Alright Ugo, you well?
Good Small Talk, yourself?
Flying without wings, my man. What thoughts were going through your mind when you were lying on team-mate Mark Lambert's floor for four days in September 2008, unable to move due to a back injury?
A whole host of things. I was upset – after a long pre-season, I was working hard and feeling fit and looking forward to playing and all of a sudden I was lying on the floor unable to do so much and I was fairly depressed and pretty sombre. It's one thing not being able to play rugby and it's another not being able to get up and walk around – I was just a bit down, fairly low [knowing chuckle].
In situations like that I would imagine your faith is a big help to you?
Yeah, massively. That foundation comes from my mother and my mother is just a huge support and foundation to everything I believe in and to where I've gone and what I've achieved. Yeah, you do lean on your faith that much more and in times like that. I guess you're on your own and your friends are out playing and you have got a lot of time to think, there's those deeper issues that you go over in your mind that much more.
You were quite devout when you were younger and then professional rugby being professional rugby you strayed, what was it that brought you back to your religion?
I don't know. It was just a feeling of wanting to learn a bit more. It was something I'd always been pushed into – and I don't say that in a bad way, it was something I always did to please my mother and I guess I wanted to understand a bit more and do a bit for me, I guess, perhaps. The only way you are going to do that is by asking questions and learning a bit more. I'm always one to want to keep learning and to search and get questions answered and get that inner feeling that there is more out there and more I need to learn and that pushed me back into the church.
Now you teach a bible class, is that something you would consider doing more of when you finish playing?
Ah, potentially. It's something I take a tremendous amount of pleasure out of. For me, it's a tremendous escape from rugby and also the feeling that I get of where I kind of came from and everything Christianity has done for me as a person, a player, spiritually and mentally. If I can pass that on to someone else then that can only be a good thing. I am forever learning, not just in the course and learning things from the bible, but also speaking to people from all different backgrounds and upbringings you kind of pick up different things. So, it's a combination of two things.
Where do you think God stands on your day job, scything people in half and what have you?
I think he's quite happy with me – playing rugby, going out and smashing people and other traditional rugby things. I think Jesus could have been a rugby player himself, or maybe more of a football fan, but I'm certainly enjoying it.
He would make a mean winger, with those nifty, water-treading feet of his. What was it like being the only black kid at your school, Lord Wandsworth College?
Um, I was quite naive and maybe ignorant of that fact, but I guess after a couple of weeeks I thought, "Um, there's no other black guys here. What's mum doing to me?" Nah, it was alright, you soon make friends. In fairness, teachers and colleagues were fantastic with me and I was never seen as a black kid I was always just Ugo, a guy who hopefully got on with kids. I was always made to feel very welcome.
Was rugby a way for you to fit in?
I guess so, I didn't play rugby until I joined school. A lot of my good friends played rugby and I liked hanging out with my friends and a way of doing that was playing sports together, you know, sport really unites people and I love that aspect of it. So, after joining just to kind of please my friends I found out I was OK at it and I guess here I am today.
You're a bit more than "OK" at it, most would say, but did you ever consider athletics, seeing as members of your family have been quite successful?
Yeah, definitely. My cousin [Jude Monye] was probably the most successful, he competed at the Atlanta Olympics in the 400m, so yeah, as a family we've got a pretty big background in athletics. Yeah, athletics has always been a big part of me, growing up at school, I guess it played a big part in how I play rugby. I guess there was a crossroads where I had to make a decision, but when Harlequins come knocking at your door there aren't many who are going to turn it down.
On the subject of Harlequins, which would you rather win – the Heineken Cup or the Premiership?
Oh my word, that's a big question, isn't it? Oh jeez! The Premiership is your bread and butter, isn't it? But the Heineken Cup probably is the icing on the top, you don't get too many opportunities to win the Heineken Cup, um, depends on the qualifications and a whole host of things... That probably is the bigger cup, but there's a kind of romance to winning the Premiership, but then it's a fairytale to win the Heineken Cup. I'm not sure where I'm going with my answer but, they are both very appealing...
You seem tortured, I'll stop being cruel. What is the difference between playing at Twickenham for your country and playing at Twickenham for your club?
Oh, my word. I played at Twickenham for Harlequins against Saracens, that was a great event. I've been here for seven years and I get a tremendous amount of pride playing for my club and it's incredible. But putting on an England jersey and playing in front of a packed house, and I guess you're just representing so many more people, that just adds to the pride and there's more of a sense of achievement – I'm not saying I ever take for granted putting on a Harlequins shirt – but it's a huge sense of achievement and more of a sense of pride. I get many kids asking me how it feels to play in front of a packed crowd and I always say, "Do you remember how you felt when you played at your school, when you looked at the touchline and saw your mum or your dad cheering you on? Replicate that feeling and multiply it by 82,000 and that's exactly how I felt whenever I played there". Yeah, it's massive.
Are you looking forward to the Six Nations?
Yeah, massively so. After the autumn internationals and that being said and done we're all even more eager to knuckle down and pull even tighter together. It's a huge challenge and as a tournament it is paramount in our targets and our goals and from a fan's perspective and a media perspective everyone really jumps on it and it really adds to the profile of the sport. You want to be involved in big competitions and this is going to be my first one and hopefully I have a big impact in it for England and hopefully I can get involved a lot more. But yeah, I can't wait.
How much can you bench press?
170kgs
That's almost 2½ Small Talks, impressive. Ever drank a yard of ale through a sock?
Never, never. I'm sure Nick Easter has. He's only 28, but he's the type of character, in terms of the way he was brought up, that was more amateur than anyone, so yeah, I'd say Nick Easter has.
You rugby players love appearing on reality TV. Would it be Strictly Come Dancing or Dancing on Ice for you?
It would have to be Strictly Come Dancing. Not to break the mould of black guys, but we don't like the cold. Then to do that in ice skates, it's just not going to happen.
Who would win in a fight, a lion or tiger?
A lion, he is king of the jungle.
Cheese or chocolate?
Cheese. Camembert. Baked.
Can't argue with that. You reading any books at the moment?
No, I've recently just finished one called 'Purpose Driven Life' by Rick Warren, a fantastic book. It's sort of a self help book, but with a Christian twist on it – good motivational, life directional book. Loved it.
What music are you downloading these days?
It would have to be L'il Wayne, if anyone knows that rapper from America. L'il Wayne or Kanye West.
Small Talk watches MTV Base and is down with L'il Wayne. Go DJ and the like. What's your favourite TV show?
It's so sad this – Scrubs and The Hills. Kind of shows my intellectual level.
Small talk will let you off with Scrubs, but The Hills?!?!
[Laughs] It's real life! It happens!
Small Talk doubts that but doesn't watch it enough to argue, plus you could bench press me and my twin brother, Brief Chat, into oblivion. I know you want to beat every team in the Six Nations, but which team do you really, really want to beat?
I'm going to be slightly political and I'm going to say France, but I live with a French guy and he has given me so much stick. It was fantastic in the World Cup and France's demise there – just from his point of view. He's already giving me stick about the Six Nations so, yeah, just in a personal battle with my housemate I'd like to beat France .
I like that, you take a battle between six countries and boil it down to a row with your housemate. Thanks Ugo.
Cheers Small Talk.
Ugo Monye was speaking at an event arranged by Greene King IPA, the Official Beer of England and Harlequins.
