by Zach Mercer has experienced many highs and lows. Since leaving his youth club Bath in 2021 to join Montpellier, he won the Top 14 in his first year in France and the league’s Player of the Year award the following season, before returning home to fight for a Rugby Cup spot the World only to not make the game. England squad.
The Gloucester full-back has been left out of the Test picture but as part of a special Telegraph Sport report on the mental challenges of playing at union the 26-year-old has spoken out about his psychological struggles, alongside with many. other professional players, to emphasize the importance of getting help and to outline the specific difficulties associated with their sport.
When the news came last November that Owen Farrell had made the decision to retire from international rugby for the sake of his mental well-being and that of his family – the question must be asked what makes rugby so demanding in terms of the psychology of it?
‘I’m back now, if I could hold back my first caps I would’
On the one hand Mercer knows he is lucky to be playing the sport he loves for a living and is proud of his two injury-free seasons in France, but there are problems on the way. Even milestone events early in his career – including his first two England caps coming at the age of 21 in 2018 – and injury this season, as well as the current state of international selection.
Mercer is seeking professional help and hopes his intervention, prompted in part by Joe Marler’s openness about his mental health, will encourage more players to seek help.
“It’s not worth keeping quiet about how you feel. You have to be open; you have to tell people how you feel and I’m not saying you have to go to the media and tell everyone,” he says.
“There are people around you at the club or there are sports psychologists, there are certain people who can help you. I speak out now after Joe Marler, and others like Anthony Watson now after speaking to you and the [other] players you’re talking to, people will see that and go, ‘you usually have these doubts and feelings’.
“Then maybe I’ll get a young man at Gloucester to come and talk to me… we have that effect across the rugby environment.”
Nabác spoke of his struggles, simply put, the idea of Mercer talking to a psychologist when he was breaking through the ranks of Bath as an 18-year-old was anathema to him. “I was very young. I never thought I would ever use a sports psychologist. I never thought I would need one.
“Everyone wants to play internationally. But I did it at such a young age. Was I ready to take that jersey? Probably not. I look back now, if I could keep my hats off you [I would]. I don’t think I was ready to take that chance.”
‘Proving time and time again that you can flow’
It wasn’t until his final season at Bath that Mercer, struggling for motivation before his move to France and with limited game time, decided to speak to renowned mental coach Don MacPherson. He has an impressive list of sporting clients, from Formula One drivers, Ryder Cup golfers, Wimbledon champions and many more across professional football and Olympic sports.
Macpherson worked at Bath from 2014-15 under Mike Ford and was always popular with the players and Mercer made the decision to seek his help. He has also written a bestseller How to master your monkey mind, a book about overcoming anxiety. Popular with athletes, it can be read by anyone and draws on MacPherson’s experience working at the highest level of sport.
During Mercer’s successful first season in Montpellier, the player admits he did not call on MacPherson’s services but they reunited in his second season and since they have been negotiating what he calls “the challenge biggest of my career” not to be selected for World Cup 2023. cup squad, there are now weekly sessions.
Mercer is happy the birth of his daughter Iris has been a “wonderful gift”, weeks after he found out he was left out of the squad because his father gave him “attitude”. Life was not easy, however, with the No. 8 once again left out of the Six Nations squad. He wishes not to be drawn on the politics of selection but on the psychological impact, which many players will sympathize with at this time of the rugby calendar.
How does he deal with the issue? “It’s very tough. I don’t think I handled it too well. That’s why I talk to Don quite a bit,” he says. “It was hard to deal with because you know what you can bring, but you’re not getting the chance to do it. You have to flip it and go ‘I have to try to prove myself again’. But I’ve had to keep doing that my whole career and, sometimes it just flows.”
‘Old school rugby is no place to share feelings – everyone has to be Arnie’
Others offer several possible explanations for Mercer’s struggles. One aspect is the traditional macho culture of rugby. Former Italian international Michele Campagnaro points to this as major psychological stress.
“I think particularly old-school rugby is mentally tough, you know,” says 30-year-old Campagnaro, who had spells at Exeter, Wasps and Harlequins yet retired at the end of last season from Colomiers in the French second tier. .
“I think maybe now it’s changing in some ways. But it will definitely keep the roots. It’s always felt like it’s a very factual sport, so it feels like you have to behave like that.
“It’s not an environment where you can share your feelings or your problems. That’s something you do with a few friends if you’re really close, but then there’s probably, you know, 50 of us in the dressing room…”
MacPherson sees the difference between rugby and football environments. “I think it’s clear to me that there’s more pressure on the players to show up in rugby to be really good. ‘There is nothing wrong with me. I’m as hard as nails. I don’t need any mental coach’,” he says.
“I’m not saying everyone reacts that way, but I think the rugby union players feel a bit of Arnold Schwarzenegger is needed.”
‘Farrell can do what Stokes did to cricket’
Brett Herron, whose career as a journeyman started at Bath before serious injuries forced him to start afresh against Ulster, Harlequins and Biarritz on his return to the Top14, also finally got the satisfaction of Colomiers. He echoes Campagnaro on rugby’s tough image and wonders if Farrell’s decision to quit could be influenced by what England Test cricket captain Ben Stokes did to open up the dialogue on mental health in his sport .
28-year-old Heron says: “In cricket [compared with rugby], they always have mental skills coaches there and Ben Stokes clearly had a big impact on the change in perception with the mental side of things. It’s strange, I think there are a few other things to do from the rugby world.
“Rugby is a tough environment and a very macho environment. People may not feel as though they can express how they feel mentally as they should.
“Now, with Owen Farrell missing for England to focus on his mental side and his family, I hope that will be a catalyst like Stokes was for cricket.”
Mercer agrees with the sport’s machismo image but feels his generation is looking at how they communicate differently. “When I first started playing at 18, I think there’s that bravado, a kind of character where you have to show how tough you are. But I think the game is changing, players are starting to say how they feel more,” he says.
‘Rugby needs to be honest about what it is willing to admit – or do’
Undeterred, both Campagnaro and Mercer raise abuse on social media as rugby players face another pressure today. “It’s so easy to make judgments and especially with social media and, with all these platforms, it’s silly for me to judge a player just because you see them,” says Campagnaro. “The negative side of so many judgments from players on social media is that it’s very stressful. Why can’t we be kinder as humans?”
Mercer goes further: “Social media today, it’s brutal. Players say they don’t look at it, but they see it. They see the comments about you personally. I want people to understand that it hurts when we lose and that people read the comments.
“I see some comments but I’m back to being mentally strong enough now to forget about it. But when some young players break into the scene they make a comment. Obviously we all just have to try to look out for them. I don’t think everyone realizes how much it affects the players.”
Macpherson has worked with more than 100 players across Premier League clubs and believes the sport still has a long way to go from the concerns raised by players: “Formula 1 was a bit like rugby in 1994. It is the difference between him and others. sports are about more than signaling victory.
“Rugby union needs to be more proactive rather than reactive. And a little bit more honest about what they’re actually doing to admit that there are more mental pressures, mental problems in rugby union than they know, or are willing to admit or willing to do something about.”
Interview with Anthony Watson
People don’t see what rugby abandonment really looks like
Read
