All Black legend John Kirwan, who also coached Italy, reveals how he aims to make Japan more successful on the international stage, despite their relative size disadvantage.

By that stage Bath fans were deeply frustrated by the sharp decline in the club’s fortunes after a period in which they had dominated the English game, winning 10 domestic cup finals from 1984 to 1996. So frustrated, in fact, that they were calling for the heads of Andy Robinson, newly installed as coach, and his player-coach assistant, Jon Callard.

Callard remembers it well: “There was a ‘Robinson and Callard Out’ campaign, and I’ll never forget after the defeat by Richmond. As the crowd left the Rec, one bloke shouted at us: ‘You bloody pair, we’ve spent £700 on trips to France, and we want our money back’.”

The turning point, according to Nicol, was a crisis meeting in the week before they beat Pau 20-14. Even so, Bath arrived in Bordeaux for the final as overwhelming underdogs against Brive, who were not only the reigning European champions — they had smashed Leicester a year earlier in the final in Cardiff — but who also had arrived to defend their title after edging out the aristocrats of French rugby, Toulouse, in the semi-finals.

Victor Ubogu, the Bath tighthead prop who symbolised their defiance during a match-turning seven-scrum siege on their own line early in the second half, says the side’s self-belief never wavered, especially as they had already won at home against Brive in the pool rounds. “What everyone forgets is that Bath had never lost a final, and many of us in that team were part of that culture,” he says.

The Bath players were all struck by the sizzling atmosphere generated in the 37,000-capacity stadium, with the 7,000 travelling visiting fans battling gamely to be heard among the overwhelmingly French throng. Nicol was aware of the tensions generated by the fighting that had occurred in the pool round between Brive and Pontypridd, including a vicious bar-room brawl. “The Stade Lescure was being redeveloped for the soccer World Cup, so we had to change in a school just behind the ground, and there was an incredibly long tunnel down which both teams had to walk side by side,” he says. “I remember turning around and looking at the two massive packs separated by a line of stewards, all about 5ft 3in, and I had a little chuckle. I thought of delivering a few stirring words, but decided against it because things might have kicked off, given the trouble between Brive and Pontypridd.”

Considering the quality of their backs, Brive, who had a comfortable 15-6 half-time lead thanks to the goalkicking of Christophe Lamaison, surprised Bath with the sterility of their tactics when they had the English side trapped in their own 22 after the break. “Their scrum-half, Philippe Carbonneau, kept looking to the Brive coach for direction and he kept saying, ‘Go for the scrum’,” says Nicol. Ubogu says that it broke Brive, not Bath. “Ronnie Regan, Dave Hilton and I knew that if we were driven over, it was game over, and on the seventh scrum I said, ‘We’ve got to drive them off the ball’. We did it, and won a penalty, but we were shattered. Then I looked at their scrum, and they were in bits. It was the turning point.”

Bath came back with a try, Dan Lyle and Jeremy Guscott making inroads before Guscott put Callard over. The drama was not over. An Alain Penaud drop goal and a Callard penalty pushed Brive out to 18-16 before Callard struck the winning penalty 80 seconds into stoppage time. Bath had one last scare. Nicol fumbled; from the scrum Lisandro Arbizu missed a point-blank drop goal, but Bath held on for the most famous English club win on foreign soil. Their celebrations went on long into the night in a Mexican bar in Bordeaux, but not before they had stunned their supporters, and Brive’s, by wandering into a McDonald’s for their celebration dinner.

Guscott takes up the story: “There was a mix-up with the post-match dinner, so we pulled in for Big Macs in the city centre — the look on the faces of the supporters as we came in with the cup was priceless. But it had to be doubles — we’d just won the cup.” [The numbers refer to a photograph, which is not carried on the website]
(Note this article is from 2006!)
1 Dave Hilton Still going strong at 36, the former Bristol butcher propped for Scotland before becoming a key part of the “Bris” revival.

