Chris Robshaw
Chris Robshaw is an English former rugby union player - he was captain of the England national rugby team from 2012 until 2015. You can ask him all about his rugby career, how he m...
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Who are you?
Hi, I'm Chris Robshaw. Please come and ask me some questions and find out about my journey.
What have been some of your most memorable moments or highlights?
I think personally as a professional rugby guy, and when I look back on my professional career captain in England, it's hard to really top that. When you get that feeling of running at Twickingham in front of 80,000 people as something you've always wanted to do to test yourself against the best players in the world, it really is hard to beat that from a club point of view. I was a Harlequins fan as a little kid, and they used to have a Harlequins top, so to captain them to their first ever Premiership title was amazing. And also those bonds you create in those environments because you enjoy it, but you work hard. And then when you have success, you tend to enjoy it a little bit more as well. So I would say them.
What leadership lessons have you learned throughout your career?
Yeah, I was lucky enough to Captain England at the age of 25 on underneath my second appearance, which was tough, daunting, exciting, nervous, kind of all the above really. And I think with leadership, and I think with captaincy and what I learned early is it is not something you can dip in and out of. It's got to be a 24 7 thing, but also you've got to have good people around you. It can be a lonely place. So you need to have that support. And I think whatever you do, it's be authentic to yourself. Try things, learn things evolve, but you still got to do it in your own style. And when I think of my Captain Harlequins days, I captained Harlequins at the age of 23. For a couple of years. I learned, had a break, and I captain them again at 33. And I captained them in two very different ways just because at one point I was trying to put my mark on it. I was captaining people a lot older than myself. And rugby was a different time and players were different. And at the age of 33, I was captain predominantly a lot of people who were younger than me and not as experienced as me. And that was very much more about kind of putting your arm around people and trying to lift them up. So yeah, I think whenever you're captain or whenever you're a leader, get a good group around you who will challenge you, but support you in the right way and help drive the team, the environment, the workplace, whatever it be. But also be confident in yourself and challenge yourself.