Former Springbok loose forward Ashley Johnson has made a successful transition to hooker with Wasps, writes GAVIN MORTIMER.
Johnson has come a long way since the days that he and his family used to board the bus to watch his dad play for the army at Silvermine military base. Johnson Snr, Archie, was a talented tighthead prop who also played for the Western Province League and SA Federation XV.
‘My earliest rugby memory was as a five-year-old, crying because my dad wouldn’t let me play for the U12s team,’ recalls Johnson. ‘“You’re too young,” he told me. “Your time will come. Be patient.”’
A quarter of a century later Johnson still boards a bus most Saturdays, but this time it’s to play, not watch, and sitting beside him are some of the most famous names in world rugby: from Kurtley Beale and Danny Cipriani to Joe Launchbury and James Haskell. No doubt about it, Johnson’s come up in the world, but at heart he’s still the same down-to-earth lad who learned the game from his old man, growing up in Wynberg.
It was there that his talent was first spotted, and the bursary he was granted by Nike took him to Paarl Gym, then the Cheetahs and in 2009 a call-up to the Springbok squad. He had to wait another two years for his first cap, but Johnsont seemed set to become a household name in South Africa.
Within a year he was gone, swapping Bloemfontein for Buckinghamshire, one of the more sedate counties in England, which at the time hosted Wasps. It was a bold move by Johnson; a sign of how keen he was for a fresh start. He arrived for the kick-off of the 2012-13 season, only to find a club that had narrowly avoided relegation from the Premiership the previous June and who were financially insecure.
‘It might have been considered a risk, but it is for any player coming from South Africa to France or England,’ he says. ‘You don’t know what to expect or where the club might go. And if it was a risk, well, it paid off.’
It sure did. Five years on and Wasps have a new owner, a new venue – the 32 000-seat Ricoh Stadium – and a host of new faces who have propelled them to the top of European rugby.
‘There is an amazing support system here and the camaraderie is great,’ says Johnson, when asked to account for the transformation in Wasps’ fortunes.
‘But first and foremost it’s the personalities. A lot of boys have played international rugby and they may seem like big characters off the field, but there is a lot of respect going on, especially from the England boys. They respect your culture, where you’re coming from, and they understand how difficult it can be for a player arriving from another country.’
Reflecting on why he left the Cheetahs in 2012, Johnson says it felt like the right time to go.
‘At that point in my career in South Africa I was stagnating. I wasn’t really in the Springbok set-up and I was struggling with my own identity and asking myself, “Am I progressing as I should be?”’
So when Wasps made an offer he gladly accepted, aware that he would not only be able to better support his family financially, but that it would also provide him with a new sporting challenge.
And Johnson is a man who likes a challenge, be it culturally or positionally. Having broken out of his comfort zone by coming to Europe, he then broke out of the back row, transforming himself into Wasps’ first-choice hooker within a matter of months.
Jake White had suggested the idea to an 18-year-old Johnson at Craven Week but it was one of those proposals in passing that was soon forgotten.
‘There are so many talented young players in South Africa that if you try and change your position at 18 or 21, and you don’t have the support of coaches to help you, it’s difficult,’ says Johnson. ‘It’s one thing being told to change position, but you need people to put in the time and effort to help you. That’s what happened at Wasps.
‘The problem in South Africa is coaches are spoiled for talent; there are all these great players coming out of school and varsity and so coaches don’t have to put in as much work in evolving players as they do in England, where rugby has to compete with football, and so they invest more time in identifying players and developing them.’
Johnson speaks warmly of home, but one can’t help thinking South Africa have let another fine talent slip through their fingers. Like CJ Stander, the Blue Bull turned Ireland loose forward, the 1.85m Johnson was told at an early age he was too small for the back row.
‘I think we can be a little narrow-minded in South Africa in how we see rugby,’ says Johnson, who tips the scales at 112kg. ‘We still often think that you have to be a certain size to play in a particular position, but rugby is changing and it’s good to see sides are starting to pick smaller, more skilful players.’
Johnson would love to add a few more caps to his Springbok collection, but he appreciates it’s a long shot. But why not? After all, the journey he’s made has been long.
FAN FAVOURITE
Ashley Johnson has become a cult hero among the Wasps fans – for his big heart and that big hair. Known for his full-blooded commitment and his ball carrying, Johnson’s sunny character has struck a chord with the fans.
‘It’s really weird,’ he says, laughing, when asked about the affection. ‘I’ve been here quite a while and the fans have taken quite a liking to me. I think it’s got something to do with the hair.'
In 2015, Wasps distributed 15 000 ‘Ashley Johnson wigs’ before their match against Leicester, asking fans to make a donation of their choice, with the proceeds going to fund research into brain tumours.
This article first appeared in the April 2017 issue of SA Rugby magazine
