London Welsh prop Tom French has settled again when it seemed like his professional rugby career was over after leaving London Wasps.
Prop refreshed by working outside rugby and switching clubs
London Welsh prop Tom French has settled again when it seemed like his professional rugby career was over after leaving London Wasps.
The 28-year-old had already started making plans for life after rugby while at Wasps, taking a day each week to work in the City during his final months at the club.
French went on to join part-time side Barking in the National League One where he was forwards coach, providing him with an ideal opportunity to pursue his off-field career.
Despite feeling refreshed working outside rugby, French admitted that he was attracted to joining Welsh after trialling with the club.
"If you're constantly living, breathing and thinking about rugby the whole time it can get a bit too much," he told the club's official website.
"You can get stale. So having something completely different is quite good, it keeps you fresh.
"At first I was a bit apprehensive, but when I came down and trained I really enjoyed it, having been at Wasps all my career and not really experienced another full-time club."
And now French, who had to wait four matches for a first win in a Welsh shirt, has no regrets after stepping down to the Championship and continuing to work two days a week in the City.
"It was definitely time; it was difficult having been somewhere for so long, a change was always going to be a bit of an upheaval," he added.
"I'm finding I'm enjoying my rugby more now than I was in the last two years at Wasps, but I had a lot of injuries.
"You've got to enjoy it and if you don't you've got to ask yourself why you do it, and I was asking myself a lot in the last year or so at Wasps."
