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I spoke to Paul Gustard the other day after he faced the press following Saracens's impressive win at Northampton in the Aviva Premiership. Gustard, or Gussy as everyone in rugby knows him, is the defence coach at the club he played for having left Leicester, where he won numerous league and domestic cup titles, plus the small matter of two Heineken Cups, and then London Irish.
Gussy was standing in for Mark McCall, who was not present at the game due to a family bereavement, and afterwards shook my hand for a quick catch up.
Twelve years previously he was a 24-year-old at the Tigers making his way into a first team back row that featured the likes of Neil Back, Martin Corry and Lewis Moody when I pitched up to spend a week training and, ultimately, playing for them in a one-off game.
What I recall of the young Paul Gustard was a brute of a man to tackle - and be tackled by - an entertaining, mickey-taking bloke who could give as good he could take, and a man who promised me that by the end of the week he would pin me down and shave my head.
Funnily enough, twelve years' on, while I cling somewhat desperately to my strands Gussy, a great deal younger than myself, has lost nearly all of his, which was something he was quick to point out. "Well at least you can't make the same threat to me, can you?" he said, laughing at the memory.
Well, he may have lost his hair but by all accounts he is impressing everybody with his all-round coaching and managing ability. Don't be surprised to see Paul Gustard at the helm of a club soon.
