

12 Aug 2025 · 59m · 28 chapters

Sam Burgess discusses his cricket and rugby background, his move to Australia, his relationship with Russell Crowe, and multiple high-stakes sporting and life stories, including a 2014 NRL grand final injury and his later celebrity SAS selection experience.
The episode features Sam Burgess as the main guest. The host is Kieran (mentioned early as “There’s Kieran”). No other guest is clearly identified by name in the transcript.
Burgess is an English rugby league figure who played for clubs including Bradford Bulls and South Sydney Rabbitohs, later coaching (Warrington Wolves mentioned). He also played cricket (batter/wicketkeeper) and has a family connection to cricket via the Crowes.
Russell Crowe called Burgess after a massage and invited him to play in Australia; Crowe helped open doors. Burgess says he played through a broken cheekbone in the 2014 NRL grand final, then needed hospital surgery afterward. He describes SAS Celebrity selection as 15 days with sleep/food deprivation and escape-focused instruction.
prank phone calls to Leonardo DiCaprio, Shane Warne, and Warnie; Ashes-on-the-farm Christmases at Crowe’s property; Perth tour lunch attempt with Johnny Bairstow; “squirrel gripping” suspension claim; “dropped pie” face description after the cheekbone break; SAS assault course with staged capture/escape lessons.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes.
Discussion about a prank call from Russell Crowe and experiences with family gatherings.
“Commuting, working out, crossing things off your list.”
Discussion about a prank call from Russell Crowe and experiences with family gatherings.
“I used to play cricket in the summer and rugby in the winter.”
Discussion about coaching styles, dynamics with players, and experiences in competitive environments.
“So just hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode.”
A conversation about the struggles faced in the league and cup competitions in rugby.
“Because it started to rain that day, didn't it?”
Discussion about the qualities needed to succeed in rugby and the role of physicality.
“Is there a big, like in the salary caps, are they all big spenders in the league?”
A humorous recounting of fishing adventures and mishaps involving teammates.
“Yeah, I saw you in the back there, throwing out a ball.”
Learn about the wildlife and experiences at Rocknest Island.
“You'd have had a selfie with a quokka in your time.”
Sam shares a hilarious story about prank calls made with Russell Crowe's phone.
“The rest is between you and the therapist who actually gets it.”
Sam recounts his journey from Bradford to playing for the Rabbitohs in Australia.
“A rabbit toe, so back in the day, when they used to go out hunting and gathering, and when they'd catch rabbits for food, they'd come back through the villages and they'd be called the rabbitos.”
Sam discusses his family's presence in rugby and his brothers' involvement.
“We had him on a Test Match Special at lunch.”
Sam discusses the experience of playing professionally with his brothers.
“We all played at South Sydney for probably about five seasons.”
Sam shares anecdotes about Russell Crowe's involvement with the team.
“So when we were there, we used to go down all them restaurants.”
Sam recounts memorable encounters with celebrities like Russell Crowe and Alice Cooper.
“And he's come and stood next to me at the end of the box, before he's coming in like that.”
Sam humorously explains the controversy surrounding a supposed foul during a match.
“Yeah, well, in Rugby Union, they compete a bit more at the scrums, but in our game, it's an area you compete for the ball, but it's just...”
Sam shares the intense experience of playing injured during a crucial grand final.
Sam narrates the story of the injury he sustained during the grand final.
“and I was a big part of the team all year so So the first tackle of the game, when I'd smashed my face up, there was no option really to come off.”
Sam describes the celebrations following their grand final win and the resulting consequences.
“Yeah, so, yeah, before I knew it, I mean, at halftime, we got to halftime in the game.”
Sam discusses his hospitalization after the grand final and its complications.
“We then had to get on the bus, we stayed outside my place and drove us to the fan day the next day.”
Sam reflects on personal challenges and the drive to succeed in rugby.
“Did you as a coach, did you fancy facing Gothfield Caddy?”
Learn how personal adversity shaped Sam's determination to succeed as an athlete.
“Well, then it gave me a bit more reason to make it.”
Learn how personal adversity shaped Sam's determination to succeed as an athlete.
Hear about Sam's dramatic escape during the SAS selection course and the challenges he faced.
“I didn't feel I was playing there for the reasons that I wanted to be there.”
Sam reflects on the consequences of his escape and the relationships built during the show.
“So I've then got the minibus now, me and four other contestants.”
Sam shares his intense experience on the SAS reality show.
“and they've absolutely flogged us for about 12 hours.”
Light-hearted banter about celebrity interactions and show experiences.
“Wayne sleep nicked me rice I was a drunk guys I was alright yeah no it's good fun but can you do well I think I'm a senior not quite can you can you do Wayne sleep oh we would probably He was, yeah.”
The hosts discuss their favorite films and sports outside of rugby league.
“Right, we've finished with a few community questions.”
The hosts debate which cricketers could transition to rugby league.
“Yeah, and you've probably got to get Freddie in there, haven't you?”
Anecdotes about rivalries and humorous stories from their sports experiences.
“You've got a rock-solid forward defence and back defence.”

Get the gist, explore an idea or ask about something said.
On Stick to Cricket, what are the key points of this episode?
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.
0:00Michael Vaughan: Before we get started, I'd like to thank our partners, Betfair. Hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Enjoy the show. You're probably multitasking right now, right? Commuting, working out, crossing things off your list. Worth asking when check-in-on-yourself landed on it. Grow makes the booking part fast. The rest is between you and a therapist who actually gets it. Grow connects you with thousands of high-quality licensed therapists across the U.S., offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. You just pay per session.
0:39Grow helps you find therapy on your time. The therapist you want takes your insurance on Grow. Grow accepts over 125 insurance plans. Sessions average$21 with insurance, and some pay as little as$0, depending on their plan. Visit growtherapy.com slash start now today to get started. That's growtherapy.com slash start now. growtherapy.com slash start now. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. With the Amex Gold Card, you can earn five times points on prepaid hotels booked online through Amex Travel, which means five times points on the solo stay or a suite for the whole crew.
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2:16Go on, Bill.
2:17Michael Vaughan: All right, here we go. Here we go. Oh, we're on straight. Bitch is good. Nice and even. So we're in. There you go, Sammy, get your bat. We'll have a bowl.
2:26Phil Tufnell: Got one of these? There's Kieran. Oh, he's a hot cappuccino. Hot cappuccino.
2:31Michael Vaughan: There we go. Big bumble, mate. Oh, there we go. Soil up. 19. That might be 80. Hey, before, let me have the bat first. First and foremost, how do you tackle? He likes tackling you. What, not me? You played rugby at school. I've never played rugby in my life. Yeah. How are you going to learn that? How do you tackle? He's got a strong hair. You can't run without the heads. Oh! Look at that fist.
2:56Phil Tufnell: Jesus, come on. I'll have you a couple.
3:02Michael Vaughan: Are you balling one in? I'll have you a couple. Let's see what you've got. What do you reckon? Nice, nice, yeah. Nice and level. Oh! Hello!
3:11Phil Tufnell: Hello! Look at that!
3:16Michael Vaughan: Unbelievable! I'm going to hit it. Hang on a sec. Wait there!
3:21Phil Tufnell: Oh, get him in! That's just what he was doing. You never mentioned that he could play. I've liked that. He played for Liversidge. No, he did.
3:31Michael Vaughan: He got in line. He got in line more than you, Taffy. Liversidge is down Wiganway, innit? Yeah, I know. Liversidge is Bradford, innit? Yeah, it's Wakefield Postcon. When I was young, I loved cricket. I used to play cricket in the summer and rugby in the winter. Lovely. I wanted to be a cricketer actually but just wanted quite good. Did you play at school? Yeah, school, yeah. You got the afternoon off school. Absolutely. I played in year seven, year eight, and I played in three different teams. I used to play up a year, up two years, every afternoon. Batter, batter by the looks of it. You know, I used to bat and wicket keep.
