to when former England star Haskell made his first outing for Wasps.
Haskell, who was part of the 2017 Lions tour to New Zealand, became the youngest Wasp to debut in the Premiership at age 18 in 2002.
However, months earlier, the now-40-year-old was part of an infamous pre-season friendly in Clermont-Ferrand in France.
During a sit-down interview on talkSPORT’s My Sporting Life podcast in 2022, Haskell explained: “I was 17 at the time.
“They read the lineup up and I was in the back row with Lawrence Dallaglio, and I’ll never forget before the game, Lawrence Dallaglio – jutting jaw, big bravado – it’s weird because he went to Ampleforth [College], but he’s one of a mockney geezer.
“You’d think he was a feature in EastEnders if you weren’t careful, and he’s like a star out of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and he went, “listen, Hask’, if it kicks off today, mate, I need you right next to me, if there’s a fight, I need you there.”
“So, I was like [in a timid voice] ‘yes, Lawrence’, but I was also like, I’m not sure I’ve got the skill set quite if it kicks off.
“Bear in mind that public school boys, they like to think they’re hard, but not really from the mean streets of anywhere.
“The mean streets of Harrow, or Windsor, where I was born, doesn’t quite have the same sort of kudos as South London. It’s not Peckham.
“So I said this to him and I said, yeah, no problem, and if it does kick off, I was not sure what to do.”
Haskell (far right) was taken under the wing of Lawrence Dallaglio (middle)Getty Haskell played 77 times for England at senior level and toured with the Lions in 2017GettyIt did indeed blow up between the two sets of players after hooker Phil Greening injured Aurelien Rougerie after tackling him into touch.
French winger Rougerie was sidelined for the next four months and required three operations, having sustained damage to his throat.
He initially sued for around £65,000, and was ultimately awarded just under £29k by a civil court ruling in Clermont-Ferrand five years later.
Haskell added: “Rougerie said that Greening forearmed him in the throat and damaged his throat. This has kicked off on the sidelines.
“Lawrence [Dallaglio] has punched some bloke, so I’ve stood there and gone, well, he’s punched someone, so I’ve turned around and punched this French guy right in the face, and his French guy hasn’t moved.
“He’s turned around and just punched me straight back, and I used to have a brace on the inside of my teeth after my parents spent a fortune on orthodontics, and this brace just went ping straight out of my mouth. I sort of wheeled away, dazed.
Rougerie – pictured in March 2002 – was hospitalised for 12 weeks and sued for a loss of income while he was injuredAFP Greening – pictured in August 2002 – was judged to have fouled him both technically and against the spirit of the gameGetty“The whole thing kicked off into the stands, and the physios got involved.
“My mum had seen this French guy hit me. She’s trying to get over the stand to nut him.
“It’s all kicked off. But that was kind of my first taste of it, and I was punching people, I’m not sure why, all because Lawrence told me that I had to do it.”
talkSPORT host Paul Coyte added: “So that is a proper baptism of fire. That was the baptism of fire”, to which Haskell replied: “It was.”
Haskell continued: “I did [enjoy it], but it was a massive wake-up call because I played that game, then I went back to Wellington to play in the last year of school, and I realised what a gulf that was.
“Bear in mind, that was a pre-season game, and I was off the pace, out of breath, got filled in, didn’t have the skillset, didn’t know all the moves, and I then was like, ‘wow, I’ve got a long, long way to go.’”
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