2 Ricky Pellow Cornish scrum-half who went on to Exeter, Worcester, Manchester and Cornish Pirates. Now a fitness/skills coach at the Rugby Football Union’s southwest academy.

3 Richard Butland Works in Canada as a mechanical engineer. Benched against Brive, the fly-half then spent two seasons at Stade Français.

4 Matt Perry Bedevilled with injury since touring Australia with the 2001 Lions, “Pezza” is still England’s most-capped full-back. Now in his testimonial season with Bath, he was bumped by Jon Callard for the 1998 final.

5 Nigel Redman The England U20/Academy coach and also a tactical analyst for Sky TV. He was at the core of a pack that refused to buckle.

6 Jon Callard Recently upgraded to kicking/catching coach for all England international teams, he scored all 19 points in the final.

7 Russell Earnshaw Integral to Doncaster’s push for promotion, Earnshaw was an athletic flanker who got on for the last 10 minutes of the final. Has property rental interests.

8 Jeremy Guscott Sunday Times rugby columnist, BBC commentator and peerless former England and Lions centre who still cannot believe that he gave Callard a scoring pass with the line open.

9 Martin Haag Underrated Bath lock who, as Bristol forwards coach, has again showed that he knows his trade inside out.

10 John Mallett Forced into retirement by persistent back injuries, “Shep” (after Shepton Mallet) teaches rugby and physical education at Millfield.

11 Nathan Thomas Part of the Scarlets back row, arriving via Cardiff and Leeds Tykes. Hoping to add to his nine Wales caps.

12 Phil de Glanville Called “Hollywood” because of his matinee-idol looks, the former England centre works for Sport England as a business development manager.

13 Mike Catt Evergreen playmaker who went on to become a 2003 World Cup-winner. Captain of London Irish.

14 Eric Peters The Scotland back-rower was benched in the final before retiring due to injuries. He works for King Sturge, a property services company.

15 Ieuan Evans The lethal Wales and Lions wing is part of Sky TV’s rugby squad as well as being a newspaper columnist.

16 Andy Nicol A BBC TV and radio commentator. He also works in finance.

17 Andy Robinson The former Bath coach is England’s head coach.

I see this too often. Aggressive behaviour followed by calm justification.

You cannot be soft. But you can be fair.

I know this analysis is “after” the event for us, but it makes interesting viewing in light of the fact that England won the subsequent game 20-21. The GGR guys point out the contribution of Burgess at 9 in the first game where Australia won. Interestingly, Will Genia played in the second!

Ian McGeechan’s Smarter Rugby series has got some simple drills. The key is the technical precision he is looking for.

Here is a common defence line speed drill, but look at the key points carefully so you can replicate them in your sessions.

Juan de Jongh dives in for a debut try for South Africa this weekend. It was a close game, with the Boks beating Wales 34-31.

Neither team were at full strength. And that is in physical terms as much as player availability.

The difference between the two teams was clear though: accuracy of execution. Despite some flashes of magic and never-say-die endeavour from Wales, they simply made more mistakes than their opponents.

South Africa won turnovers in the set piece and in the contact area. Gary Gold, writing in his blogs and on rugbyiq.com has made no secret of the deisre for turnover ball. Turnovers happen because the side in possession are inaccurate in the contact area or with their handling. South African Super 14 teams have forced turnover situations this season and are very adept at creating the opportunity to steal the ball.

Here are the key areas to work on to reduce turnover ball:
1. Stay on the feet in contact and keep going forward.
2. Fighting the last few inches to the ground to make sure the defence has less time to compete for the ball.
3. Isolation is the fault of the support players. Some might say that the ball carrier needs to go back to his support. Actually he needs to seek space, and if he has to take contact, then he fights until the support arrives. Support players must read one step ahead of the ball carrier and be there.

No side can say they were able to be field their best side every week, and it would interesting to know if any teams at the top level were able to field their strongest side on any occasion.

