FUTURE OF THE DU PREEZ TWINS
“We are trying to be on the front foot with all negotiations. If I read something in the paper and if the other coaches haven’t caught up with them, then I will sit down with them and ask what is the craic. It is different with the du Preez’s because they are under contract next year so we would have to give permission to allow even a proposal. Whereas there are lots of other players in every club that are out of contract. We have shelved it all until the Premiership Rugby Cup games [next month] just to focus on this weekend against Bath.
“There have been approaches [from French clubs] but they are not allowed to put anything on the table unless we let them. There are approaches all the time; you heard about Jonny Hill last year and under-the-table offers for George Ford. It happens all the time. This is nothing new; some of it you hear which is publicised and some you don’t. It is not the first time I have had to have this nature of conversation. It doesn’t get any easier because we are pouring our heart and souls into this place. When people don’t want to be part of that journey it is a little bit soul-destroying at times. If you have got a proper relationship with these lads, when you know their families, understating the finite nature of their career, then you can compare that to the amount of money they are being offered and what it will do for their families for the rest of their lives you can empathise with their decision. We are not about to let anybody walk without conveying to them how much we want them and how much they mean to us. That is easy because it is the truth but neither can you ignore the life-changing sums of money these guys are being offered. It has happened before with Faf [de Klerk], Lood [de Jager] and Akker [van der Merwe] and all the cards were laid on the table and ultimately it was done for the right reasons. Money is never the right reason but family is. I have not liked it but understood it.
“I would never pressurise a player into a life-changing decision [on their future]. It could be life-changing for the worse, certainly in terms of lifestyle and we know that with people who have left who have wanted to come back. It is not our style to do that. You want resolutions and as quick as possible because it is almost the not knowing that creates the anxiety. Once you understand where your future lies, be it bad or good, you can get your head around it, make a plan and get on with it. There is a need at this point in time at the end of this six-game stretch Premiership stretch to focus on what is important and that is the weekend. You say I want to deal with this but not now and put it back a few weeks when you have the time and headspace to do it.”
FUTURE OF RAFFI QUIRKE
“We always take medical advice and an examination into account when we sign someone up. We get that written up so we are under no uncertain terms as to whether his injuries are chronic or just bad luck. That is different for every person. If someone is seen to be injury prone which you could say with Raffi, not the nature of them because they have all been different, but the fact that he has been injured that much you could go one of two ways; he is injury prone because he so powerful the way he plays the game in which case you could make a contract more performance biased. There are no players who want to live off handouts either; they understand the salary cap and how with a good team you have to fit everyone in it. In those kind of situations you can make it performance based so that he can accrue the money he would attain if he was starting every week.
“Or you can look at it the other way that he has had his run of bad luck and he is due a good couple of years of back-to-back games and longer spells on the field. You have seen in the press about Harlequins coming in for him. Why wouldn’t you want him? He would be a great fit for any team, who would be lucky to have him. I have front-footed it with him and asked him if there is smoke here and should I be worried? He said no and has told his agent, like with Tom Curry and same process we are going through with Jonny Hill, that he wants to get back on the field, get playing well and come to us in a strong position so you don’t feel like we are getting you on the cheap and we understand the player we are getting at that point in time. He is not going to entertain anyone until he entertains us. He will sit down with us and if that moment in time he is playing well, and if he feels we are not valuing him financially, then that is another discussion. That is one I push onto people with the calculators who understand how much money we have in the cap and what the value is to the club. I never get involved with the financials as you lose integrity and it becomes something different as opposed to the relationship you had with the player and the person.”
Contract negotiations with him put on pause until he is back fit and playing again
SIGNING OF TADHG MCELROY
“The deal came about because Tommy [Taylor] is injured and out until January. Luke [Cowan-Dickie] is with England and Ethan Caine is carrying an abdominal strain so we were really bare at hooker aside from Harry Thompson, who is a great prospect, and two 18-year-olds. You can’t run with those three young lads at the top level. They have still got to learn to play men’s rugby. We searched the world for someone who was available, who could slot in and work with us, who we knew by way of character and could add to the environment. I was really pleased that we have analysts like Hugh Jenner who do the scouting, get the stats and videos for us to thin slice from 30 hookers down to three or four. Tadhg’s name came up and I said yes as I know him. Then it was discussed around the coaching group and we agreed that he was the man to be able to step in and assimilate all that we needed him to take on quickly. We know that because of the quality he has. He is a good set-piece hooker; good scrummager and thrower. We need that, we are top in the stats in those departments thanks to Luke Cowan-Dickie. We needed someone who could continue that. He has been the second choice hooker at Ulster for a while, from Connacht via Bristol. I coached him at Saracens.
