Azam revels in school of hard knocks

Olivier Azam is swinging from a rope 20 feet up a wall, and it is unclear who is in most peril – the 18st Gloucester and France hooker, or those of us looking up at him. He is wearing a broad smile, but that is not necessarily a good sign either.

We are in an indoor climbing centre, in a warehouse in the docks area of Gloucester. Once upon a time, a man possessed of Azam's beefy forearms would have adorned them with a tattoo of an anchor, knocked back a tin of spinach and set off for the high seas. Now they get their kicks scaling artificial rock faces, by way of a change from the routine stints of weight training.

Do not be deceived, though. The man they nickname "Zed" is the last word in old-fashioned front-row aggression, even now when he is taking advantage of the big boys' toys that modern rugby footballers get to play with. Last season, Azam was banned from playing by the Rugby Football Union for five weeks. "For fighting," he helpfully clarifies, with a shrug and a nod as he makes a safe touchdown on terra firma.

The incident against Newcastle at Kingsholm would have ended with the suspension had not the Falcons' director of rugby, Rob Andrew, accused Azam of calling his opponent, Epeli Taione, a "black bastard". At the time it seemed thoroughly implausible that, even in the heat of a brawl, Azam, French-born to a Moroccan father, would have said such a thing, or even been heard saying it. The charge, at length, was thrown out and Andrew apologised, although in the way of these matters, it got less publicity than the original spat.

The reaction of the Gloucester public was to take the fiery Azam even closer to their hearts. "I had very good support from people round the city," he said. "They were stopping me in the street and shaking my hand. What has really pleased me is that it is has kept going. I'm very close to the Gloucester people, and it gives me motivation every week. Rugby's important in this town, you are not a marketing product or something. In Gloucester you are a player, and also a man, and that's what I like."

With Azam, 28, firmly planted between the England props Phil Vickery and Trevor Woodman, Gloucester have charged to the top of the Zurich Premiership. On a website messageboard, Gloucester fans liken Azam to a "crazed ox". All very bovine, alongside Vickery, the self-styled "raging bull", but it is a genuinely powerful combination, and all the more valuable now that Woodman is out for 12 weeks with a neck injury.

"When I arrived here [in 2000]," said Azam, "Vicks was not so important in the squad. We were both a bit young for the front row. What I learned to appreciate is his character. He's a very good example; he works very hard every session. That's what he's given me, the attitude to like training.

"We are a good combination, but also completely opposite because of our character. He sometimes has to get me round the neck and say 'just calm down'." This last is delivered with a smile. Azam, who professes acute admiration for a French invader in another sport, Eric Cantona, admits to being nothing other than a fiercely competitive individual. "Anyway," he adds, "when you are a hooker, sometimes you have to wake up people around you. Rugby is a tough game and you are not allowed to relax for one minute, or you lose your own battle against the opposition." Zed and the art of discipline maintenance. Last week, against London Irish, Azam picked up his first yellow card of the season. "Just for pulling a jersey. Yeah, technical," he says with an almost apologetic air.

His temper will be tested afresh in the back-to-back Heineken Cup matches against Perpignan, kicking off at Kingsholm this afternoon. Azam says that he would never have left Montferrand – another club bound by rugby to the community – had it not been for Gloucester's then director of rugby, the former French captain, Philippe Saint-André. But when Nigel Melville took over in March, Azam was happy to sign on the dotted line for two more years, and he welcomed too the appointment of Dean Ryan, as coach in the summer.

"I don't think I did change anything radically," said Azam. "I just tried to improve and cancel a part of my game which wasn't, maybe, very useful for me and for the team. I try now to be more focused on what is effective and not be so disorganised like I maybe used to do, as a French guy." I wouldn't like to make national stereotypes, I say. "No, but it can be said like that," he insists. "I think Dean is very clever in the way he thinks about rugby and the way he manages the players in the squad. We all keep very focused."

Azam came off the bench against England in France's Six Nations victory in March, and toured Argentina and Australia, but was out of the squad for the autumn internationals. "I know I'm in the mix, but the coaches think I'm not playing good enough, so... obviously I just have to play better. It's difficult, when you have nobody coming to see what you are trying to achieve. For me, the Heineken Cup against a French club is a good opportunity. I think one of the French selectors will be in Perpignan."

So too will his parents, travelling from Tarbes, and a host of friends. Azam and his wife, Sarah, are content living in Cheltenham. "At the beginning I only signed for one year. When I got good enough to speak English I decided to stay one more year. Now I'm here for four. I think it's a big part of your career, four years." And Olivier Azam is a big part of Gloucester, in every sense.