Coaches are now looking closely at how they can keep their players going for longer. Recovery is one place where there is an accelerated interest and concentration. Players will be coming off the field with bumps and strains. How quickly these can be turned around will be crucial to get players training and playing again.

What is your team’s recovery strategy post match?

That was where we got beaten up and brought into the Leicester way. It’s not as bad nowadays as it was. I wasn’t part of the first team when Johnson was around and you would hear stories about him knocking out Lewis Moody, but the week before the semi-final against Bath we had a scrap in training when it all kicked off.
We try to make training harder on a Tuesday than the match at the weekend, and we were practising mauls off line-outs, firsts against seconds, when it got a bit feisty. Louis Deacon ended it. He didn’t start it, but he ended it.

Train as we play. Rugby is a physical game. It is also a mentally physcial game. Players have to be able to get through awkward situations where they are wound up. How you deal with this can be crucial at the key moment in a game. Don’t let’s kid ourselves that the opposition will keep quiet and not do cheeky, naughty things to our team whilst the referee is not looking.

Leicester Tigers tough it out on the training field. They have a long record of success at domestic and European level.

See his website at www.rugbyiq.com.

Could be useful!?

Taken from the irb.com site:

Game trends on IRB Rugby Conference agenda

 
Leading stakeholders from the international Rugby community, including a number of the world’s top technical directors, coaches, referees and administrators, will gather in Dublin next month for an International Rugby Board Conference on the playing of Rugby.

The May 13-14 Conference and will bring together representatives from the top 20 ranked Member Unions and is the first of its kind since the 2007 Woking Forum which recommended the inclusion of Argentina in an annual international competition.

Delegates will consider the central theme of global playing trends and will present their individual and collective insights into the playing of the Game at both the elite and participation levels as an invaluable part of seeking solutions to identified issues.

The Conference agenda is entirely stakeholder-driven with all 117 of the IRB’s Member Unions having been given the opportunity to contribute via a survey to help identify the main topics for in-depth discussion over the two days.

While Union feedback determined that the Game was generally in good health as Rugby enters an exciting decade of Olympic Games inclusion and three Rugby World Cups, the process identified five key areas for consideration:

• the tackle
• the scrum (collapses and resets)
• excess kicking
• physicality of the Game
• the Law making process

“Rugby is currently enjoying unprecedented growth all around the world, reaching out to new countries, communities and audiences. Yet it is important that within that growth we collectively remain focused on the core values of our sport and ensuring that Rugby is as enjoyable to play, officiate and watch as possible while promoting the best-possible player welfare practices,” said IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset.

“The object of the two-day Conference is to take stock of the Game and holistically consider global playing trends as we embark upon an exciting and pivotal decade for the Sport which includes Rugby Sevens Olympic Games debut in Rio in 2016 and the next three Rugby World Cups.”

“The Conference will provide a forum for leading technical experts and playing representatives from around the world to gather to exchange information, discuss playing and coaching techniques and trends, currency of Law and player welfare considerations. The IRB is delighted to be able to facilitate that dialogue and I would like to thank the Member Unions for their collaboration and input to date. I am sure that it will be a very interesting forum,” added Lapasset.

While the IRB Rugby Conference is not a decision-making forum, any outcomes will be presented to the IRB Rugby Committee for consideration at its October meeting.

The Conference is also a key element of the next four-year cycle of the Law Amendment process that will shape the way that Laws are evaluated, but any experimentation and/or amendment will not take place until after Rugby World Cup 2011.

Of course, any Dad is proud when his son’s team wins a cup. I cannot deny that I had enormously warm feeling inside when my own son and his team triumphed in a recent tournament. Last night was his turn with the cup and he slept with it!

Some of you will know that I will talk about the team in the editor’s letter in Rugby Coach Weekly, or in the bi-weekly emails from Better Rugby Coaching. We have a large squad and a range of abilities and skills. I am blessed with a good coaching team. All of the three main coaches played first class rugby and have teaching backgrounds.

