DID THE WIN AGAINST AMPTHILL GIVE THE TEAM COHESION?
“Getting there, definitely. We scored 64 points and we probably left four or five tries out there. Admittedly it was Ampthill’s second team out there, they have got the Saracens contingent to come in to that team. You have got to compare apples with apples haven’t you. The more you play the more cohesion you get. We have had a few lads come back late into pre-season, just carrying a few injuries. It was good to get them playing together, get all the du Preez’s out there. For a few reasons it was well worth the 80 minutes for us. It puts us in a pretty good space going into Northampton.
“17 handling errors, 12 by way of turnover. That was the big fix really. I was happy with creating the opportunities but against better teams you have to finish them like this weekend against Northampton.”
REVIEW OF THE RUGBY CUP AND THE NEW FORMAT
“I do like the format. Because of the number of games it allows you to build through the back-end. With the five games we have played we were able to have a look at some of our young players. If it was shaped it would be a bit like a U; we took a dip in the middle in terms of our mentality against Newcastle from which this group that played against Ampthill on Friday night picked it up. We started well against Bedford and showed some really good physicality. That was a young group; on paper that was a second team against a Leicester first team in the second game. They fronted up toe-to-toe physically so I was really happy with the progress those guys have made over the pre-season.”
RETURN OF COBUS WIESE
“He’s a brilliant personality to have around the place let alone a brilliant player on the field. In anyone’s squad it would be a massive boost having him back early. We are still missing a few, as everyone is. It didn’t look like he was missing a step against Ampthill. He has actually come back 6kg heavier. He is still relatively young at 26. Like the Currys he is one of those who if he gets injured he comes back fitter and stronger, more focused in terms of what he wants out of his game. He has been brilliant in terms of his voice but also his actions. It will be good to have him involved this weekend. It might be a step too far, not that I will be revealing anything to you guys about what the team selection looks like. It might be a step too far having been out for seven/eight months to start him. But we have got a few big, nasty South Africans in the back five who you can just swap in like-for-like. Ernst van Rhyn has been ripping it up for the last four weeks and both du Preezs are fit so we have got a plethora to pick from.”
MAIN FOCUSES TO GO ONE STEP FURTHER THIS SEASON AND WIN THE PREMIERSHIP
“Focus as is with every pre-season; bigger, fitter, faster, stronger. That is everyone’s modus operandi. You want to put a bit of muscle on, get a bit faster. We have looked at some global stats that came available to us. We compared some of our metrics to the likes of Toulouse, La Rochelle, Leinster and Saracens. Seeing what areas they were better than us at and also which areas we married up or dominant in ourselves. We were pretty happy in a lot of the things we profess to be, lean into, excite us. Those are the obvious areas around physicality, set-piece. We were way up there in the world with those. But we were definitely lacking in some of the areas which would allow us to be more effective in terms of scoring tries. We started to see us open up our game a bit at the backend of last year.
“We would like to back ourselves and not miss opportunities when they present themselves wherever they are on the field. That was always our philosophy; if it’s on it’s on. We never told the lads to play a number of phases or to minimise phases in our own half. We have been working on recognising and communicating around those opportunities when they do present themselves. They are the opportunities you have to take against the best teams; that was obvious from the final. Saracens took some lightning bolt moments against us, caught us unawares a bit of transition. You have got to be sharp and consistent for 80 minutes. Speed of ball, number of tries, effectiveness, all those things that lead to being a better attacking team.”
GEORGE FORD
“He gives you another way to win. South Africa’s way is one way to win and England haven’t been winning collisions that often or dominating at the set-piece but they have won games through strategy and real skilful execution off the foot. When we talk about evolving our game, yes we want to attack more but ultimately I don’t care if we win. It would be nice to have a few ways to win. George gives you that.
“I feel for him because he has worked so hard to get to where he is and get back in the team. He came back really strong for us. He got his opportunity with England and played unbelievably well yet it still doesn’t fall for him. What has he got to do? I guess he should have been named captain. I like Owen Farrell; he is a good leader and brilliant attacking fly-half. George can’t do any more by ways of game management and keeping the scoreboard ticking over. He can’t do any more, not after the Argentina game.”
IMPORTANCE OF A FAST START
“It is so important. We learnt that two years ago after the Lions tour. We were missing a few South Africans and I rotated early in the season. Through that rotation we didn’t find that cohesion or form. We lost a few games and gave ourselves too much ground to catch up. Last year the start put us in good stead. I don’t think it is about winning. It helps but certainly starting fast by ways of your standards and how you judge yourself in your own performance. You have to hit the ground running. Northampton are a team that can throw lightning bolts and attack unbelievably well. So we are going to have to be on our mettle defensively this weekend. We are expecting it to be levels up from what we have been playing at in recent weeks in terms of intensity. Northampton are a good team.
“All I have been doing is trying to get the lads on this season and rightly so. We did well and we have done well but it still wasn’t good enough. If you don’t look to improve you actually go backwards. There is no staying where you are in this. We go for a bit more by ways of the compound effect. Economists say 10% improvement to stay where you are so we need to be 15% better which equates to 0.075% per day. You have got to do it every day.”
INJURY UPDATE
Luke Cowan-Dickie: “A bit more patient with Luke. He is training well and done a lot of elements of training. He is a ball of energy. Neuropraxia- it is a longer, slower rehabilitation with nerves compared to muscles or tendons. We are just waiting until we get past a certain threshold where it would be safe for him to play and not re-injure on one of his metrics. Every other metric is looking strong. That’s positive really, it’s just not as positive as Cobus.”
Ben Curry- week two is a stretch, week four is more realistic
Telusa Veainu- back training today, took a knock to his knee
Luke James- has had an operation on his shoulder, like a dislocated shoulder that ended up being really loose. Needed all the muscles tightening up, similar to Dan du Preez at the end of last season
One knock picked up against Ampthill- dead leg for Tom O’Flaherty
Just one serious injury picked up in the Prem Rugby Cup period
OTHER NEWS
Byron McGuigan has had a big impact- keen eye for opportunities in attack and defence, works with all of the back three
Animation and communication from the outside in, not just be what you say but how you look, for example shipping the ball wide when there is massive space on the outside
Short-sided games- not all session but giving players more pictures to see, pattern recognition
Shift in philosophy- dare the players to fail and get it wrong and be alright with that, review calculated risk-taking
Players want to grow their games, enthusiastic to grow
Mental work, as Eddie Jones highlighted to Alex a few years ago, is a slow burn, slower than he thought it would be
Mental skills programme implemented this year which is most specific and specialised Alex has witnessed in other environments- most teams have sports psychologists and neuroscientists, but only one person to service 45 people, one size does not fit all thought, team of skilled people assembled to help individuals and groups of individuals with their specific skillsets mainly around communication, education and mentoring, four or five people on board, make programme specific to each player’s needs
Teams that have spent a lot of time together, grown organically through that process communicate more effectively
If we want to increase the rate of cohesion improve communication
The mental skills programme is years in the making
Always thinking about how everything can aid performance
Generally Premiership standard spikes post-World Cup, fewer teams and fewer games means more time with best players, product of the Premiership is improved, most competitive league in the world
Planned every week and weekend of the season
The need for a couple of games during Six Nations period with no Premiership games and not qualifying for semi-finals of Prem Rugby Cup, couple of well-deserved weeks off and then five weeks to prepare for business end of season
More phases with quicker ball- how the best attacking teams in the world work
Loved how South Africa have played at the World Cup- similar style/ gameplan to how we play, couldn’t take eyes off South Africa vs Ireland game
Comentarios