4:07I was a wicket keeper. Because you're in the game all the time. Oh yeah. I used to like talking to the batters. A little bit of sledging? A bit of sledging.
4:13Michael Vaughan: Yeah.
4:14Phil Tufnell: There's a bit of sledging going on in front of you. You'd be listening if he started talking.
4:17Michael Vaughan: Yeah, yeah, I'm not looking back. You won't be talking about it.
4:20Phil Tufnell: You can fuck off.
4:21Michael Vaughan: Middle plays on pie. Just keep on. Sometimes you're slightly even.
4:25Phil Tufnell: Yeah. The little ones, yeah, he gets stuck in.
4:26Michael Vaughan: Gets stuck in the little ones.
4:28Phil Tufnell: Do you remember that, lad? We were frightened to death when we play against Surrey. Why? David Smith.
4:35Michael Vaughan: Oh, big David.
4:36Phil Tufnell: He threatened.
4:37Michael Vaughan: My debut, David Smith, Middlesex versus Worcestershire. I walked out the bat. He was filming at short leg, great big lad, didn't he? Oh, big. Yeah. First thing that came out of his back, a mouth, who's this Muppet? Like that. Or my debut, like that, I've gone like that. He was right, though, wasn't he? He was.
4:56Phil Tufnell: Didn't he have a painting and decorating business? Yes, he did. He drives race cars now. Yes, he does.
5:01Michael Vaughan: He hung Yozze Hughes on a coat pit in the dressing room. You know what Yozze was doing, mate? The actual person.
5:09Phil Tufnell: Come on, this guy were a big unit. batter food 30 bat four yeah everybody were for nobody's you know you do a bit of sledge you know what I would normally say a word to it oh yeah he'd just stay down is this is a legend in rubber lake oh yeah there's a bit is that it happens yeah well but you pick you pick your targets because you know there's a couple sleeping Giants you leave my sleep you know as you're saying but oh there's plenty out there yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah So you're Warrington Wolves now, aren't you? Yeah, you're coaching now, yeah.
5:42Michael Vaughan: You've not seen him on the touchline, he looks immaculate. That's hard screw, isn't it? Oh, Neil Faber. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Neil Faber, yeah, yeah. I play a lot of golf with Hav. Great fella. Oh, good. Great fella. You a tracksuit man or a shirt in time? No, well... What's your style? I've got a shirt with a little quarter zip. Oh, he goes for the cover. Yeah, I've changed it up a little bit. I don't like the tracksuits. Rugby league's pep, innit? The modern tracksuits, they've got all these skinny tracksuits, they'll suit my big legs. Yeah, big thighs. Before we get started, I'd like to thank our partners, Betfair.
6:21Michael Vaughan: So just hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Enjoy the show.
6:29About five months later, I get a call. It was Russell Crowe on the phone. And I thought someone was pranking myself, hung the phone up.
6:35Phil Tufnell: We're hanging on for grim death over the side. And they said, underneath, coming out the portal, it's him. Woo! And we'd go up there most Christmases, all my family, and we'd have the ashes up on the farm. I'll tell you what, England never lost on the farm, guys.
6:50Michael Vaughan: Is there a position for someone who's slow, light and a bit of a coward? Whether it's to do with me or not, they scored one of the greatest individual tries in the grand final. When I was in the jungle, Wayne's sleep nicked me rice. So I charge the bus, I get the guy at the front, I'm driving like this, and I'm choking him, and I'm saying, pull the fucking run over now.
7:12Phil Tufnell: Have the arse of your bike?
7:17Phil Tufnell: What's your style? What's your coaching style? Do you at them? Do you buy them round them? Yeah, a bit of both. I like to... Well, I'm only a young coach, I'm 36, so I'm new at the game, so I'm figuring that out. you've had a tough life haven't you yeah well it doesn't look like it yeah you wouldn't have said that
7:39Michael Vaughan: in your side my style is I'm absolutely trying to be myself the whole time and then I want the players to reach the potential with no regrets so trying to find a way for them to get the best game out best performance out you know you know and enjoy themselves really so I've got a young group as well it's funny I've got a player who I'm coaching who's older than me and I've played with him before so it's actually quite a funny dynamic that will be a dynamic yeah it's great it's good fun but no it's been great I'm absolutely loving it at the moment struggling a bit this year got to the final yeah we played at Wembley should have won that yeah should have won that should have won that we got beat on the bell did they oh it's heartbreaking you did heartbreaking
8:22Phil Tufnell: York City Knights played after you they did in the championship they did you're right so that's our lot yeah no we had a tough loss that day
8:29Michael Vaughan: How much does the rain affect? Because it started to rain that day, didn't it? Yeah, and traditionally, you know, those fields are stitched fields, so every third blade of grass is artificial. Yeah, yeah. It's like my hair. And Vornies. Hang on a second.
8:50Michael Vaughan: I'm a three-ops. You can keep a receipt on that, Vornie. You can go back and get some money back. but also so on those stitched fields that they're when there is a bit of rain it does get greedy so it's hard to attack which it suited us really we've got a real attacking side we've got a bit of flair about us but we've taught them to play tough as well so it suited us on the day but it's hard to score points you know so we just needed to get a little bit further in front we were leading by four the whole game basically in our game a try is four points but you also get a conversion attempt after two further points so we just needed to get a bit further in front but we just couldn't pull away we got beat 8-6 yeah on the bell on the bell
9:37Phil Tufnell: does that leave a mark on the team or you got over it no it does yeah well for us because we'd been struggling a little bit in the league so we put a lot of energy into the cup so the cup runs throughout the league season as well so you break the league play the cup so you know we'd won five games I think to get to the final So we put a lot of energy into that and there was a bit of a hangover. Because you lose there at Wembley and put a lot of energy into that. We then got to go play. We played Leeds the following week and we got rolled. We got rolled big time. We got beat again the week after that.
10:12So we just got back into the winning circle. Is there a big, like in the salary caps, are they all big spenders in the league? Where are you guys? Yeah, so Warrant and traditionally the ownership there is Simon Moran, he's SJM Concerts, a great bloke and he spends his money. But there is a cap where you can spend, we spend the cap. So everyone spends the cap? Everyone spends the cap, yeah. So there's an ability, you've got three players that you can have as marquee players, you can pay them whatever you like. But then, you know, that's capped in the salary a certain amount. So, yeah, I might say, Cookie, I want you to come play for us.
10:55We're going to give you, you know,£300 million, £300 million, which is not the salaries, by the way. But on our cap, it only counts at a certain amount. So it's capped, you know. So you can get three sort of marquee players in, and we generally do that. Is there a position on the rugby field for someone who's...
11:15Michael Vaughan: Like you. Slow, light and a bit of a coward. Would I get a game? Just not the last one. Struggles to catch. You just can't play our game if you're a coward. You can be slow and light, but you just can't be a coward. If you're tough, you're easy to get a game. Oh, there you go. You'll be all right. So there was a couple of sort of... Yeah, I saw you in the back there, throwing out a ball. I said I couldn't catch. I'll tell you something, I caught a few things in Australia.
11:46Michael Vaughan: What are you talking about? A cold? No, a cold tuna. Tuna. You'll know all about that.
11:54Phil Tufnell: We used to go fishing. We used to go fishing, didn't we? Yeah. A day off, we'll have a bit of fishing. Yeah. Not that fly stuff. No, no, no. Mullally. When he died. No, Mullally caught like a shark. It was only about that big. Yeah. And he brought it back. This is in Napier in New Zealand. He brought it back on his shoulder. With me? Got his key of Atherton's room. Yeah. Shuvved it in bed. Yeah, we did. Shuvved it in Atherton's bed. Yeah, we did. And he got in bed. He's no sense of smell, Atherton. Really? No, no sense of... He got in bed with his shark. Well, he slept like a kid. He didn't know it were there.
