Bullrush
John Hipwell (52)
Yep.....Super Rugby isn't far away now and my beloved Blues are in serious training to claim their rightful prize as the Super Rugby Champs in 2012.
Pat Lam has posted his first blog for 2012 - here it is:
Pat Lam has posted his first blog for 2012 - here it is:
Coach's Corner
24 Jan 2012
It's great to be back in the New Year and the players have all returned really excited and raring to go. I would say in my time with the Blues the players are in the best condition they have ever been in at this stage of the year.
Having that five week window of preparation before Christmas was outstanding and then we put a challenge to the players - that they could get an extra three days holiday if they came back for a testing day early in the New Year and met their targets. I'm pleased to report that all the players came back in pretty good nick so we're pleased with how we're tracking at the moment.
Our All Blacks have now joined us except for Tony Woodcock and Ma'a Nonu so we've got 28 players plus the Wider Training Group. With the All Blacks coming back in, one of the key things they wanted to see was that the other players had set the standard in their absence and that has certainly happened. The All Blacks are where the other boys were in November and understandably so. They've had a good recovery period and they won't take long to get back up to speed.
The first week and a half of training this year has been about the "Blues Way" (our team culture), getting everyone back up to speed and retouching on some stuff we did before Christmas. It's been a bit disruptive with the All Blacks being pulled away most of last week due to promotional activities, particularly while we're focussing on our systems. We're comfortable the All Blacks can pick up the skills training and other areas but we really wanted to make sure that they're on the same page as the others as far as our game plan, systems and structures go, but all-in-all it's been pretty good.
Piri Weepu's first few weeks with the team have been very good; you can see why he is world class. He's fitted into the environment very well, he already has a lot of mates in the team and we're really pleased to have him on board. Along with the other All Blacks, they'll need some time to get themselves into their best condition but you can certainly see the reasons why they are such good players.
As I mentioned Tony Woodcock is not back yet, and as you'll know from last year he had quite a few niggling injuries and was very lucky to make the World Cup team through his injuries and he's still getting over them. He's been a professional player for 10 or so seasons now and he's requested that he miss the South African tour and start later, so while Tony will be training with the team he won't be available to play until round five.
It's obviously tough to lose someone of that quality but it's a good opportunity for the other younger props. Knowing that, and with John Afoa no longer in the team, I've seen a massive lift in the excitement and work rate of the other prop forwards and I'm confident those guys will do the job for us.
Ma'a Nonu's club is trucking along well in Japan. His return depends on how well his team goes before he joins us at the Blues - the best case scenario is he will be here for the second pre-season game, while the worst case scenario is he might miss the first round against the Crusaders.
Being the longest Super Rugby season in history, one of the things that's more important than ever is the depth of your squad. The beauty of having that five week window of preparation prior to Christmas is that we've prepared the team with no All Blacks in it.
Our main aim is to have everyone competing for positions and that's why we're really excited about the squad. We believe everyone in it has an opportunity to push for a place, has the opportunity to do the work and perform. So when it comes to players like Woody being away, Ma'a being late and some of the All Blacks' conditioning still coming along after a long break, we have a squad of 30 plus our Wider Training Group to ensure that we're not just relying on one player, it's all about the team, it's all about the Blues Way.
If that means going into a game without Tony Woodcock, Ma'a Nonu, Keven Mealamu or Piri Weepu that's what you prepare for and you want the players coming through to be hungry for a place and to be doing the hard work in anticipation, and that's certainly what I'm seeing at the moment. So for us as a management team we've got to prepare for every scenario, and during my time here we've had that - we've had long periods of time with no Ali Williams, Tony Woodcock, John Afoa and Anthony Boric to name just a few, and those are things you have to deal with so it all comes back to the squad and how you use it.
Having Jeff Wilson on board as Skills Coach this year is really exciting for us. After many great years of service to the Blues, Liam Barry moved on to become head coach of North Harbour and obviously that's a full year's commitment so Jeff has joined the team and it's brilliant to have him on board.
I took my time initially to work out what the team needs at this stage, coming into my fourth campaign with the team. With the evolution and development of our game plan, a lot of the systems, structures and the Blues Way are really well developed and in place, but one of the areas Bryce and I highlighted that we wanted to build on was decision making and execution.
The players love the game plan because they have a big say in it and it creates opportunities. Every game we've been in we've had a lot of opportunities to score points and we've scored some great tries and won games, and even in the games we've lost, we've still had numerous opportunities. However two key areas that break down are our skill execution and executional decision making, and with a large squad it's vital to have that extra hand to help us and we really wanted a skills coach.
Jeff Wilson is a legend of the game and one of the most skilful players to have played for the All Blacks and it was just a natural fit. When we're looking at the high ball, catch and pass, kicking, right across the spectrum "Goldy" as he is known is someone who had all of that but the thing too is he's had some coaching experience now. I saw him at IRANZ (The International Rugby Academy) and with detailed skills he's certainly one of the best so to have him on board is excellent. He's part of our region, he's still involved with North Harbour and he's also head coach of our Blues Development Programme. He has a lot of mana and presence so for me I feel fortunate that he agreed to come on board as part of our team and so far, so good. He started his first day in the New Year, and with Bryce and I having already worked together for a year, it's great to have that third voice challenging us and throwing out new ideas.
As always, if you have any questions about the team you'd like answered, leave some comments below and I'll get back to you in my next blog.
Until then,
Pat Lam
Blues head coach
