GEORGE FORD
“I haven’t spoken to Steve Borthwick about George. He is obviously very busy and this is the process he wants to continue with going forward. I can understand that otherwise you would have to communicate with all 12 DOR’s once or twice a week. If I had to do that it would take too much of my time and resources. I spoke to Richard Hill as I have done a couple of times. Because of the way he played at the weekend which was in parts the George Ford we know and love, the brilliance of the variety of attack and options and prowess he had on the field. They wanted to see him in camp this week which automatically rules him out for the weekend. I don’t know if there is a slim chance he could be available for us this weekend. I am holding onto some small thin thread that he might be released back to us on Saturday night. Whether or not we select him or have him on the bench is down to us. There is nothing concrete on that, it’s just me and pipe dreams. I will ask. They have training Tuesday-Thursday and they are contracted to Saturday night. He does need the game time, but our opinion doesn’t come into it. I have tried to put myself in Steve Borthwick’s shoes. If I were Steve I would let him have some more game time.”
HAS ALEX TALKED TO GEORGE ABOUT COMING BACK TO PLAY THIS WEEKEND?
“No because it’s all a hypothetical and a waste of energy when you are talking in those circles. I want him to focus on getting into the England team and the best chance of that is training well this week and being available on the performance he put in which was a good performance. That’s what we spoke about on the home on the way home on Sunday.”
KICKING DUTIES
“We are all aware of George’s kicking percentage prowess on the floor and out of hand when he is in flow and form and he is back to his best in terms of game time. He is not a supercar where you can just spend your money and get the machine. It’s a bit more complex than that with human beings. On the back of that metaphor we have kicking competitions in the week. We obviously have technical kicking sessions during the week. As the week goes on we go down to the opposition ground and we will have kicking sessions and competitions there in terms of the feel and flow as well as the wind at that ground. We then have a discussion about who is best placed to kick for the weekend given due process not just from a perception of how good he was in the past and will be again, where he is right now. Through that due process which is multi-layered Rob is kicking better so it’s decision they have come to along with our kicking coach Warren Spragg. I have no doubt he will kick his way into a position of authority moving forward but at present with only 120 minutes of top-class rugby he is not where he wants to be.”
SIGNING OF SAM BEDLOW
“The process- we wanted a robust, quality centre who could play a number of positions but primarily inside centre who would complement the age demographic of the squad and epitomise the underlying ethos of what we are trying to build here: fabric of the north. Fan of the club, from Rossendale, his brother Joe is here. In some aspects it’s a fairy-tale story coming home. For us it’s a massive boon because he has gone away and grown coming back a much better player with the experience that he has had at Bristol under Pat Lam. He fits a lot of the gaps within the type of person and player we needed to grow with this side which is relatively young and has years in it. He ticks all those boxes.”
INJURY UPDATE
Akker van der Merwe- pending tomorrow, training well, could be fit for the weekend
Tommy Taylor- eased back into action after concussion, hopefully will be available this weekend, been extra careful after it was his second concussion
Bevan Rodd- tweaked an ankle, had a scan last night but is fine and up for selection this weekend
Nick Schonert- suffered shock to spinal cord (not as bad as it seems!), at present symptom free, hopefully available this weekend
OTHER NEWS
Brian Noble has been in, wants to get back into coaching, worked with Jamie Langley and Paul Deacon before, probably going to come back, good to get him this week ahead of Saracens game
George Ford has worked hard on his upper body during his rehab, beefed up in that area
Discipline has been much better this season, but last two weeks hasn’t been good enough (number of yellow cards and a red card in last two games), “how you do anything is how you do everything”, probably six points better in the league than we are right now
Still needs to sit down with Manu, trying to find ways to keep him, always a chance of keeping him, what we needed to do first was bring in a player like Sam Bedlow, a chance we can keep Manu and sign Bedlow, conversations to be had, supposed to go for a steak with Manu today to talk about his future but he is training with England
Priority has been based more around retention than recruitment, spoke about importance of new contracts announced a couple of weeks ago
Spoke about the importance of the home crowd on Sunday against Saracens and how much of a difference home crowd has made for us this season
Former Special Forces Wayne Hoyle in this week to speak to the players, comes in monthly if not twice a month, works as a consultant, club has brought in various different people from different backgrounds to add to the environment especially in weeks like this where the club feel they can have greater impact
It isn’t just another week, it’s a big game so enjoy it
Thanks once again Kieran.😎