12:27Phil Tufnell: No, he didn't know it were there. Just his little head hanging up. Well, Ali's walking through the streets of Napier with his shark on his shoulder.
12:36Michael Vaughan: We also nearly fucking died in Perth... We did. ..with Johnny Morris. Yeah. going out just as we've gone out the booms gone off and involved what the shouts no no like fault in his boat he's just bought this boat and the boom's just gone off as we go what does that mean what does that mean
12:56Phil Tufnell: island I can't go the doctors come in oh so we've gone out on this boat didn't we oh there's nobody else out and it started like he goes he goes he said I He'd have got the toilet, you go downstairs on this boat, the toilet door jammed, so his head, we're hanging on for grim death over the side, and this head, underneath, coming out of the port hall, it's him, woo! Whizzing up.
13:24Michael Vaughan: All the sharks surrounding us, and we've just got in, and they've just gone, what the hell have you been doing? Didn't you hear the boom?
13:31Phil Tufnell: We've all looked at each other, was that that noise as we pulled out? This bloke had never been out on his boat. Devon's with us, Devon Malcolm, and we got in eventually to Rocknest and they said, look, you're going to have to swim in. Devon says, I can't swim. We're to shove him in a little dinghy and we've pulled him in, Devon, didn't we? And with no clothes on, the wind and all the rain and everything, it's ripped our clothes off. We've just got tatted old clothes off. Day before the test, mate. Rocknest is where...
14:01Michael Vaughan: How did you go on the test? Got spanked in three days. Rocknest is where the... What are those animals called? I'm not sure. Quokkas. Quokkas, yeah. You'd have had a selfie with a quokka in your time. I don't know if I did that before. No? I've been over to Rocknest Island though. Yeah. There's a big bed, a lot of whales around there, a lot of whales and sharks around Rocknest Island. Absolutely. Swimming in there, yeah. Because you can then do a tour around the island and you see all the whales. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's sprouting. You can stop the night there, can't you? Yes, yeah, yeah. It's a good hotel there now.
14:30It's a good pub.
14:31Phil Tufnell: Peter Cook and Dudley, Peter Cook. Yeah, it's... Exactly, he does it. And he talks about save the whales. This is folk wants to save whales. They say, what's they ever done for us? Name me one whale that can recite the Gettysburg Address. There is none. So what we do is - Them beluga whales are all right. They discover phones and stuff from the bottom of the earth. I've seen that. Have you seen that? No. There's them beluga whales. Someone drops a phone off a boat, and the beluga whale goes and recovers the phone from the earth. Yeah. Yeah, true story. Get off. Yeah, yeah, yeah, honestly. And someone's taking a rugby ball out, the owner's throwing the ball out, he goes up and brings it back, yeah?
15:11The Beluga whales, have a look.
15:13Michael Vaughan: Whales are worth something. Absolutely. I'll save them then.
15:17Phil Tufnell: Save the Belugas, save the Belugas. It's like Kevin, Kevin Peaker, what's he saving? He's a rhinos. Rhinos, yes. Rhinos. Rhinos. They've just been playing, haven't they? The oases. They've just been playing. They're good, they're back. That's Simon. The owner of... That's Simon Moran, our owner. He's put all that together. Oh, no. Yeah, so he's going to be busy for the next few months. Get a ticket, can he? Do you know them? Yeah, we're on. Do you know them lads? No, I don't know them. I'm going to go. They're in Manchester for about six nights, I think. I'd love July 16th.
15:49Michael Vaughan: You must know them. Yeah, well, Noel. Met Noel a couple of times. Oh, what scenario? The other one, he's... I mean, he's got one of the Ashes trips. We've gone 13, 14. Yeah. 13, 14 or 10, 11, I can't remember. He was singing in Perth. And he did this little gig in front of around 2000 at the, might have been the Perth Town Hall. And I was injured, usual. And I've gone and we're in his dress room afterwards and it was about four in the morning, there's nothing left. And he's got a big bowl where all the drinks... And he was pouring all the drinks in this bowl. Rock and roll. And passing the bowl around.
16:25Michael Vaughan: Rock and roll. We had to drink out the bowl. Oh, rock and roll. Yeah, rock and roll, man. All sort of mixed up. Everything. The whole lot. The lads from Bernie. The lads from Bernie. That's a punch, isn't it? You're any fruit in there. It's not really rock and roll.
16:42Phil Tufnell: Breakfast is great. When our England coach were playing at Lloyd's, we'd gone in St John's Wood in a tiny little restaurant. Me, Theo, Theo King. Oh, yes. Me, Theo, Bob Cotton. And we sat there and he's in. Liam is at that side. and his roadies are here. I get up to the loo and the roadies shout across to him. He said, this is that cricket bloke. And he never moved from his drink like that. He's got a lager on. And he just said, posh fucker.
17:16Phil Tufnell: Accrington, two up, two down and an outside toilet. Posh has. You're probably multitasking right now, right? commuting, working out, crossing things off your list. Worth asking when check-in on yourself landed on it. Grow makes the booking part fast. The rest is between you and the therapist who actually gets it. Grow connects you with thousands of high-quality licensed therapists across the U.S., offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. You just pay per session. Grow helps you find therapy on your time. The therapist you want takes your insurance on Grow.
17:58Grow accepts over 125 insurance plans. Sessions average$21 with insurance and some pay as little as$0 depending on their plan. Visit growtherapy.com slash start now today to get started. That's growtherapy.com slash start now. growtherapy.com slash start now. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. Here's a tip for you. There's a podcast out there with fans waiting to be your next customer. They tune in every week. They trust the host. And that host wants to talk about brands like yours in their own words to their audience. The problem is you just haven't been introduced yet.
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19:09Michael Vaughan: Stick to Cricket is brought to you by Betfair. What was it like? I mean, you played for the rabbit toes. Yeah. Yeah. What is a rabbit toe, by the way? A rabbit toe, so back in the day, when they used to go out hunting and gathering, and when they'd catch rabbits for food, they'd come back through the villages and they'd be called the rabbitos. And they'd have the rabbits on a stick. So that's a rabbitot. That's a rabbitot. Yeah, a hunter rabbitot. OK. But no, it was good. It was great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I went out there. How did you end up out there? How did you end up in Australia from here? Yeah, it was a funny story, OK?
19:42So I was playing for Braffa Bulls up north and I lost my dad when I was 18. and from that moment I thought you know I've got to get out of this place I think there's a bit more to life right so at the end of that year I went travelling the east coast of Sydney with my older brother and a few mates we backpacked the east coast you can imagine Tuss it's been good fun six weeks we did we spent it was$12 a night in hostels all the way up the east coast oh my god it was amazing such an amazing six weeks and I saw the other side of life alright We had to fly back, flew out of Byron Bay in November time, which is almost just about getting to peak season.
