Former rugby star Ben Cohen says he would swap his World Cup glory with England for a degree and 9-5 career because he was left with no life skills when he retired.
Cohen, who lifted the Webb Ellis Trophy after helping defeat Australia in the 2003, has opened up about his struggles to adjust since hanging up his boots in 2011.
The 46-year-old ex-winger described quitting rugby as like leaving the services and admitted he felt that World Cup triumph ‘doesn’t really bring me anything’.
Cohen, who got engaged to his former Strictly Come Dancing partner Kristina Rihanoff in 2022, says adjusting to post-rugby life ‘on civvy street’ has been ‘hard’ – months after he told a court of the financial woes the cash-strapped couple faced.
His post-rugby activities have included setting up the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, a charity devoted to combating and raising awareness of bullying.
He has also appeared on various reality shows, including not just Strictly in 2013 but later The Jump, The Celebrity Chase and The Real Full Monty.
The father-of-three has now admitted he still asks himself ‘who am I?’, as he continues his adjustment to life outside rugby.
He and other members of England’s victorious World Cup squad have now teamed up again to launch a charity called Champions 2003, aimed at helping sportspeople prepare for new careers after retirement from competing.
Former international rugby star Ben Cohen, pictured playing for an England XV against the Barbarians at Twickenham in December 2023, has spoken of his regrets since retirement
The former winger, seen holding the Webb Ellis Trophy in November 2003 after helping England win the Rugby World Cup, now suggests he might have preferred an alternative career
Cohen got engaged to his former Strictly Come Dancing partner Kristina Rihanoff in 2022 – the couple, who have a daughter, are seen here at a London cocktail party in September 2017
Cohen told the Telegraph he was not the only one from that group who found it difficult to cope with no longer playing, after spending so long ‘as part of something so systematic’.
He described the rigid structures as a player as what times to get up and when to eat as being ‘no different to the services’.
He added: ‘Once you take that out, what do I do? And where do I go? Because I’ve been in an industry that says “yes” to you all of the time.’
And Cohen even spoke of his regrets about spending so long devoted to rugby even if winning the World Cup ‘meant everything’ at the time.
He added: ‘The bigger issue for me was that I just didn’t get a skill set or a life skill, and now I think, well, OK, winning a World Cup doesn’t really bring me anything.
‘It’s not like it’s a degree, you know. I probably wish I’d got a skill set and a steady job.’
He said the new Champions 2003 initiative would offer athletes ‘mental health support, to have therapy, and pathways into education, into jobs’ – adding that this was now more important to him than the World Cup and he hoped to ‘leave a legacy’.
Members of the squad including Cohen reunited last month in London to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their 20-17 win over Australia in the 2003 final.
Ben Cohen (left) helps celebrate a try scored by team-mate Jason Robinson (right) during England’s victory over hosts Australia in the 2003 World Cup final which his side won 20-17
Now Cohen (pictured) and other members of England’s victorious World Cup squad have launched a charity called Champions 2003, aimed at helping sportspeople prepare for new careers after retirement from competing
Earlier this year Cohen and Kristinoff placed their £1.75million home on the market, MailOnline revealed in September.
The five-bedroom home in Sywell, Northamptonshire, which was bought in 2016, was put up for sale just weeks after the former rugby star outlined their financial woes in court.
Cohen told of how he was ‘fighting to save his relationship and home’ after professional dancer Kristina, 47, was caught driving without insurance.
She was given six points on her licence after being caught behind the wheel of her £30,000 Audi Q3 in Northampton on April 4.
The pair, who share an eight-year-old daughter Melina, were said to be facing more potential legal battles after failing to submit accounts for a yoga studio which plunged almost £500,000 into the red.
Their money troubles developed during the Covid pandemic in 2020, which affected their fitness and wellbeing studio called Soo Yoga in Northampton.
The business struggled to make money during the pandemic, which Ben acknowledged while giving his testimony at Northampton Crown Court.
He said: ‘I get up every day and I fight not to lose everything – to lose my cars and my house and my relationship. I’m so overdrawn.
When questioned on how this was impacting his relationship he added: ‘We’re still living together. We’re in it financially.
Ben Cohen and Kristina Rihanoff are pictured here in April this year at a gala night for the show The Choir Of Man at the Arts Theatre in central London – they first met on Strictly in 2013
The pair were teamed up for the 11th series of Strictly in 2013, lasting for eight rounds
‘We’re in business together so the problem is that we opened the business before Covid and we got the worst severities of it and in all honestly this is just another problem for me to deal with.
‘I’ve got credit cards that are overdrawn. I’m overdrawn in both accounts. We have got a business debt because of Covid. It’s just another problem.’
The couple’s business struggles came to light after Ben laid the issues bare in court, as he admitted he had not renewed his partner’s car insurance details.
Kristina provided a more positive update on their relationship in November, posting on Instagram a photograph with her partner’s two daughters from his previous marriage to ex-wife Abby – adding the caption: ‘The Cohen Girls’.
