REFLECTIONS ON WIN OVER NEWCASTLE
“Lots of good stuff and some which will not be good enough against the two teams we play in the next couple of weeks. It was positive as there were a lot of positive things. We have remained grounded with some of the fixes from last weekend being the focus for the next games. Occasionally we could have executed better in the opposition 22 and occasions where we could have been more physical in our own 22. We look to some of those more isolated instances and talked about our standards and not letting them drop just because of the scoreline.”
TOM CURRY’S RETURN
“That was probably the biggest positive from the win over Newcastle. He was energetic, youthful, enthusiastic, as was Ben. Talking to Tom after the game he said he felt 18 again. He obviously has to get his head in the right spot but we have been working on freeing him up over the last few weeks. With the help of you guys [journalists] I feel we have got there, just letting him play. He seems in a really good state of mind and he has been buzzing around all week again. So we are hoping to carry that energy through to Northampton and into England camp if he is selected.
“It is so good to have him back. Tom Curry is back! He showed that on Friday. His double efforts were phenomenal. 18 tackles, a couple of turnovers and that is just 60 minutes of rugby. All that physical intensity that we know from him was there in spades. That is truly because he has his head in the right place. There is still more to come from him.
“There will be more management of him for the rest of his career but not dramatically so. He will still be present. Tom will do every rep of every second of every session; that is how he would get himself right for the weekend. The challenge was for him not to do that but still be as physically intense as he was at the weekend which is where we have got to. That is why Friday night was a success for him.”
GEORGE FORD
“I have had to promise him I will not do a ‘Richard Wigglesworth’ on him, retire him early and stick him in the coaching team because he is good enough and he is going to be a great coach. I have been asking him to review and preview the games so whilst all the other players concentrate on the game he has been watching games for the opposition the week after, coming up with a one-pager which is absolutely spot on. It is aligned with the five other coaches who do the work so we can watch all the area. We amalgamate all that knowledge and getting in that summary for George and how it aligns with the player point of view. It is really rewarding to know that we are aligned, seeing the same thing in terms of strategy, tactics and mentality. It has been a good experience and I have enjoyed it. I think he wants to get back playing and he is very close now. You do it [help out with coaching] just not to the same degree because you want to be a player, not a coach. With him not playing he has wanted to contribute.”
PREVIEW OF NORTHAMPTON GAME
“They are the reigning champions so that is always a motivation going into a game like this. They beat us in this same fixture last year when we were ahead and we had quite a strong hold on the game. We feel like we let it slip, all credit to them though. They do what they do, they turn the tables and they are able to have an extended purple patch where they are seemingly constantly on the attack. We have addressed that and want to put that right. What we have been digging into the last few weeks is just understanding our own internal drivers. I have asked the players to come up with some pictures that represent the things that excite, motivate and are important to them personally. We have created a collage of them. We want them to be able to speak about them in front of the whole group and be vulnerable. We will probably talk about in on Thursday. Family is a big one, a few girlfriends, the Premiership trophy, kids, couple of dogs! We have put them up in the changing rooms and we will put them on the pegs. I hope to explore them more in the next few weeks so we understand what is driving us. You are not just playing for yourself but also playing for reasons of other people. It starts with understanding what drives you.”
TOM ROEBUCK
“He is a compulsive note taker. He comes across as pretty care-free, relaxed and easy going but things matter deeply to him. He takes on feedback and information, writes it down and works hard on it. You can see that in the evolution of his game from aerial threat to aerial and decent carrier to someone who can catch it in the air, run through traffic and now beat people as well. He has added all those layers to his game and that is an international player. He is a threat in every aspect.”
JOE CARPENTER
“Emotion is always there. It is better to address it and understanding what kind of a motivation it is having on them. There is no neutral or anything in the middle; it is either going to positively affect them or negatively. I think in the case of Joe missing out on the England minicamp it negatively affected him so the week after the Gloucester game we tried to take that away. He had a game that wasn’t up to his standards against Gloucester, some decisions that weren’t usual to him. Him taking that away he then played brilliantly against Newcastle. That is a sign of a good player; they never have consecutive poor performances. He is a really good player.”
WILL ADDISON
“Both the centres we signed over the summer have added in different ways in Waisea Nayacalevu and Will. We are sharing the game time between the two of them. Will is like having another coach on the field. Because of the nature of the injuries he has had he had that time to back away from the game and look at it from more of a helicopter, outside perspective. It has given him a knowledge, as well as his experience which allows him to communicate really well with the young players. We needed that because we have quite a young back three so having someone out there who can channel and focus them is great for us. He is a nice lad.”
INJURY UPDATE
George Ford- will not be available next weekend but he is back training next week, he cannot do full week of training quite yet, club’s policy is players only play when they have full week of training, about 10 days off
Jean-Luc du Preez- still not there this week, make sure he is in a good place, no risks taken on the head, stiff neck so could be that is giving him headaches, seeing a specialist doctor tomorrow (Wednesday)
Arron Reed- could come through this week, yet to make a call on that
Nick Schonert- likely to be back back-end of Premiership Cup, worst case back for Leicester at start of December when Premiership returns after November break
WillGriff John- recovering from torn bicep, best-case scenario back for Bath game or start of Prem Cup
OTHER NEWS
Jonny Hill- still no update, he is fully training and good to go but we need to get an answer so we have a timeline for when he will be back available, hope to see him in action in the next four or five weeks
Preparing for what can be a ‘tumble-dryer effect’ at Franklins Gardens against Northampton, prepping for worst-case scenarios so that the players are ready for anything, got to be prepared to go to some dark places, Northampton will not lose confidence after a loss given the calibre of team they are, there will probably be a spike from them physically this week, we have to be ruthless and in the right head space this Friday
Not allowed to talk about England’s training squad despite correspondence with England, those players in that 36-man squad for the Autumn Internationals will not be available for the Bath game next weekend, at the start of the season there were general discussions with Steve Borthwick about all the players who are on the England radar, but as you get closer to selection for the Autumn it becomes more focused, Ben and Tom Curry would have been in minicamp last week if they had been playing, Borthwick let them stay with us which was a smart move to allow them prep and play against Newcastle, some are wider conversations with fringe players and some are specific around specific things he wants from certain players
Still no further clarity on England hybrid contracts and he would like more clarity because a few of our players are in the mix for that and it has ramifications on our ability to keep them on board, still some delays in the minutiae of the agreement which will be sorted but may take some time
With the number of games in the season now any run of two or three games is vitally important, these next two games are best barometer of where we are as a team up to this point, we have had to rotate a lot early in the season due to injuries and concussions
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