20:26I flew back to north of England and we landed and the few boys said, come on, let's go and get fit, let's go and do some training before we start pre-season again. And they said, we'll go run Pontefract Racetrack. Let's go two laps of that. Pontecarlo. Yeah, Pontecarlo. What a place. Anyway, we did the first lap and I said, stuff this. I sat in my car. I said I'm not doing a second lap this is crazy I've just come from Byron Bay Beach I rang my manager I said listen you need to get me into Australia as soon as you can I don't want to be here too much longer I've seen what what it can be like out there so you know that started off obviously me trying to go to Australia whilst whilst still playing for Bradford and you know so I'm trying to connect to clubs and and whatever I'm ringing everyone I'm available I'd have gone anywhere for anything I only wanted the money I just wanted an opportunity lifestyle yeah so about five months later I get a call we were playing down in Wales at the time we get a call I'm just getting a massage and you're not really supposed to have your phone on the massage beds but I took the call because I was taking anything at the time and it was Russell Crowe on the phone and I thought someone was pranking me so I hung the phone up I thought I'm not paying a fine just to someone on a prank phone call anyway he rang me back a few times I let it go through I answered it when I got off the massage bed he said no it's Russell Crowe he said I want to catch up with you I want to meet you do you want to come play in Australia I said yes I do yeah I can so he said I'm filming a movie in Derby I'll be there next week you want to come down I said yeah can I bring some mates can I bring my mates down
22:03Michael Vaughan: oh she'll cry yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah the gladiator the gladiator so I took four of my mates down and we go to this fancy hotel in Derby can't remember what it's called that's where I was staying we arrive and the security's you know, name, where you're from who you'd see, yep, coming in packed up, my mates are always walking in there like, you know, looking at this establishment that we've gone sitting out dinner with you know, the cutlery's laid out perfectly and all this sort of stuff, we end up having a great feed, just didn't talk one thing about rugby but we got pissed, we got a little bit pissed and they start bringing out desserts and on the dessert they're like gold spoons and my mates thought it was real gold so my mates were ordering extra desserts you know can I have one more of them please and the nick of the pocket in the spoons so we get in the car on the way home and they've all got two or three spoons each we're killing it boys you know but anyway that's how it started and we didn't do any conversation about rugby we were prank phone calling off Russell's phone that's how the night finished up we pranked phone calling all the movie stars out with his phone who'd you ring?
23:13we rang Leonardo DiCaprio we rang Shane and Ward. We rang Warnie. Big mate. Yeah, we rang Warnie and we pranked phone call and all these, I think we rang Leonardo DiCaprio and we rang a few other people, right? And I'm thinking, this is amazing, you know, how fun is this? So I went down a couple of days later and we spoke a bit more about, you know, opportunity and, you know, the opportunity to go and play in the NRL and, you know, my ambitions as a player. I was only 20 years old at the time. You know, we hit it off. From that day on, we've been great mates, you know, It took a while to get the deal over the line, but he just said, listen, there won't be a door in the world that can't open.
23:51You've just got to walk through them. And to this day, he's been true to his word. He's just such a great bloc. And that was the start of a good relationship and some time over in Australia.
24:03Michael Vaughan: We had him on a Test Match Special at lunch. Loves cricket. Yeah, he was at Lourdes. Agus was interviewing him.
24:10Phil Tufnell: Is this a few years ago? Yeah, a couple of years ago. So he came in our box and did commentary. and then Ricky Ponting got the ump. Ricky's playing, he's captain and Warnie got him into our commentary box at Sky and they put him on commentary for a test match and Ricky got the ump. Did he? Well, you tell your mate to Warnie, you tell your mate stick to what he does. But I mean, it were all, you know, they were fine about it. Well, the Crow family are obviously very famous. Very famous. Martin and Jeff. Yeah, Jeff. The Crow family is they've got a huge name in cricket. So it runs in their family as well.
24:48So on Russell's property up in Cossarbo there, he's got a cricket field and a pavilion. It's named after the Crowboys. And we'd go up there most Christmases, all my family and all his family, and we'd have the Ashes up on the farm. Oh, lovely. I'll tell you what, England never lost on the farm, guys. On the farm. On the farm. On the farm. Come on.
25:10Michael Vaughan: But you were in 2017, You were touring with Great Britain to Australia and you were there cooking. That was my last. And you tried to hook up. Well, it's a good story, this. We were there on the World Cup with the English League team and the England cricket boys were over there at the Ashes. We were in Perth, we were based in Perth. It was before the Ashes kicked off and just before the league tournament kicked off. I know a few of the cricketers, Brodie, Joe Root and Bairstow and whatnot. Anyway, we were coached by the great Wayne Bennett, and we had a cracking squad, 24 lads. A couple of ratbags in there.
25:50And we'd organise a bit of a lunch, a social get-together on a Saturday afternoon, and the sun's out now at Perth, Scarborough Beach. Lovely. And I got in touch with the cricket boys. I said, listen, we're both on tour. Let's get together, and let's tell them this is our country for eight weeks. Talk tactics. Talk tactics. Just let everyone know we're in town. You know, that was our mindset as a group. We'd just done a big army camp, we were ready to go. We were dialed in. I said, get the cricket boys here, we'll unite on enemy territory, OK? So we've gone to this thing, I'm texting, there might be Bairstow and Brodie, and one by one they keep dropping out.
26:29I'm thinking, come on boys, you've got to all pile in. We've got to have a good lock-in together. Anyway, only one player turned up, it was Johnny Bairstow. I think he had a cracking tour actually, as well. We went on, we got to the final. Big rugby man, Johnny. Yeah, we got to the final, we lost by a whisker, 6-0 in the final against the Aussies on the home turf. I think you guys had a bit of rough, rough talk. Where were you, chef,
26:53Michael Vaughan: that night? Yeah, honestly. That's what I'm saying. It's the first time I'd heard about it. Come on, Cookie.
27:01Phil Tufnell: The first time I heard about it. No, I wasn't captain. Who's captain? Rooting is captain. Yeah, but I think, what I think, this is what I put it down to, so I think Stokes Stokesy might have been a bit of bother just before the tour in England. Oh, I know. They might have been on the best behaviour. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Routy or Skipper then? Yeah. Yeah. Routy used to be Ben's chaperone, didn't he? Yeah. Routy used to. Well, we could have looked after him at least. He's going to be safe with us. I think Stokesy could have... Actually, Stokesy wasn't on tour, was he? I've played a bit of golf with Stokesy.
27:33He's not a bad golfer, yeah. Left-hander. Lefty, yeah. He's got a crack, doesn't he?
27:37Michael Vaughan: Yeah.
27:40Michael Vaughan: Stick to Cricket is brought to you by Betfair. When did your brothers go out with you then? Did they join on the first flight? No, no. So I went to Australia first at the end of 2009 and it was almost each year after one more brother had come. How many brothers have you? We've got three brothers. All right. There's four of us. We all played at South Sydney for probably about five seasons. We did it all together. And we played a number of games. Yeah, it was brilliant. Oh, they're all as big as you? Yeah, bigger. Oh, yeah. Oh, fucking hell. They're my two younger brothers, twins. They're identical twins, massive.
28:18Six foot six, 125 kilos. Gentle as those. All in the same team? Same team, yeah, yeah. That must be a record, mustn't it? Yeah, it had been done before, in 1910. Oh, yeah. 1910, I think it was. She had four on the pitch? Four on the pitch, yeah, same time, yeah. No, it was amazing. It's the first time my mum's been able to go to one stadium and watch one game and watch all four of us play. Lovely. Yeah, it's great, isn't it? And we won the game. Oh, thank God. Yeah, it was cracking. But no, they all came out sort of a year after me and it's been brilliant, you know. That was Russell. Russell helped to make all that happen.
28:55Didn't he live in Woolloomooloo? Yeah, yeah.
28:58Phil Tufnell: Woolloomooloo. He's still got them. In Woolloomooloo. So when we were there, we used to go down all them restaurants. We'll see if Russell crawls in any of these races. Cruise up and down. You know how many times people do that, you know? Yeah. We'll be sitting there having a drink on the balcony. Yeah. People are always yelling, Russell, Russell. Come out. Oh, can you see? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Eyes only on the... It's the same for...
29:19Michael Vaughan: One of the only times... One of the only times I got a little bit starstruck, actually, was in that TMS box. Because usually when someone comes in, like a politician or something else, I'll go have my lunch. But I heard Russell Crowe was coming in, so I thought, I'm going to wang about here. What about... Gladiator? And he's walked in, he's walked in, and they've gone, fucking hell, you know what I mean? He's got quite a presence. Yeah, he's got a presence. Yeah, you know what I mean? And he's come and stood next to me at the end of the box, before he's coming in like that. I'm sort of standing there like that, and he's gone, good day, toughers.
