'First time I got hungover, Schalk Burger fed me pints all night'

Barbarians lock Will Skelton has recounted the first time that he wound up hungover following a night out with Saracens that ended with him retching over the toilet bowl. The Wallabies lock is back in London this week as part of Fabien Gathie's squad to play England this Sunday at Twickenham. 

The now La Rochelle-based Skelton was recently crowned a Heineken Champions Cup winner, the second time that he won the trophy as a starting player in the final as he played in the 2019 decider with Saracens, the Gallager Premiership club he initially joined on loan in winter 2016.

Skelton began that original stint in London with a pair of Champions Cup games versus Sale which was followed by the squad getting whisked abroad for one of their infamous bonding sessions, a memory that the Australian has now humorously recalled during a guest appearance on this week’s RugbyPass Offload. 

“I came on loan for eight weeks, we played Sale at home, then Sale away and they were like, ‘Oh yeah, we have got a trip’. I thinking, ‘What do you mean a trip, a training camp or something?’ They’re like, ‘No’. 

“I’m not sure do I pack my boots and then literally you’re 4am, on the bus to Gatwick. I wasn’t a big drinker. I think literally that was the first time I got hung over with the boys in my life, so it was a new experience. Thanks, Schalk Burger for feeding me pints all night. He can drink, mate. Oh my god, he can drink. It was a great trip. It was awesome. 

“Peer pressure got me there. Like I said, I didn’t drink so I didn’t eat and that first morning after the first night I’m there just over the toilet, spilling my guts. I had nothing coming out, just bile. It was burning my throat. I didn’t drink after that… until the next trip.”

After seven loan appearances, Skelton returned to Saracens on a full-time basis after finishing the 2017 Super Rugby season with the Waratahs and he went on to enjoy further bonding trips away with Mark McCall’s squad, who this Saturday will play in their latest Premiership final when they take on Leicester.  

Skelton believes these off-field bonding sessions were crucial to the building team culture when he was at Saracens. “Very important and it gave something to look forward to off the field. I remember we were always told about a month, six weeks out before the trip.

“They’d say where we were going and do a slideshow of what was to come. That revved the boys up. So we’d have a block of games and you’re thinking we have to get through Northampton, Newcastle away and then we are off, we’re Ibiza or wherever. It was always a special time.”