As a coaching team, we have stuck to a strict rotational policy throughout the year for all games. We have won more than we have lost.

In the recent tournament, we stuck to our guns with this policy. Last year we did the same and won 0, drew 2, lost 2. This year we said, because of the limited numbers, selection for the tournament was based on those boys who did not go last year (the parents enjoyed the day more than the boys!), plus the coaches sons (we have got to be there).

Once there, the team was rotated for every game, even the semi-final and finals. Our four best players were not on the field for at least one half of the four halves in these two games. Eventually, we drew in the final and won on the try countback.

For the boys, it was an exciting victory. The coaches, well, we were delighted that we carried this policy through. It won’t always work this well, but at least the boys have had plenty of rugby.

With the ruck law interpretations favouring the ball team, here is a great drill from the Western Force coaching team to work on ball placement and clearing out.

Look out for top articles from Paddy O’Brien on the rulings, plus Mark Calverley on the “End of the Jackler” in the new International Rugby Coaching magazine.

A coaching clip featuring top skills coach from New Zealand Dave Ellis. The feature does suggest old school “drill”, but certain plenty of merit because it is easy to set up and involves lots of rugby related movement. Put in defenders (who could be running a similar pattern), to add to the pressure.

He identifies five areas where he has got his referees to work harder at applying the law:
1. The maul at the lineout: no blocking.
2. Offside at the ruck.
3. Rolling away from the tackled played and/or releasing him to play the ball.
4. Better scrum engagement.
5. Keeping onside from the kicks.

Early evidence suggests that there is more space for attacking teams, but they are still adapting to the new regimes. Referees too are making a slight transition. The laws are not new, just being more heavily emphasised.

As Paddy says, one metre or one second of extra space and time can make all the difference in the game of rugby.

Catching the high ball is feature of the current kicking game. Here is a simple demonstration of getting the elbows in the right position to craddle the ball. Develop this by getting the players to jump off the ground to catch.

I think this is one of the clearest tackle technique videos I have seen.

Use this as a template to improve your tacklers.

From USA Rugby

I was going to say it would be great if we could just say “The team is…” and not have to justify any selections afterwards. Actually, the process of telling a player they are not in the team is a good learning experience for both player and coach.

A dropped player needs to know his worth and the reasons for not playing. You want him to continue to improve, even if you think he will never make the team again. Other players will be so close to selection, they might be playing next week. So not a good time to burn bridges.

From your point of view, you can learn much from the dialogue, about the player and about the team as a whole.

In recent weeks I have been speaking to many top coaches about “selection” and communication. Honesty is one word which keeps being mentioned.

Wasps director of rugby, Tony Hanks, said that it was difficult sometimes to be totally frank with a player, but vital not to be dishonest.

I have had a few very tough selection decisions in recent weeks, with, in some cases, very little to choose between two players who are both on the up and improving all the time.

I enjoy the job, but it can be heartbreaking at times!

Here is a clip showing the sort of detail you need to tell the players when they are “squeezing” the ball in a ball placement after a tackle.

Remember that this is not for U19s and below.

The London Irish video series is good to watch because it has some simple ideas which promote better technique.

This simple exercise works on getting beyond the tackle, ball placement, protection and the tackle contest. It can be easily developed from a slow, mastery type exercise, into performance under pressure.

Gary Gold, the Springboks and Sharks assistant coach, has always been great at posting superb rugby resources. Here is another. Not sure if we could do this speech each week though!

Here are simple to use scrum half passing drills from Jamie Hamilton an Englishman working for the Crusaders in New Zealand.

From an article in the Independent.

February 13, 2010
Brian Ashton: Individuals make the best team players
Tackling The Issues
“There is no ‘I’ in ‘teams’.” Most of us who have been involved in coaching or management for any length of time are familiar with this well-worn phrase, which, given the frequency with which it is heard, might more accurately be called a mantra.