29:57Michael Vaughan: I went, full fucking deep.
29:59Phil Tufnell: What about when Alice Cooper was the guest? Alice Cooper was the guest at Test Match Special. And Boykes has gone for his lunch and Alice Cooper's turned up with his missus and publicity manager. Agnew's interviewed Alice Cooper, talking about cricket. Boykes has gone for his lunch and come back into the box. Agnew says to him, Oh, Geoffrey, can I introduce you to Alice Cooper? He turned and shook hands with his missus. At least to me. Good afternoon Alice Nice to meet you
30:34Michael Vaughan: Oh brilliant Great actor One of my favourite actors actually Who Alice Cooper? No who? No Russell Russell He's got a great Was it The Beautiful Mind As well was a cracking one Yeah that's a great movie
30:43Phil Tufnell: Yeah yeah He looked just a solid blow Yeah You were just a nice fella I've won him on my side Yeah Yeah no it's good He's a real person He's a real down to earth fella Loves his sport So I'm Accrington, so with no room. I've never guessed. Yeah, I know. This is my T-shirt, Amazing Accrington. When you all get down like that... Yeah. Let me demonstrate. Like that. It's a scrum, isn't it? Yeah. What's going on there? So, well... Why don't they just give it to me, huh? Yeah, well, in Rugby Union, they compete a bit more at the scrums, but in our game, it's an area you compete for the ball, but it's just...
31:25I don't know, it's just tradition.
31:26Phil Tufnell: But, I mean, years ago, like Billy Beaumont and all them, Frank Cotton. You can see, like, he's giving him a... Oh, it's all going on. Yeah, there's a couple of them. Every now and then there's a bit of that going on. I got suspended once for a supposed squirrel grip. A squirrel? They reckon I grabbed someone on the nuts and gave it a crank. And did you? No, I didn't. I didn't. To this day, I didn't. It might have looked like that, but I didn't. Somebody else must have done it then. So whose nuts were you tweaking? No, so he was a player, he was playing for Melbourne at the time, and we were losing a game.
31:55and he was pissing me off you know we were bantering anyway I wanted to get him you know he was alive a little thing I couldn't get hold of him anyway I mean a tackle and so I just saw the inside of his leg I grabbed down the squeeze twisting it anyway yeah yeah anything I could and um oh anyway so like yeah I got up to his ones it was play on nothing happened down play on but you Social media these days someone seen it and I see doing there and I just grabbed him by the nuts Anyway, I got pop in front of the judiciary and I got suspended for squirrel gripping. I didn't touch his nuts at all
32:33Michael Vaughan: How does it go when you walk into is it like this and there's a panel and this exactly like We believe that you've grabbed someone's no I say well if there is nuts. They're very small But I didn't grab any there's nothing really in the in the part I was going for pure skin I just wanted to make him feel Chinese bird Like a Chinese What about him Was it 2014 Grand final Yeah You broke your cheekbone First play of the game First play of the game Broke his cheekbone Plays the whole game Gets man of the match Get off Man of the match That's man of steel isn't it You break your cheekbone You know it's gone Ow Straight away Ow Ow Ow Ow Ow how do I know how what are the tablets you're taking to get through you know you're going full in for the rest of the game yeah so no well this so there's a bigger story to it I'll try and make it short I don't have a whole day but it was the last game of the season it was the grand final and at the end of that season I was leaving I was going to Rugby Union I'd signed to go to Rugby Union and at this point this is my fifth year at South Sydney and bearing in mind when I first came over to South Sydney they were not known as a winning club they'd missed the finals and everything like that but with Russell being involved and me coming with my brothers I said I want to turn it into a powerhouse club and essentially I want the club to win it'd been a by the time we won it's a 43 year drought alright and over there the pressure really amounts you know and all that time passes so there was a lot on the game and I was a big part of the team all year so So the first tackle of the game, when I'd smashed my face up, there was no option really to come off.
34:23I couldn't because we're here now. It's 43 years to get just to this game. Never mind win it, right? So 43 years we're here in the game. We had a great season. We'd all worked our backsides off. When I first played the game, I smashed my face up. I knew it was really bad. I knew it was bad straight away. So what's the option? They didn't have an option really. I had to play. So the trainer came out to me. I said, listen, I'm in a bad way. And he said, yeah. Well, his words were actually, oh, fuck. I thought, is it that bad? But I'd not actually had a beer all season. I did the whole season, no alcohol.
35:02Because I wanted to send a message to everyone.
35:05Michael Vaughan: Is that what you did at Middlesex, Tom? No. Yeah, yeah. And one of my other initial thoughts was, I'm not going to be having a beer tonight because I decided all year I'll only drink with the team if we win I'm not going to be having a beer tonight because my face is going to be out here so that crossed my mind as well but you know I just figured well I'll just see how far I can get before I have to leave the field so I tried to make a run and see how it felt I tried to make a tackle and see how it felt I thought well I could manage the pain I could manage that and before I knew it before I knew it I was in there I was bleeding it became a blur the whole game became a blur not in terms of concussion we were in the zone as a group there was no way we were losing and it actually probably added a bit to the team did you watch it back?
35:58have you watched it back? I've seen it yeah the whole game back I've seen it back I went and we watched it actually they made a programme out of it so I watched it but yeah it was fantastic yeah
36:08Phil Tufnell: and won it yeah won it What sort of a tackle was it that you smashed it? So we clashed heads. In fact, the person that I clashed heads with, a great mate of mine, another Englishman who was carving his name out there, James Graham, a big red-headed, fire-headed bloke. He was my roommate and teammate from England for a number of years. It was me and him. The whole week was... Me and him always went really hard against each other, out of respect. So we collided, first play of the game. I got the ball and went straight for it. and he leads with his he's got a bigger head than mine massive Swede bigger than mine believe it or not bigger than mine massive nut anyway we clash heads first play of the game about six minutes in the game they made an error or we did I can't remember but we're coming to a scrum we got to a scrum next to each other me and James Graham at this point what are you talking about and he looked at me and his blood coming out of my nose my mouth and whatever and he said Sammy mate I'm worried I'm worried about you you need to get off the field it's the first time ever in our competitive career he's shown any concern for me yeah on the field off the field with great pals and my instant reaction was to tell him to fuck off so he then started yelling at me saying well you look your face looks like a dropped pie yeah yeah I thought who thinks of that how do you come up with that in the middle of a game you know dropped pie yeah your face looks like a dropped pie he's not from Wigan is he wasn't He's from St.
37:37Helens.
37:38Phil Tufnell: Oh, well, that's a bad idea. There we go. Yeah, so, yeah, before I knew it, I mean, at halftime, we got to halftime in the game. And obviously the doctor says, Sam, I need to assess you. We need to go through this. I said, look, Doc, a great relationship with my doctor. I said, look, Andrew McDonnell, I said, look, Doc, all due respect, I want to sit and listen to the coach. I want to be around the team. I don't want to miss all of that. I want to stay connected to it and he warned me of a couple of risks so I said yeah don't worry mate we'll figure them out there so I sat down and just got on with it normal and yeah it was good it actually brought us probably together as a group I reckon like you know we just I kept using it my George one of my brothers missed a tackle in the second half and I gave him a mouthful I said you lazy bastard I said I'm here covering your covering your ass my face is busted I said you better make it up you know anyway But he scored one of the greatest individual tries, whether it's to do with me or not.
