Zach Mercer interview: ‘France can be a breeding ground for young English players’

Zach Mercer is the poster boy for any England player contemplating a French exchange trip.

The 25-year-old left the Premiership in 2021 to join Montpellier, a mere speck on the England radar and prematurely written off as lacking the requisite physicality to punch holes at international level.

On Sunday, Mercer comes back to these shores for the Champions Cup last-16 match against Exeter Chiefs as the reigning Top 14 player of the year. With a burning ambition to add to his two England caps, Mercer will return permanently this summer when he joins Gloucester, putting himself firmly in the No 8 reckoning with the World Cup looming.

Where once Mercer was considered an exotic species as an Englishman abroad in the Top 14, he has since been joined by a posse of Wasps and Worcester emigres, including Jack Willis who has just signed a new deal with Toulouse. He has acted as a sounding board for several prospective signings, including Sunday’s opposite number Sam Simmonds, who will directly replace him at Montpellier.

His advice is blunt. It is sink or swim, fight or flight, but in Mercer’s case that was exactly the challenge he needed. “I was way too comfortable at Bath,” Mercer told Telegraph Sport. “I wanted to be comfortable being uncomfortable. It was a case of being thrown in the deep end.

“I feel like France is a breeding ground for fresh young English players as well as established guys. You learn massively from being in a different environment, different culture. You are playing against opposition you don’t know. The main thing you can focus on is enjoying your rugby.

“Every week, it is an absolute brawl. Every single game is a war. I am not saying the Premiership isn’t like that because I haven’t experienced it now for a couple of years but I was shocked by the size of the blokes and the pure physicality. That was always something that was questioned on my part, that I could not hit hard and I could not carry hard. But I have shown people that’s not the case if you look at my stats.

“I am not going to be a 130kg No 8 and the amount of times I have heard that I am not big enough to play this style of rugby. I have beaten the most defenders in the Top 14 and made the most metres after contact this year and last year. If I was not physical enough, I wouldn’t be able to do that. Ultimately I wanted to put my name back out there in the shop window and in the limelight again, which I feel have done.”

If quitting Bath was a wrench then leaving Montpellier, where he was named vice captain and temporarily had the responsibility of calling the line-outs, was an equally difficult dilemma. He repeatedly refers to Montpellier as a “family”, even his suggestion that French food might be slightly overrated could spark a new round of civil unrest. Ultimately the pull of playing for England again was too strong to resist.

“To be honest, it was a really tough decision to come back,” Mercer said. “We had some really frank conversations with Mohed (Altrad, the owner) and Philippe (Saint-Andre, the coach) because I wanted to do what was best for me and best for us as a family. But I want to play for England again and I don’t feel that I have done that enough. That white jersey was just calling me and saying ‘don’t give up’. I could have given up by staying here and even then there are no guarantees I’ll be involved coming back.”

This is the danger in the Rugby Football Union poking around the “exceptional circumstances” loophole to its own ban on picking overseas players for England. Mercer moved to France knowing he was making himself ineligible. He returned just to have the opportunity to be selected. Shifting the goalposts would leave a bitter taste in several mouths.

“The rule around international selection, if it does change, it changes, but I am sure the people at Montpellier would be very annoyed, especially the big boss (Altrad),” Mercer said. “He really wanted to keep me here, but I know what my dreams and aspirations are and that’s to run out at Twickenham.”

To make that dream a reality, Mercer knows he needs a big end to the season with Montpellier. By his own admission, he started slowly as he wrestled with his own lofty expectations, but a conversation with mind coach Don Macpherson, author of How to Master Your Monkey Mind, helped get him back on track.

“I remember coming to preseason last summer ‘thinking how do I go one better?’,” Mercer said. "I was Top 14 player of the year and we won the league. What else can you do? I was setting myself unrealistic targets and getting really frustrated in games  because I am not able to do what I know I can do.

“It took me about 4-5 games to actually settle back into the Top 14 and realise I needed to forget about last year. I have to give credit to Don for helping to change my mindset. I think he is outstanding. I needed to push my game forward, which I feel I have done.

“I expect a big reaction from Exeter this weekend. We are expecting a backlash but this will be a good opportunity for us to see where we are at against some really good opposition.”