“This is a guy who has been to a lot of environments and never had a bad word spoken about him in any environment. He has had to adapt to different systems and structures quickly so there is evidence there he can do that. He is a great bloke. The conversation we had centred around the long term, opportunity. He has been with his partner for a long time and he wants to do what is best for her. When she is happy, he plays well. He needed to know there was an opportunity here long term which there is. We are in this process of signing up players for next year and hooker is one of those spots where we have to make some decisions and filling that spot with the money assigned from the salary cap. All of that is going to happen during the Premiership Rugby Cup and whilst Tadhg is in house we get to see him first-hand. It works for him and us. I am really happy to have him with us for the rest of the season. He has just slotted in really well.”
Brought in using injury dispensation money from Tommy Taylor injury
INJURY UPDATE
George Ford- out of the club’s hands whether he is available this weekend, has gone into England camp, needs to keep his face with England having missed out on the summer tour, wants to play at next World Cup, all of that rolled up in motivations to stay in the country, miles off what French clubs can offer but whole package if he can see his future to the World Cup with us as his club, has to fit for every reason, better for him and for us long term that he has gone into camp, would have been training at 80% volume if he was training with us this week, had assurances that he will be training at 60% with England due to intensity, if he trains really well this week there is an outside chance he could be available for us this weekend
Raffi Quirke- very close to a return. Strength in his wrists is there and he is running, need to get more range in him so that if were to fall on it again he would not suffer same injury again, just days away now
Bevan Rodd- a couple of weeks away
Nick Schonert- a week or two after Bevan Rodd
WillGriff John- another two weeks
Arron Reed (hip pointer) and Jean-Luc du Preez (head) should be available this weekend
Tommy Taylor- out until January with a slipped disc, did not need surgery but period of rehabilitation
OTHER NEWS
Still no update on Jonny Hill, who is fully fit and training
Northampton were super sharp in the first half last week, they put huge effort in off the ball which was a huge contrast to us, challenged the players on “collective effort”, we reacted poorly, could have prepared the players better for fatigue and disappointing moments, collectively could have worked harder and done basics better, during first half we spiralled and compounded errors and penalties, 30 mins of spiralling doesn’t make us a bad team, we have played good rugby this season, we can work harder in defence and the kicking game, perhaps mentality and preparation weren’t quite right, we could have prepped better but also communicated better
When reflecting on a game like the Northampton one, you can completely sweep it under the carpet and throw the tape away or you can pour over every clip and analyse everything to get an anxiety spike to get a reaction but Al has gone for the space in between those two options to get optimal learning
Preview of Bath- Finn Russell has been very good so far this season, interesting to see how Bath replace likes of Ollie Lawrence and Ben Spencer, who are unavailable this weekend
Not engaged in contract talks yet with Luke Cowan-Dickie as he is now with England, back playing well and in good form, if he add any inkling of moving he would have told Al, understand what he wants up until the next World Cup, real priority to keep him
Recruitment- always in the back of your mind where you need to recruit, you’re not looking at everyone all the time but if you are playing a team and they have a position you are looking at and a player plays really well then you go to the analysis to deep dive on that player
Training has been good this week, likes of Ben Bamber, Joe Carpenter, Arron Reed have stepped up this week in terms of leadership and being vocal, Rob du Preez led well and will be captain this week
Simplification of the gameplan this week, going back to what we do well and the fundamentals of our group, sometimes you can layer too many things on
You try and pull and pluck the one or two heartstrings that have the biggest effect, the big needle movers
Arron Reed has grafted and evolved his game, found a way to get to the ball and get plenty of carries, Al said to Arron that he believed in him
Waisea Nayacalevu- in terms of settling in and getting the best out of him, failure on Al’s part, we need to do more to bring him in off the field and that will help flow onto the field, still only five weeks in though so put things into perspective and still loads of matches for him to bed in, could we have done it better yes
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