38:38But he scored one of the greatest individual tries in the grand final from the front rower. It broke the game open and we just flew home. More important. Do you have the beer? Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
38:50Michael Vaughan: Could you have the beer? Yeah, no, don't worry. We had the beer. Lads, here you go. Oh, fucking Jesus. Here you go. Let's have a look. Here you go. What's it? Loads of pipe. What was it? Drop pie. You can see the drop pie, can't you? I'll show you. I'm going to watch a little bit. Watch that. Minced beef and onion. I'll show you a picture. I'll show you a picture the next day. Oh, it was bad. Oh, my God. It was bad. So after the game, we had the beer. So we had the team bus. Yeah. We had the team bus. We went back to the local leagues club. And, you know, the streets aligned. Imagine it's gone crazy.
39:31So the good energy. the boys have gone in there a few beers it's five six o 'clock in the morning and we have a parade the next day about two o 'clock so it's dark now i said to the boys i said listen let's get on the bus we go to my house i'd stocked the house up ready for a week we could have stayed there for a week and not gone short okay so i said let's go get on the bus we get to mine we'll have a few beers there we'll all so we took the trophy on the bus go to my place i got the whole squad there about 25, 30 players in my place. Put the game on, trophy there. You know, good old days. You had a few beers.
40:05We then had to get on the bus, we stayed outside my place and drove us to the fan day the next day. It was 32 degrees. It was red, stinking hot. And we said, right, no one on the beers whilst we're doing our media commitments and everything. And that was the end of me then. The two hours without any alcohol. And obviously, yeah, my head, twice the size, believe it or not. And yeah, that was me. I went straight to hospital from there. I was in hospital for about five days.
40:34Michael Vaughan: I mean, massive in Australia. Five days? Hospital? Five days, yeah. I had complications with surgery. I don't know whether it's because I played on or whatever. Might be something to do. Just a thought.
40:48Phil Tufnell: Do you have a do now? Do you still have a go? No. Do you join in? No, a little bit. Like five a side? Did you as a coach, did you fancy facing Gothfield Caddy? I do a little bit, I have a bit of fun when they're playing the warm-up stuff and the games. Gives a pass. Yeah, I do that. I like kicking about.
41:07Michael Vaughan: Sam, right, so when I joined Fox Sports a few years ago, one of the first people that I got in touch with, Coogee in Australia, Sydney, was Sam and his brother Luke. Now the first night we're having an Italian on the hill, so I'm just sat there having my spag bog, and all of a sudden there's paparazzi everywhere. And I'm thinking, oh, cricket's big. I didn't realise how big you were and what you've gone through. I asked Freddie Flintoff was on the show. Oh, what are you? You know, and you go through that final the way that you can just play on. What you've gone through with your father dying so young, all the adversity around what's happened in Australia, the good and the bad.
41:44Michael Vaughan: Yeah, yeah. Where do you find this mentality? Yeah, I don't know. I think it's a great question. Yeah. Well, I think a lot of it does go back to upbringing and then in you know the the tragedy of losing my dad at such a young age my father had motor neurone disease you know so back then in 2006 and 7 it was relatively unknown we obviously know a lot more now due to some great work you know you know Robbie Burrows and Doddy Weir and you know yeah yeah yeah it's a tragic illness you know but at the time I was trying to make it as a player and And then obviously you get this news as a young lad. Well, then it gave me a bit more reason to make it.
42:31So, you know, I think going through that at a young age and understanding, well, there's an end date, so you've got to get it done before this time. You know, I'd go and knock on the head coach's door and say, listen, what do I need to do to get on your team? I need a player and my dad's got to see me play. And it taught me just if you want to go get something, you've got to go and get it done. and I think, well, it definitely does come from that. You know, I had no plan B. There wasn't another option. So, you know, figuring that out at 16 years old, 17 years old, it's definitely helped me go forward, you know.
43:07Like, it's definitely helped me make more aggressive decisions and then have a bit of self-belief and courage to go after stuff. So it definitely, definitely comes from that, you know, and that shifts and moves. you can't always be at things in that energy but it definitely helps you grow a bit of belief you're probably multitasking right now right commuting working out crossing things off your list worth asking when check in on yourself landed on it grow makes the booking part fast the rest is between you and a therapist who actually gets it grow connects you with thousands of high-quality licensed therapists across the U.S., offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends.
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45:13Michael Vaughan: Stick to Cricket is brought to you by Betfair. Did you enjoy your switch to union? I know it's so high profile. I don't speak high profile. Yeah, it was actually really enjoyable. it gets really widely reported that I had a bad time there or I looked down at my door I loved it it was great fun it was great fun rugby union and I'd never played again I'd never played again it goes back to decision making I was a bit pissed off at a couple of things happening in Australia so I made a hard decision I went to play rugby union and I went to Bath which is a fantastic club yeah fantastic club and I managed to play for England in the World Cup that year and we had a terrible World Cup we should have had a team social in Perth how might helped us but you know I had a great time we played I played in the Premiership final for Bath they actually won it this year I think it's the first time for a long time for Bath you know and then I played for England and we fell out of that tournament in quite dramatic fashion and then at the end of the I ended up leaving going back to Australia I just didn't like a lot of the politics in the game.
46:27It's not who I was. I didn't feel I was playing there for the reasons that I wanted to be there. I was doing it for other people. So, you know, I went back to rugby league. That's at heart what I am a rugby league player. If you'd have started at Union, do you think? Is it so different? Yeah, what's the... No, no, no. I mean, well, I played at the highest level. I played for England and I felt my contribution to the country was good. It's one of those things that if... I believe I had to continue playing Rebunia I'd gone on to play for England numerous times I would have had ambition to lead my country and captain my country and that was a thought I had post World Cup but I was my motivation would have been to prove people wrong and it's not the way I work I do it for my own satisfaction or you know I wouldn't have been doing it for the right reasons I believe so I would have definitely had a successful career in Rebunia I believe I'd have spent more time there but what position yeah yeah i reckon i reckon uh over time i'd have been a back roller
47:29Michael Vaughan: yeah i think the what number is that six six six seven right yeah no i know but i don't mean rugby yeah yeah six six seven do better practice oh six six yeah yeah one of the bigger lines line
47:43Phil Tufnell: now yeah see i didn't understand that stuff it's all inclusive it's all inclusive like rugby union they have some fat lads at front, won't they? Yeah. And then big tall lads and somebody who can run. You've got your diversity. You can all have lads. That means strong lads. You know, I think that is a perception of rugby union, but, you know, the big fat lads. They've changed now, aren't they? They're phenomenal. Yeah. And here he is, he's 23 year old, he looks about 64.
48:12Michael Vaughan: He does, doesn't he? But they're running the 100 metres in about 12 and a half seconds, these fat lads. It's not like...
48:19Phil Tufnell: Billy Boston's just been made a knight, hasn't he? One of your lot. One of your lot. One of his. Billy Boston. He's a farmer? No. No, Billy Boston. Oh, a knight. I see. Vince Karelius. St. Helens. Vince Karelius. Alex Murphy. Alex Murphy, great. Murphy, you won't believe this, Murphy nearly became the manager of Manchester City. Alex Murphy. Oh, that, really? Yeah. We were doing, Sunday People it were called, it's a paper, I don't think they have it now. And Peter Swales was on this panel. I'm doing the cricket, Murphy's doing the rugby and Swales is doing the football. And he nearly convinced him that I can manage your football team because of his experience in rugby.
49:02Phil Tufnell: And the job went to it after Malcolm Allison and Joe Mercer and I think it went to John Bond. Bond, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We were all over north of England in them places. Correlius? Vince Correlius. Correlius? That's who Russell Crowe played in. Yeah, yeah.
49:20Michael Vaughan: That was Marcus Aurelius. Marcus.
49:22Phil Tufnell: Max Aurelius.
