Tales from the Members' Bar

No.20 Carlos Spencer

This was another week for that feeling of over-excitement. Someone from The Times had requested an interview with Carlos Spencer and I was going to be there. Oo-ooh!

I expect we have all been to Carlos's biography page more times than we can count and know that he was born an brought up in Levin (pronounced: Le vín). It is a small town (30,000 - max) about 65 miles north of Wellington. It is the sort of place where as a youngster, you are hardly ever indoors. The outdoor lifestyle is the thing. Rugby is played by everyone. Any spare moment in the morning, noon or night, kids pick up a ball and have an informal game of footy. It is not that there are no other sports. Kids play cricket and softball as well but rugby is the sport that dominates.

Once rugby becomes formal and proper training and matches are arranged, the whole town seems to take part.

Carlos has recently signed a contract that will extend his stay in Northampton to five years and the thing that he really misses is the weather and the ability to get out-of-doors with the family. That apart, he is happy with his lot. He has made good friends since he has been in England and while the rugby has been a bit up and down, this year out of the spotlight has given everyone a chance to review and rebuild a bit of confidence. There is no doubt that the way that things are run now is a massive improvement on the past. The structure was not right previously and the players were not really in the right place to sort it out themselves.

The club has its goals and while, because sport is like that, it is all about winning, it is not all about just winning, too. The major goal is to be to get back into the Premiership and compete. The new coaches have earned the utmost respect of the players. They are straight. They are honest. Everybody appreciates that and the results are there for everyone to see.

He knows that it will be different next year. It will be much harder to get the quality of ball they have had this season. Premiership forwards are better and have their ways of slowing down possession so you always face an organised defence. With new players coming in it looks as though Saints are going in the right direction.

Carlos is expecting a hard game this weekend. With the cup final against the same opposition on the horizon, Exeter will not come and lie down. Unwilling to be drawn by a question on the Chiefs' style of play, he preferred to look back at the stuff that Saints have been playing. Last week, for instance, with mud clinging to the boots and with ball-handling treacherous, Saints put together some good rugby with high levels of skill. As ever, Carlos is looking for a fast, open game to be played on a good surface. He hopes to be wearing his favourite No 10 shirt but being out there and playing is the thing.

Web-browsing fans of Carlos Spencer will have noticed that he is in the middle of changing his web-site. After a long and successful association with Purina, he has moved on to a new project with the clothing company, Onfire. It is a little less personal but regular diary pieces will start in April.

The biscuit question. After being upbraided by my namesake last week and given that Carlos does not eat many biscuits anyway, he finds that on the rare occasions he grabs a snack, Kit-Kat hits the spot.

arw

21.03.2008