Alex Sanderson’s media session on Tuesday (17th May) covered a variety of topics including an evening with England head coach Eddie Jones, Manu Tuilagi’s place in the England training squad and the desire to end the season strongly. Here are the best of the quotes from the press conference.
ENDING THE SEASON STRONGLY
“It has been really competitive this year and I have revelled in that, and it has kept us in the fight since Christmas because it has been so close. It means you have got to be on it every weekend as is the case this weekend. That is the more difficult task with holidays on the horizon you have to try to keep them focused in on the very real threat the opposition around you pose these last two weeks and what we have got to play for on one front but to some degree as we have spoken about in the past what some of these lads are leaving behind.
“The players who are remaining want to be in the main competition, those young lads who came out to France who didn’t play and had a great time want to have that opportunity to play against the best opposition. And those guys that are leaving care enough about all the lads that they have played with and lived with to leave the club in a good position.”
MANU TUILAGI
“He has been on great form, he has played longer minutes than he has played since my time here because he has been playing 80 minute stints. John Clarke (head of performance at the RFU) came down on Monday to meet individually with our S&C guys and the players (Tom, Manu and Bevan).
“Eddie saw them all individually and I caught up with Eddie on Monday night for a bit of food so I don’t think communication couldn’t be any better, it is certainly the best it has been with England regards to the care of the players so we are in a good place in that regard. I am as confident as I could ever be that he is going to get looked after.”
GEORGE FORD
“When he comes in and when he steps in he has got some shoes to fill in regards to AJ’s. And they are pretty big shoes but he is more than capable to fill them. We have already looked at the planning of pre-season and within that with Jonny (Hill) coming in and a changing of the guard in regard of our leadership group there is a necessity to re-address who we are as a different group and on the back of that what our purposes are and what are processes are. That is quite an extensive and robust process, you can’t do that over a day or two, it takes weeks and it takes those people being present.
“Jonny Hill and George Ford are two of those people who need to be present so for that reason alone it would be great to have him because it means we could crack on with that earlier and understand what it looks like on the field a bit earlier because the process has to follow the purpose and our identity. It would make it easier for that.
“There is a school of psychology that states that there is no truly altruistic action, that every action you do is for a selfish motivation in some form, even sub-consciously, so I will have to say sub-consciously I probably do want him here more often than not because he is a great leader, he is almost like a coach. But if you were to ask me in the cold light of day I want him to play for England. If he is still pushing at that level, if he is still looking to improve his game then we only get a better George Ford when he is back, a more motivated George Ford, not someone who is waiting out the twilight years of his career. He has still got years left yet so we definitely want him in.”
JONNY HILL
“I get the odd text on Saturday night at 2 o’clock in the morning when he is out with Flats which is nice. There is a degree of psychological safety net already when they think they can text me when they are drunk. So that is perhaps the best way to gauge someone’s excitement, I know they are buzzing about coming up here.
“Our head of medical here has been touching base with them without being too invasive. So he is aware of where they are at in terms of rehabilitation and as soon as we can get him in, like the week after the season finishes we will. We will get him in, check him, send him away with a programme if we need to. Without stepping on toes we feel we are as informed as we can be.
“Eddie keeps his cards pretty close to his chest, I was out with him last night and we were talking about Jonny, about what a good player he is and what a good lad he is. I think if he is fit he will go (to Australia), I do. Eddie is building now, he is a year away. It is so important to get some of the major leaders of your squad there for that building process just as the person he is if he is going to be a leader there which I am sure he will be they need him there right from the start.”
CONVERSATIONS WITH EDDIE JONES
“I am lucky to have a pretty decent relationship with him. We now meet up and the conversation is one of two and throw, he brings his notepad out. He is keen to know what we are getting on with. We discuss how to bring a team together, both of us have got that challenge. We discussed the merits of the science and the art behind that team cohesion and what it gives you on the field. We do some work with a neuroscientist and he was interested to hear where that was going.
“Eddie is one of the best people who has a very good understanding of where the game is going, constantly projecting through analysis and some of his own interpretation of watching a vast number of games fashions and styles of play that are going to come to the fore. He has good advice for someone like myself who has nowhere near scratched the surface of what it is to be a good DOR, he has been in a lot of different environments. There are certain challenges that I have faced this year in and around discipline and how you can create a good off-field environment that will translate into good discipline on the field so that was a big talking point about standards.”
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