49:24Michael Vaughan: This is Vince Coralius. Oh, Coralius. Hey, Sam, so around this table, he's done everything in cricket. Yeah, I know. Humplayer, player, commentator. Coach. England coach. My coach. He's a farmer. And a knight. He's obviously a 12 ,000 test. Gentleman. Good captain. He's done a lot of farming. I disagree with that. I've played a bit of cricket. I'm on the front line now. I think I've done two shows on telly. I've done Strictly and I did what's the bake off did the bake off it was very good Phil's done 150 shows he's done every show that's going you did what did you do SAS oh I did the SAS celebrity SAS was Ant Middleton there Ant Middleton yeah what a guy is it right about you on a bus yes true story yeah go on well so the no no SAS the military they do like SAS selection course you go through the course and someone like that Ant and deck Ant and deck Ant Middleton leads it he's a brilliant ex-SA soldier himself anyway they took us away it's a 15 day course but you know 20 might start and just two can get to the end basically got you so we're on about day 12 and there's only 4 or 5 people left in the show still going and you know throughout the whole show you're sleep deprived food deprived you're freezing cold it's hard graft Like, it was really hard.
50:51And, you know, each night they might come in and talk to you before you go to bed. Listen, if you're captured, you should always try and escape because the longer you're in captivity, the less chance of survival. So, you know, this is all sinking in my subconscious. Okay, thanks. Next day we did this assault course for four or five hours. We were busted, freezing cold, wet through, and the explosions go off, guns come in. you know they come and hoodwink you put hoods on you kidnap you tie you up and put you in stress position I thought you should do this oh yeah oh it'd be awesome anyway no it's real you feel like I felt like I was in a war zone I really did it was unbelievable and by this point you're a zombie you know I'm 12 days into an intense course anyway all the training kicked in what I've been teaching over the last couple of weeks and you know in a stress position like this against the fence and this woman, she's coming and kicking me in the shins and I'm thinking, what the fuck?
51:48What's going on here? So after about two hours in captivity, the transporters are thrown us in a vehicle and the transporters to another destination. Now, they also said, on transportation is where you've got a great chance of escape because it's generally someone lower down the food chain. That's where you should attempt to escape. So I've gone, here's my chance. So I've got a hood on, you know, hooded on, and zip ties on my wrist and I'm so fired up because that woman kicking me in the shins I popped the wrist straps anyway I'm on this we're on a bus moving and they told us we're on there with arms there's guns on us do not fucking move so anyway I peeked up I looked under my hood and I see the other four contestants and there's only there's one guy driving there's a camera guy there and there's another another army guy I think there's no guns on there so I think I can get these guys I can take them too no problem So I worked for my time.
52:44We were on a bit of a freeway. We were going about 100km an hour down the road. So, hood off, I charged the front of the bus. Are the cameraman? No, no, the cameraman's front seat. The driver here. And minibus, so we're in a minibus. So there's a partition between the driver camera and then there's another soldier here. So I charge the bus, I get the guy at the front. I'm... I'm kicking him. I'm dishing him up.
53:05Michael Vaughan: It's only a show! It's only a show! Oh, no, no, there's no show in my head. I was convinced, I was convinced. I was in Afghanistan. Yeah, I was there in Mentland. Yeah. So he had an earpiece on this guy, I'd rip his comms off, take his phone and throw it out. Boom, get him under control. So I've got this guy under control and I free one of my other contestants, John Stephenson, who's a sprinter. Free him, poof, take care of him, sit him. So I get him, I'm behind the driver. I'll demonstrate on you. Go on, so you're driving. I said don't you fucking move. I'm going to drive like this and I'm choking him and I'm saying pull the fucking van over now.
53:47He's not saying a word. So I start tugging the wheel and the car's going like this and everyone in the back screaming. It's only a show. No these guys didn't break character. I'm telling him to pull over. I said I'm going to put you to sleep. I said, I'll put you to sleep. Anyway, I said to John, I said, listen, I'm going to chuck him out. Handbrake on, keys. So, sleep, you're asleep. Handbrake on, keys out. Screech, you're out of the vehicle. The other guy out of the vehicle. I get in the front seat, drive off, we're gone. Nice. The cameraman looked at me like, I said, you can get out as well.
54:24Michael Vaughan: So you've just left that fella on the side of the road? Gone. Yeah, gone.
54:27Phil Tufnell: I'm free. He's only an extra, this guy. 12 quid a day. 12 quid a day for driving this guy. I know what worries you say. Well, how would Rog deal with that? How would your man do? Yeah, you would. So I've then got the minibus now, me and four other contestants. I'm driving down the road, I don't know where we were, I don't know what part of the country, and I'm starving. I was starving. I thought, I'm going to KFC. I'd eat one. Oh, lovely. Yeah, lovely, a KFC burger or something. But I had no money, nothing. I'm driving down the road, I don't know where to go, but I'm free. I thought I'd completed the show.
55:00Phil Tufnell: You should have eaten the driver, go back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, I'm driving around for about 40 minutes now and the vehicle comes towards us and it's definitely from the show. I took it on. Boof, I don't. What? Yeah, yeah, and they swerved off. We kept going. And there was a woman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was completely, I was completely, completely, I wanted to win. Yeah. So there's a woman, there's a woman still on the show, Jana Pittman, amazing athlete, beautiful woman. And she said to me, Sam, you're taking a little bit too far now. And then I sort of came back into normal life and said, yeah, maybe.
55:35So I drove back up to... The driver? Phil, who's floundering on the road.
55:45There was a pub. We drove past the pub.
55:48Phil Tufnell: Let's go and have a beer. I went back to the pub and I pulled in there. And within about 15 minutes, we were surrounded by about six cars. And Aunt Middleton came back on the bus. and they've absolutely flogged us for about 12 hours. We lost two contestants that night because they put us through the ring and tied us up, threw us in shipping containers. That's not actually that fair, is it? Yeah, I know. And they never aired at any part of that show because we weren't insured or they didn't have the... So none of that's been... None of it's been aired. None of it's been aired. None of it. Have they asked you a bike?
56:22Did you win? Yeah, I won it. What did he say? Not surprised. No, they loved it. They loved it. So after the show, they didn't break character once. After the show, Ant said, come on, we need a few beers. We're gone. Now we're great pals and all those fellas, Olly Ollett and Billy, Fox Eby, Jason Fox and Ant Middleton, great blokes. But they reckon it's the best escape story they've had. What did they say, though, when, like... No, they loved it. They must have been like, oh, my God, we've got a bus on the loose.
56:52Michael Vaughan: The driver's gone, he's just an extra on 12 quick. I'll tell you something that reminds me, when I was in the jungle, Wayne sleep nicked me rice
57:06Phil Tufnell: I was a drunk guys I was alright yeah no it's good fun but can you do well I think I'm a senior not quite can you can you do Wayne sleep oh we would probably He was, yeah. You can do. I've never been to the jungle. He's a dancer. Strictly, you said. We've both done strictly.
57:25Michael Vaughan: How did you go? Week 10. It's hard, isn't it? Week 10. So you've got 10 weeks in? Yeah, yeah. That's pretty good, isn't it? Have you been on that show? No, no, no. That's my worst nightmare. You'd do the jungle, though, wouldn't you? No, no, no. I'm done for it. They weren't invited. Yeah, I'm done. Bacon! Give him the bacon! Sam Burgess doing the lemon drizzle. Take the knives away.
57:54I've done Ready, Steady, Cook, actually. You used to have Ready, Steady, Cook. Oh, yeah, Ainsley Harriot. Red and green, yeah. I did it in Australia. I won a knife, actually.
