ESPN talks to Nick 'The Honey Badger' Cummins
'I was bloody flapping my wings to order some chicken'
Tom Hamilton
October 9, 2014
Nick Cummins bids farewell to Perth © Getty Images
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Moving to Japan has not been without its challenges for Nick Cummins; ordering food has proved an ordeal. "I'm not so bad now compared to when I first turned up," he told ESPN. "I was bloody flapping my wings to order some chicken and I was doing all sorts of things. I don't want to go through how I ordered egg. That was a whole different story. They look at you like someone had asked them to clean the toilet. I will eventually get there."

Then there is the issue of navigating Fukuoka by bicycle and the odd rented car. "I've been exploring. Each time we get a day off I hire a car and drive north or south and suss out some fishing spots. So I've been researching where I can get a boat and where I can launch it. There are a lot of rules over here so I need to make sure I'm covered in that regard. Other than that, I've been trying to learn the language and get to know town."

Had you told the 10-year-old Cummins he would later in life be a Wallaby and be playing in Japan he would have laughed at the suggestion - "I'd have told them I wanted whatever they were having."

Growing up in Logan City, the younger Cummins had three avenues in life. He was a promising rugby player so that was one option while the others would have seen him either join the army or going down the mine. He decided two years of mining may have seen him get comfortable so he gave rugby a go first. Now, as he sits talking in his apartment in Fukuoka, he is one of the game's adored individuals and recognised as 'The Honey Badger'.

Nick Cummins tucks into some Japanese food
Tucking into some local cuisine © Nick Cummins
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He first came across the creature watching Animal Planet and met one in South Africa. "You don't give yourself a nickname unless you're bloody struggling," he says of his moniker. "I'm pretty fascinated by the natural world and I came across this thing and thought, that's the sort of mindset you should approach rugby in, you don't back him up against the wall. You'll have nothing to lose and you'll get your best results from it. So the boys started calling me it, it wasn't self-named."

'The boys' are his former team-mates at the Western Force. He is perhaps one of the most Australian individuals you will meet so it seemed inconceivable he would leave his cosy shores for a foreign adventure, especially with the World Cup a year away. But, as it came to light, the move to the Coca-Cola West Sparks, which saw him omitted from the Wallabies mix, would help him support his family - his father, who is battling prostate cancer, heads up Cummins and his seven siblings.

"Playing for your country is an awesome thing and a great feeling so it was a tough call. Everyone has their own mission in life and what they've got to do. You can't knock them for it. There's always a lot going in people's lives. I've had a good run, a good stint and I'm grateful for that. You never say never. There's always a chance to do things in the future just so long as you don't hear any fat ladies."

Since his move to Japan after the 2014 Super Rugby season, he has played four games for his new side. He is yet to "bag any meat" but has enjoyed running out alongside his new team-mates. "They're funny little buggers, but the guys are legit."

 
"I first of all thought 'what the hell is wrong with that bastard' then I realised, Jesus, they were being me."
 

You can imagine Japan is not really too sure what to make of Cummins. They welcomed him in a magazine saying: 'g'day Honey Budger!' "Every bastard over here stares at you and looks at you up and down, trying to figure out what the hell you are," Cummins said. "They are trying to figure out the whole 'Honey Badger' name and just the other day this bloke came up to me and said 'bloody oph' instead of 'bloody oath'. When they speak in the Aussie accent it is funny. I don't know if they know what a honey badger actually is, they probably think it's my actual name."

There has been one of his side's supporters who has donned the familiar blonde wig and tape. When Cummins bid farewell to Perth, there was an abundance of curly blonde wigs in the crowd. They are now an expected feature of any match in which he plays but it was not the case a few years ago. The explosion of the Cummins lookalikes came to light in 2011. "I first of all thought 'what the hell is wrong with that bastard' then I realised, Jesus, they were being me."

Adulation, impersonators and adoration is not something he sought. His family have always kept him grounded - "it is strange because I get called a bloody Sheila by my family" - and while his Pat Cash-esque appearance has drawn inevitable clones, a similar level of attention is paid to his wonderful vernacular. Any Cummins post-match interview will include a unique simile potentially involving a "one-armed bricklayer in Baghdad" or the "boys digging in like they were in Gallipoli" but it is not a charade from Cummins.

"It's just a natural thing but people seem to be fascinated by it which worried me a bit. I felt a bit saddened that it became such a thing. It was sad because it must be dying out in Australia. It is sad it is a rare thing to hear that sort of chat. It just rattles off the tongue. Growing up through childhood it was how things were explained. I watch an interview and see that I have said something without realising it."

Nick Cummins assesses the local cuisine
At the local market © Nick Cummins
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The Japanese television crews are yet to understand the Cummins dialect. "You've got your interpreter there and you can translate it all you want but they won't understand it even if you do say it. The interviewer and interpreter kind of look at each other so I ask them 'are we all done?' They nod. 'Righto, beauty' and you are out of there."

Come November 1 he will be in a more familiar clime. He will be part of the Barbarians squad who are taking on the Wallabies at Twickenham, the ground where he scored his first try for Australia. Part of the plans for the game are to have a record number of Honey Badger impersonators in the crowd. "It'll be great to be back at Twickenham where I got my first meatie and it'll be nice to run out against the boys and I'm sure there'll be some banter and some carry on. I think it'd be outstanding if people dressed up. I'll be over the fence, having a yarn and speak to as many as I can. If I see them make the effort then they bloody deserve a good yarn and a couple of frothies."

As for facing his old team-mates, Cummins will embrace the situation. "The preparation week might be different but what a great experience to be on both sides of the pitch."

That is just one of a number of events on Cummins' horizon. There are hopes he will be loaned back to the Western Force for next season's Super Rugby campaign but in the meantime he will continue to settle in to the Japanese lifestyle. The flapping of wings to order chicken will occur with less regularity as he becomes accustomed to the culture and language but he will still remain the wonderfully unique Honey Badger.

It seemed fitting to end on whether Cummins had any regrets over the move, he always appears to be a jovial figure. When you swap a familiar home for an adventure, the reality of what you are undertaking only really hits home when you are sitting alone in your "new high-rise shoebox" in an unfamiliar environment.

Surprisingly, he said there was one thing he regretted but of course the answer catches you off guard. "I didn't bring the Shimano fishing reel I wanted to but I'm sure I can get it sent over."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
Tom Hamilton is the Associate Editor of ESPNscrum.

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