
Share
13th March 2019
12:14pm GMT

"I did Ireland for a bit... obviously when I went to Trinity College, I feigned Irishness. I've got an Irish mother. I went through Leinster and the Irish route which probably, in hindsight, I should have stayed Irish. "I played Irish 19s and 21s and then Leinster and then was called back [by England]."[caption id="attachment_195901" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
(Picture credit; Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE)[/caption]
Haskell recalls a game he was playing, for England, against Ireland Wolfhounds, in Belfast, and Doran Jones drove up from Dublin to catch up with his old friend. The pair, and another friend, went out for a beer after the game before they dropped Haskell off at his team hotel.
"When we got back," says Haskell, "we were all having a few beers and one of the England coaches at the time, and Paul and this coach started having a row... and the bloke was mugging off Ireland. "Paul turned around and said, 'If you cut me, I'll bleed f***ing green!' "He's more English than I am. You were born in High Wycombe, weren't you?!"Doran Jones was in the Leinster set-up from 2003 to 2007 but ended up moving to London Welsh before getting his first England call-up while he was at Gloucester.
"I did England Under 18s and I did Wales Under 18s at the same time. Not a lot of people know this... I did them both at the same time. I did Welsh Exiles and England stuff. It got to a point where they were playing each other and I was named in both squads. "It was unbelievable."
Very much keeping his options open, Haskell recalls getting healthy expenses for travel to and from Wales, for the trials, as a particular bonus.
"For England, you had to fill it in and do a form. But with the Welsh, a bloke used to set up a pasting table, pull out a briefcase, open it up and say, 'Right, where have you come from?' "I'd say, 'England, mate' and he was like, 'How far is that?'. "'700 miles, round-trip', I'd say and he'd be like that [paying the cash out]. That is why the WRU were trying to merge Ospreys. They lost all the cash doing our expenses!"For an 18-year-old Haskell, the £70 and £80 expenses would keep him well fed and watered. Doran Jones used to drive along to some of these trials with Haskell but both would claim separate expenses. Finally, the time came to make a decision. Haskell, as West Ham's Declan Rice has done for the footballers, opted for England and had to break the news to the Welsh.
"And then I called them up when I was about to get announced and I said, 'Listen, I've decided to go for England'. "'James, I can't believe it,' he replied. 'Are you, are you f***ing serious boy? We looked after you, put you on the Welsh Exiles, you've a grandmother from Wales. Don't you want to play?'"Haskell had hoped it would e possible to line out for both U18s sides but that fixture clash forced him to make a call. "My name is mud over there," he admits.

Explore more on these topics: