Joe Batley has proven himself an inspiration on the field at Bristol with his skill and resilience, as well as his work with the charity Rugby Against Cancer Credit . : Harry Trump/Getty Images
Resilience is a word that gets thrown around a lot in conversations, a staple of pep talks and motivational posters. Joe Batley brings that message to life.
On Batley's path to this season, the best of his career to date, Lock, 27, has battled cancer and weathered his former club's financial crisis. . A pair of broken ribs suffered during the Bristol Bears' win over Gloucester last month may have been only a temporary setback.
“I broke two ribs in the maul in the first half,” explains Batley, who missed the win over Newcastle but returns for the first XV against Leicester on Saturday. “I felt them leave, tried to continue, took a few more shots. It became more and more difficult for me to breathe, and, to my irritation, I had to take my leave. We had a pier flying five meters further. If I jeopardized this, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.»
Bristol scored soon after Batley's departure to take the lead at Kingsholm, confirming their decision. But the exit will be annoying. Until that moment, Batley had been on the pitch every minute of the Premier League. In 16 consecutive matches from September to the Six Nations, he only missed the trip to the Champions Cup in Bordeaux.
An affable and charming character, Batley talks humorously about his «washing machine» schedule and how he continued to be involved in the trucking business. “After different games, different things hurt. After playing against Leicester or Sale, your shoulders will hurt more. After Queens or Northampton, your lungs are still recovering. The nature of going into new weeks with a new opponent and how you deal with that means it wasn't until we had the Six Nations break that you realized how crazy it was.»
Perhaps such stoicism should not come as a surprise. Back in March 2018, when Batley was a 21-year-old signing for Bristol from Gloucester, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. His world was turned upside down. Although he would make his Premier League debut a year later, the road to remission was grueling, both physically and mentally.
“By the time I started chemotherapy, I had probably dropped from 123kg to 110 or 111kg,” Batley recalls. “Towards the end, from chemotherapy to radiotherapy, I actually put on weight. I initially lost most of my muscle mass and then replaced it with more fat and my weight reached 129 kg. I went to two extremes, and it was difficult because then I had to lose all the fat and put muscle back on.
“I was on a protein-deficient diet and probably didn’t enjoy food. which I ate. and not feel hungry because of how sick I was. There was panic. The chemo ended and I stopped throwing up, but the radiation treatment continued and I was exhausted. I ate these high-sugar snacks because they were dairy-free and vegan-friendly.” >Batley goes from strength to strength in his second appearance in Bristol. Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
A plant-based diet has been recommended by various nutritionists and Darren Daviduk, a prostitute who battled cancer last year. However, this came with challenges: “Giving up cheese, which is obviously delicious, made veganism quite difficult. Anyone who tells you that tofu is as healthy as meat is an absolute liar. The texture always seemed… soft to me.”
Batley gradually hit various milestones in training and was loaned out to re-familiarize himself with the demands of the match: «Nothing prepares you for mauls and scrums like mauls and scrums.» His sense of humor and considerate nature will be an asset to the patients he speaks to as an ambassador for the charity Rugby Against Cancer, and to anyone hoping to pick his brain. For example, one lesson Batley learned was that he could have communicated more with his mother Julia.
“When I look back, I find that I handled it well in the moment, but the most People close to me were really struggling,” Batley says. “My mom struggled and didn’t necessarily know how I dealt with it. Instead of discussing everything with us, she wore it.”
Being a sounding board for those directly affected and their families was «helpful» because Batley accepted his past as part of his identity. “Going through this at 21, I didn’t want to be called the ‘cancer kid,’” he says. “But I’ve had a really good opportunity to reflect during Covid. I was trying to own it rather than hide from it.”
A move to Worcester in 2020 seemed promising as Batley cemented his reputation at Sixways. And then came the fall of the Warriors. The antidote was inherent optimism.
“Sometimes, to the annoyance of my partner, I tend to be confident that everything will be fine,” says Batley. “[When Worcester lost] it helped that I played well. Your currency is your achievements in professional sports, so I felt comfortable.”
There were opportunities overseas and Batley's partner, Anna, was «open to all possibilities», despite the couple's son, Wilfred, having just been born. born. Pat Lam's phone call in the fall of 2022 turned out to be serendipitous. Anna is originally from Bristol and Batley has so far been very grateful for the way the Bears have treated him during his battle with cancer. Faith has been rewarded in spades this season.
Batley had cemented his reputation at Worcester and was grateful that Bristol had offered him the chance to return , when the Warriors folded. Photo: Zach Goodwin/PA WireBristol have done well in the 2022–23 season when three clubs went bust. As well as Batley and Noah Heward from Worcester, Lam recruited Gabriel Ogre from Wasps and Josh Caulfield and Benhard Jans van Rensburg from London Irish. All five enjoyed successful campaigns and the Bears reached the Premier League play-offs. Batley was one of the most impressive strikers in the entire competition.
As well as scoring four goals, he was a brilliant lineout leader. According to Stats Perform, Bristol have the highest success rate in the Premier League (95.1%) and have scored 33 tries from the platform. Only Saracens have more (37). The Bears also rank third in interceptions with 18. Batley and James Dana each have five.
“The set piece, and the lineout in particular, is my bread and butter,” says Batley, who is able to work part-time in the back row. “I love the competition, the game within the game between me and the other player in the lineout. I know how much work I put into my week, so I want to make sure I'm not overworked. Anything beyond that is a bonus.
“I love the ball in my hands, which is a big part of Bristol's game, and any confrontation, that's what rugby is all about. The second row is very good for those three things, but I want to play as much rugby as possible. If Pat called me and said, «Mate, what do you think about playing at fullback this week?» I'd be more than happy.
Two wins in a three-game series against Leicester Tigers, Saracens and Harlequins to complete the regular Premier League calendar will likely be enough for Bristol to emerge from contention in fourth place. If they make it this far, they will owe it to Batley's rare resilience.
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