Emblazoned on his white boots, the words ‘I Did It My Way’ were rather apt when Mike Phillips bowed out of rugby after 16 years.
A nod to a classic Frank Sinatra song for one of the game’s great entertainers as he spread the news about his retirement last month.
After spells in Wales and France, it ended with a 27-24 win in the colours of Sale Sharks against Bath as he fulfilled an ambition to have “a crack at the English Premiership”.
“I thought the message on the boots would be funny,” said Phillips. “I’d like to think I tried to entertain, but at the start, people said I was too big to be a scrum-half, so it was also kind of to show I did it how I wanted.”
And while he may have regrets about some off-field incidents, he has none about what happened on it after reflecting on a career that saw him win 99 Test caps, 94 for Wales and five with the British & Irish Lions.
As the new batch of Lions enter the den of world champions New Zealand, Phillips described his two tours in 2009 and 2013 as the “ultimate experience”.
Part of Sir Ian McGeechan’s side in South Africa, he was one of the stand-out performers in a hard-fought and unlucky 2-1 series loss. But 2013 proved memorable as Phillips helped them win in Australia and clinch a first Test series for 16 years.
“It’s just the pinnacle,” he told Sport360°. “You are desperate to get on there, I was fortunate to do two tours, two very different tours. It’s a step up from internationals, the best of the best, phenomenal pressure and you just have to rise above it all and perform.
“It’s intense and about mental strength as well. In South Africa it was tough, we built a really good team spirit and unfortunately we didn’t get the rub of the green at times.
“We knew it was important to learn from that and take that on to Australia. A lot of the players did the two tours so there was the experience and we just had a great squad, more compact, and we outmuscled, outkicked and outplayed them.”
The Lions are now bidding for a first series win against the All Blacks since 1971. Despite losing legends like Richie McCaw and Dan Carter after their 2015 World Cup triumph, Steve Hansen’s side have continued to conquer.
“Of course they are big losses, Carter and McCaw, but you have seen others have stepped up,” added Phillips.
“They are just phenomenal in how they keep producing these amazing players.
“But it’s a tour the Lions can win, it just depends on how games go beforehand and (if) they get some good momentum and avoid injuries.
“They have the talent. If you look at the back row, there are phenomenal options. That’s where it could be won and lost. How they are at the breakdown and, for me, the Lions have better options. It could be close like Australia was, but they can definitely win.”
With his former Wales coach Warren Gatland again in charge, and 12 of his compatriots in the 41-man squad, including captain Sam Warburton, Phillips, knows the Lions better than most.
“It’s a strong squad and with Sam captain again like he was in Australia,” he added. “It’s not much about what he says, but he leads from the front and his performances in the Six Nations were outstanding, his work on the floor at the breakdown was crucial. He’s a competitor, a warrior.
“Who could impress? Because of Gatland, I think Liam Williams has got a good opportunity to shine because he did well with Wales in New Zealand. He’s versatile, and just as good at full-back or wing.”
Warren Gatland.
Phillips has also witnessed Gatland grow since his first Wales game in charge, an upset 26-19 win at England in the 2008 Six Nations. The talismanic No9 scored a crucial try that day to help overturn a 19-6 deficit and Wales went on to claim a 10th Grand Slam.
“He’s definitely changed a bit,” he said of New Zealander Gatland. “He’s a bit more serious than what he was at the start.
“He knows how to win games, has a phenomenal record. In the Welsh and Lions jerseys he’s definitely inspiring, goes through a few mind games with players and you can see it coming sometimes, but he pushes the right buttons to make you perform well and become winners.”
Gatland has also shown he is not afraid to leave sentiment aside in the pursuit of glory.
One such move saw him drop the popular Brian O’Driscoll for the third Test in Australia and he was vindicated as the Lions clinched the decider 41-16.
“He’s ruthless, very ruthless and it’s what you have to be really,” added Phillips. “It’s a tough job, can’t keep every player happy, can’t keep every fan happy. You have to back yourself and you have to admire him for that. Dropping O’Driscoll proved the right decision so fair dos to him. You have to make big decisions like that to win and he did it.”
Another such call Gatland made was not giving Phillips a 100th Test, even after calling him up as a replacement for the injured Rhys Webb at the 2015 World Cup. “It was a bit disappointing not to play,” he recalled, having made the decision to retire from internationals after the tournament. “I trained really hard and was in peak fitness, but that’s the direction they wanted to go. That’s fine, no regrets. I’ve been in the middle and part of what they won.
“If I told myself as a kid that I would have 99 caps I would have taken that. I’ve got some great memories in the Welsh jersey and played for some great clubs.”
Ever since a try-scoring Wales debut against Romania in 2003, Phillips has had to work hard to show his quality and shed a ‘bad boy’ image after being admonished and punished for brawls and drunken off-field antics.
But he is also a patron of UK charity Follow Your Dreams, which works with children and young people with learning disabilities, and said: “It’s something I’ve always done, but people maybe didn’t see that. I’m not trying to make myself into some sort of saint, I’ve made some poor decisions in my life, but they are about being young and being a bit silly.
“I think people have misjudged me. You are a different character when you are on the field to when you are off it.
“On it you have to become confident, arrogant in many ways, and a warrior. You have to have two faces. You can’t go out there and tickle people, you have to hurt people.
“Perhaps when I was young I didn’t realise people would know me or be that interested. Maybe that was being a bit naive, but I grew up in the countryside so we’re different.
“It’s a different era now, players are in elite squads from 13 and know what’s what.
“But to be playing for so long and achieve what I have, then for people to say I wasn’t professional was just stupid really.”
Blunt, brave, brilliant – and referencing Sinatra again – it would be ‘Somethin’ Stupid’ not to appreciate Phillips as a maverick yet magnificent player.
