England have been drawing on the advice of double Olympic gold medallist Matt Weston as they look to arrest their Six Nations slide against Italy.
Skeleton star Weston made history for Team GB in Milan-Cortina as he triumphed in both the individual and mixed team events to become the first British athlete to win two gold medals at a single Winter Olympics.
Also the reigning world and European champion, Weston celebrated his 29th birthday on Monday with a visit to England’s Pennyhill Park training base to impart some of his winning wisdom on a side reeling from back-to-back defeats to Scotland and Ireland.
Before entering sliding sports, the Olympian had been a keen rugby player in his youth, crossing paths with England’s Ben Earl at Sevenoaks RFC.
While the pair did not play together, they share several friends in common and Earl said Weston’s advice had been highly valued by the squad as they prepare to search for their own success on Italian soil.
“It’s amazing to see what he has gone on and achieved over the last couple of weeks,” Earl said. “He spoke brilliantly about his journey, and there was a fair bit that resonated with what we are hearing and feeling at the moment.
“I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on the Winter Olympics but he spoke about Beijing [2022] and how he felt like he’d really let everyone down. I think he finished 15th. He was saying it was a bit of a crossroads in his career and he wondered whether he wanted to keep on doing it.
“He spoke about a big push to getting to the Olympics just gone and about his four-year plan. Then he went on to say what he had to do to be in the best place for that Olympics and the hardships he went through in those four years. The boys here were thinking: ‘That’s exactly what we’re going through.
“He spoke about his mentality going into the Olympics and being favourite. I think he held on to every title – world and Europe. The boys are hearing this and thinking it really resonated with what we’ve been going through. Frankly, we’ve been favourites for the past three games and haven’t delivered in two of them. He spoke brilliantly.”
England take on Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome at 4.40pm GMT on Saturday.