Like many snippets of home-spun sporting philosophy, it attempts to capture the essence of a basic truth: in this case, that the significance of the individual in a team game is as nothing compared to the importance of the collective. And like many of these one-liners, it misses the point.

Just ask Warren Gatland about the influence of individuals, their thought processes and their decision-making. I’d be very interested to know the Wales coach’s private view on Alun Wyn Jones and his visit to the sin bin during last week’s Six Nations scrap with England (although I can probably work it out for myself). And what about the interception pass thrown by Stephen Jones towards the end of the match? If these individual contributions were not absolutely central to the outcome of the contest, I was watching a different game to everyone else.

Here were prime examples of what I call the “critical moment theory” of top-level sport – instances of unpredictable and confused thinking by individuals operating in a high- pressure environment. And what is it that makes a rugby team? Fifteen individuals, all of whom are likely, at some stage or other, to find themselves making split-second calls in dynamic situations that, by their very nature, defy pre-planning. If one or two of those calls happen to be wrong, the balance tips towards the opposition, as Wales demonstrated.

I am deeply perplexed by this idea that individuals don’t count. On this logic, why do man-of-the-match awards exist? (To digress for a moment, it was notable that all three gongs from last week’s matches went to back-row forwards: David Wallace of Ireland, James Haskell of England and Imanol Harinordoquy of France. What did this tell us? In my view, it was indicative that each team, with the arguable exception of the French, made a cagey start to the tournament, sparring with opponents rather than attacking them with all their available weaponry. I didn’t expect this from Ireland. It may be that they wanted to hold something back for today’s big match in Paris, but at international level it’s a big call to play within yourselves).

Again, if there is no real place for individuality, why do we have the cult of captaincy? Just recently, all three captains of our major team sports – John Terry, Andrew Strauss and Steve Borthwick – have, for very different reasons, dominated the headlines. While we’re on this subject, I must say that Borthwick’s last two performances for England may well have settled the very public argument concerning his place in the Test side. Only those who insist on viewing his rugby through very dark glasses will see it otherwise.

We hear so much about “leadership groups” and “core leadership” but, in my experience, the key factor in the development of a truly successful side is the presence of individuals in every position who are prepared and equipped to stand up to be counted at the moments of greatest intensity and perform their allotted roles to the best possible standard. I’ve spoken before of the elements that make up the high-level performance equation: the physical, the mental, the tactical and the technical. The higher the level of competition, the more ruthlessly an individual’s weakness in any of these areas will be exposed. When that happens, the effect on the team – the collective – is often dramatic.

It seems to me that the “no ‘I’ in ‘teams’” approach is fundamentally flawed. For want of a better word, it’s a myth. It deserves to be treated with the same suspicion as other questionable phrases, like “game plan”, and for the same very good reason: it takes no account of the “oh no, what have I done?” part of sport, which is always with us. People do daft things on the field, especially when the so-called “plan” doesn’t work the way they expected and they find themselves wondering what to do next.

Everyone should take the field prepared to lead as and when the situation demands, because in a game of rugby it will fall on each player to make an important decision of his own, more often than not when things are going badly. If you have 15 people who can do this, you have a true collective and a true team. A team made up of individuals.

Here is an excellent analysis of the way that South African flanker Heinrich Brussow wins the tackle area, often making the other side concede penalties. Gary Gold, the South African assistant coach gives us his expert view.

We featured Gary in two issues of the International Rugby Technical Journal.

It comes from a clip from the RugbyIQ.com, which has some great resources and some of the best video training clips on the web at the moment.

Here are some tackles and hits from the first weekend of the Six Nations.

Most interesting for me is the head position. The head should LEAD the tackle, because where it ends up pretty much determines the momentum of the body. I don’t mean the head “makes” the impact, but leads the rest of the body to the point of contact.

To get the head in the most powerful position, the feet should be close to the ball carrier and the eyes open.

Watch these tackles to see where it works and what can happen if it is mistimed!