Gabriel Ibitoye interview: Nothing will match experience of playing rugby in Israel

It feels appropriate that Gabriel Ibitoye’s CV has so many twists and turns given the Bristol Bears winger’s fast feet led so many defenders on a merry dance last season.

From Harlequins, to France with Agen and Montpellier before pitching up at Tel Aviv Heat playing in the Rugby Europe Super Cup, via a spell training at Cobham Rugby Club and now Bristol Bears, Ibitoye has packed a lot into his 26 years.

For the first time in a long time, Ibitoye feels settled in the South West, which is reflected in an outstanding campaign last season in which he finished top of virtually every attacking metric.

The story of how Ibitoye, who was considered one of the brightest English prospects, came to play in Israel has previously been documented. A combination of poor decisions and poorer luck saw Ibitoye leave Harlequins in 2020 for an ill-fated stint in the Top 14 where he made nine appearances before returning to England, clubless.

Then in 2021 he got a call from Demetri Catrakilis, a former team-mate at Harlequins who was coaching in Tel Aviv. Ibitoye, who has always had a degree of wanderlust, jumped at the chance. “I just got a lot of injuries when I was out in France,” Ibitoye said.

“I wanted to take time off. I came back home and Demetri saw I was out of contract and said ‘do you want to come and play with us and get your fitness levels back up? If you get an offer from somewhere else then we’d be happy to let you go but if you can add to the team we would love to have you.’ I thought I would happily come as I knew him personally and we got on really well together.”

For a player who was once in an England camp as one of Eddie Jones’ apprentices, it might have felt a pretty big comedown to be playing alongside part-time players in a league with fixtures in Tbilisi and Moscow. However, Ibitoye insists he loved his time there and opened his eyes to a different side of rugby.

“I will always say that will be the best rugby experience I have ever had,” Ibitoye said. “There were a lot of guys on different rugby journeys. Mine was a bit different as well. Different levels of rugby. Some boys were playing club rugby in South Africa. Then you had Fijian, Namibian, Scottish internationals playing with them.

“It was good helping the guys who didn’t have exposure to professional rugby and learning off the guys who had been very top and exploring different cities. We had coaches who just wanted to help us and put us out there. I even got to be coached by and played with former team-mates, which was an unbelievable experience.”

Due to the country’s strict Covid regulations, Ibitoye spent a relatively short amount of time in Israel itself, but the move served its purpose. He signed for Bristol in 2022 and last season broke out in a major way. According to stats from Opta, Ibitoye beat the most defenders (73), made the most offloads (24) and gained the most metres (1452) of any player in the Premiership, although he was quick to downplay any individual accolades.

“I have never looked at stats really but I saw at it at the end of the season when I was on holiday and thought that’s pretty cool,” Ibitoye said. “I think that it goes down to a lot of work that the guys inside me do. I was just on the end of things most of the time. It was not so much my work but the teamwork.”

Ibitoye’s form was a prime reason why Bristol came so close to gatecrashing the top four after a poor first half to the season. As much as Ibitoye’s highlights reels of swerves and sidesteps made the highlight reels hum, Lam says the biggest growth in his game has been in the less glamorous duties of fielding high balls and defensive spacing.

Yet while Bristol do play to a particular template under Lam, Ibitoye, who grew up watching Super Rugby, has the licence to be the free spirit on the field that reflects his personality. “That’s how I grew up playing,” Ibitoye said.

“Now we have to fall into the system because ultimately we want 15 players on the pitch who know what each other are doing but also with the freedom to create things. Most teams attack and defend in the same way. No one is going to come out on top unless they do something different. So it is just working with the guys next to you and trying to find solutions to break things down to create stuff.”