58:05Michael Vaughan: Oh, brilliant, Sam. Right, we've finished with a few community questions. Yeah, yeah. We'll start with asking all of you Russell Crowe's favourite film what's your favourite film well I'd love to always say Gladiator's got to be up there Gladiator for me yeah Gladiator it's hard to go past Gladiator but he did he did A Beautiful Mind I thought it was a great movie I thought it should have won the Oscar for that but yeah it's a great movie yeah I had to go Gladiator Gladiator Gladiator yep Maximus Miximus yeah favourite sport outside of rugby league oh that's a good question golf golf I love golf now yeah oh you play play nicely bits and pieces yeah steady way you scored 80 odd didn't you for Liversidge when you were young yeah yeah cricket I love cricket I just don't play any of it now but yeah I'm about similar to Vaughn at the golf well we'll find out he takes it serious playing Brian Law yeah I don't Brian Law great 8 holes played good 8 holes right here we go which three cricketers retired or active would you say could play rugby league?
59:18Michael Vaughan: I'll start with the first. Fred. Ben Stokes. Oh, he did, didn't he? He's dad. He's dad. Yeah, he's dad. Any others? Johnny B? Johnny B? He's a pocket rocket, isn't he? Yeah, and you've probably got to get Freddie in there, haven't you? Can we go that to Union as well? Who's that big off-spinner who plays for... Joey Bashir? No, for... Cornwall for West Indies. Oh, Rakim Cornwall. We could have Mohan Khan, you know, his son in the front row. He's a big lad. They're big lads, aren't they? What about in your day, Dave?
59:50Phil Tufnell: David Smith, who we've mentioned before.
59:52Michael Vaughan: Rugby Union or League.
59:53Phil Tufnell: I tell you, I reckon Goffy. Darren Goffy. Darren Goffy. Darren Goffy would have been. Not a bad shot. Harvey's a big lad, though. He's a big lad, though. He's a big lad.
1:00:00Michael Vaughan: So we used to obviously change in the same dressing room. Ellery Hanley. Ellery Hanley. Ellery Hanley every Friday used to turn up in his big Mercedes. Great bloke, Ellery. I've seen him yesterday, Ellery Hanley. What a legend. You know, at Headingley, when he was saying change room, Adam Live tells a great story about it. They're having a team meeting. He was like a youngster. And Keith Senior wandered in to do the shit. And he just wandered in live. He's like, what are you doing? He goes, what do you say? He goes, nothing. He's like, I do shits bigger than you. Live he was like, oh my God. Well, on a Friday night, we'd be finishing our game.
1:00:36Michael Vaughan: You know, a four-day game, Friday we'd be playing. and then Friday night the Rhinos would be playing. And the cameras would be on as we come in and then the Rhinos would have to get changed. At the end there was like a casual room. You'd have been in that casual room. And then we'd swap and we'd be getting showered as the rugby union playing lad from Hawkeye. We were like, oh, I'm not. Who was the filler? Who was the filler? Because we went to see him. Was it McDermott? Brian McDermott. Oh, yeah. Barry. Oh, Barry. He was a tough lad. Yeah, yeah. Well, they're both tough. but there's Brian McDermott he coached and played Bradford and Leeds Barry McDermott he's a character he's a bit of TV stuff now but he's got a glass eye he's got one eye I saw him play after we played Yorkshire he was bloody tough Barry McDermott
1:01:25Phil Tufnell: what about that commentary of Mick Morgan Castleford Mick Morgan's commentary get him off get him off dirty bastard that's in Castleford isn't it Yeah, it's Castlefish. Commentate. Oh, your bottle was good.
1:01:39Michael Vaughan: Yeah, yeah. Show him what you're saying.
1:01:41Phil Tufnell: Is he standing on the floor? Get him off. Campbell, Campbell. Make him walk. Make him walk, Campbell. I can't speak. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't speak. How many times have you watched that?
1:01:52Michael Vaughan: Oh, that's brilliant. A bit more. Oh, Sam, brilliant. Thanks for coming on. Oh, thanks for having us. You've got a rock-solid forward defence and back defence. I appreciate that, yeah. You might be called up soon. Good in Australia as well, aren't you? You do well down there. Yeah, well, the Ashes, my Ashes series on the Crow farm, we're pretty good, yeah.
1:02:10Phil Tufnell: Are you going to the Ashes cricket this year or not? No, I don't know if I'm going to be in Australia. If I do go back, I'll definitely get to a game. Yeah, we'll be there. If we go, we'll have to hook up with that Russell Crowe. Yeah, he loves it.
1:02:22Michael Vaughan: Oh, he is the king of Cudgy. He loves it. King of Cudgy. All the Burgesses down in Cudgy. Oh, yeah. Look out. Look out. Well, times are changing. Oh, yeah, yeah. Look out. We once went to the Ashes. I bought a box it was a 13-14 series got rolled 5-0 tough series I'll skip it but I'd had a who were captain
1:02:42Phil Tufnell: who were captain was that you yeah mate you didn't do my street credit any good I bought a box it was the last test I think in Sydney wasn't it did it even get to that day you bought a box yeah we thought it was going to be over but we ended up having a good day cricket anyway I put in six Aussies six English lads in the box So we had a great day. And you know the Richard Benoes?
1:03:06Michael Vaughan: Yeah, yeah. We were right above them, and middle of the day, we were right in amongst them with fancy dress on. It was a great day.
1:03:12Phil Tufnell: Wonderful day. It was a great day, the Ashes. What a wonderful day here. Two, two, two for two. Three, two, two, two, two.
1:03:21Michael Vaughan: Right, brilliant. Awesome. Very good, boys. Yeah, great to see you, mate. Well done, mate. See you, guys. Brilliant. Thank you, brilliant. Good to see you. Thanks for coming. Oh, brilliant. Brilliant. We've got to do it. We've got to do it. We've got to do it. That is my favourite story. You've got... Yeah. I'm surprised they didn't sign you up afterwards for the bloody SAS.
1:03:49I can't believe they didn't let you have half an hour. They'll feed you for half an hour and then say... Yeah, I know, yeah. Oh, they're absolutely brilliant. That's a good story. What a story. When they walked to the pub, they were driving us dead on the car. I mean, he's a fucking bus driver. Put you to sleep.
1:04:07Phil Tufnell: I'll put you to sleep, bus driver. Has that a bus driver been seen since? Oh, yeah, they were all sound. So they're military guys as well. Really? The guys that got in the help with military guys, they loved it. They were loving it. They almost wanted you to do it.
1:05:02We'll see you next time. that proves it worked. Don't fight for attention. Buy it with ACAST. Learn more by visiting acast.com slash advertise.
1:05:14Michael Vaughan: Thanks for listening and thanks to our partners, Betfair. You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and you won't miss an episode. And if you want to support the show, please leave us a five-star review and help others find it too. See you next time.
Rugby legend Sam Burgess joins Phil Tufnell, Sir Alastair Cook, David Lloyd and Michael Vaughan on Stick to Cricket for a powerful, wide-ranging episode full of thrilling stories and laughs – brought to you by Betfair!
Sam discusses winning the NRL Grand Final with a broken jaw, pulling off prank calls with Russell Crowe and the personal battles he faced after losing his dad at a young age.
He also reflects on his controversial move to rugby union, why it didn’t work out, and what he learned from stepping outside of league.
Now head coach of the Warrington Wolves, Sam talks leadership, culture and what it's like to go from the dressing room to the coaches’ box. We also get into his genuine love for cricket, his childhood heroes, and whether he ever fancied picking up a bat instead of the ball!
Don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode - and please leave a review to help others find us too. Thanks!
00:00 Intro
01:25 Early Cricket & Rugby Memories
04:12 School Days
08:32 Coaching Warrington Wolves
13:12 Meeting Russell Crowe’s
16:55 Life in Australia
21:00 The Grand Final & Playing with Injury
27:00 Switching to Rugby Union
30:45 SAS Escape Story
38:00 Community Questions & Fun Stories
44:00 Closing Remarks & Outro
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