Bullrush
John Hipwell (52)
One of the high-lights of my week is reading Pat Lam's blog:
Future All Black Coach
GO THE BLUES!!
In his 10th blog, Pat Lam talks wet weather rugby, answers your questions and previews the Cheetahs matchAs a team we were really pleased to record back-to-back wins and make it three out of three against our New Zealand opposition after defeating the Chiefs last week.
We now move onto the next sequence of the season where we’ve got three home games plus a bye in the next month which is encouraging, but the most important thing now is that we continue what we’ve been doing in our preparation for each game. This Cheetahs game on Saturday night is potentially a banana skin for us if we don’t do the preparation right but certainly the senior players are leading the way in making sure we do everything right in the lead up to the game.
The pleasing thing from the Chiefs game was the character we showed. Going 10 points down through our own errors in very difficult conditions but then working our way back to end up winning was a courageous effort. I have to say that it was not easy in the coach’s box, we certainly make life difficult for ourselves at times!
At the end of the day we hadn’t played wet weather rugby yet this season and the Chiefs had three games in the wet so again we’re pleased with what we did and the good thing from it is we know as we come into April, May and June that there’s a high chance we’ll get some more wet weather games so we spent a lot of time on Monday analysing the game and looking at what we could do better.
It was also great to celebrate Anthony Boric’s 50th game with a win. As I mentioned last week he is a person who has really stepped up to another level both on and off the field. He runs our team culture portfolio and is doing a great job and he’s pretty much taken on that senior lock role in the absence of Ali Williams.
The last couple of weeks against the Hurricanes and Chiefs have been quite physical and the bye can’t come soon enough for us. We’ve got quite a few niggles in the team - Jerome’s been struggling with a sore neck for the last few games and he’s been ruled out this week. Ali Williams is progressing well and should be ready to come back after the bye, likewise Daniel Braid has a neck injury and we’re hoping he’ll be back for the Waratahs game.
Brad Mika had a 60 minute hit-out for the Blues Development team against the Chiefs Development team last week after getting through 20 minutes of club rugby the week before. I’m really pleased with the Blues development team, a lot of our fringe players and our Wider Training Group led the way there and they’ve gone through that program undefeated including their tour to South Africa. It’s such a worthwhile exercise having that team and it keeps guys ticking over at another level up from club rugby and the guys are certainly pushing for places. It’s important because they know that if anyone doesn’t perform at the top they could get an opportunity and they need to be able to take it.
We really put the acid on this week in our preparation, making sure we do everything right and we had quite a physical week. So physical in fact that Filo Paulo got a stray boot to the face during a contact session and fractured his cheek bone so he could be out for three to four weeks. Charlie Faumuina also got caught in an awkward position and tore his hamstring in the Blues Development match last week and that could be a long term injury as well. This is why we have a squad of 32 players and we’ve been stressing to the players that haven’t had as much game time or opportunities that they’re only one game away and it’s important that they stay focussed and do the work as well. So while we have a few niggles now we’re confident we’ll still have a strong team on the paddock on Saturday.
Thanks again for the comments that have been coming through on the website. Damien asked a question about why we’re not consistent enough and lose games because of our handling errors. I reassure you Damien that that’s one thing we’re working hard on and it comes back to our preparation and our training. We’ve put a real focus on setting goals at training, not just games and we really look at the standard, attitude and effort that guys put into training so come the game it’s just a flow on from what they do at training during the week. At training we actually put a stop watch on how long it takes us before there is a handling error. After a training session we note down who’s making the errors and what the record time is and we try and break it. So again we’re putting a lot of attention on those lost possessions. The other thing to note too is that we track the stats across all 15 Super Rugby teams and all the teams are averaging quite a few handling errors. That’s just the nature of the competition, it’s a fast and physical game, there’s a lot of pressure, defences are good and also there are a lot more skills on display so players take a lot more risk. You’re going to get the errors and while as coaches it can be hard to take at times you can’t stifle guys taking risks. The easiest option is to make no handling errors but take no risks, hold onto the ball and play one-off rugby which will get you nowhere. You might see it in the northern hemisphere but certainly that’s not the southern hemisphere way. Hopefully that answers your question Damien and like you we’re very much looking for that consistency too and we’re starting to see signs of that.
The boys are really excited about heading up to Whangarei, it’s been eight years since we were last up there and on the back of us having our camp in Tutukaka and then getting fantastic support at our game against the Huricanes in Kerikeri we’re looking forward to coming back up north and hopefully we can fill Toll Stadium and get a great crowd behind us.
The boys will be up there on Friday and we’ll be doing our captain’s run and running some coaching drills and fun things with the kids in the afternoon. We’ll also be heading to Cameron St Mall in Whangarei for a signing session from 3.30 – 4.30pm. You can find all the details here so feel free to come along, get a photo and an autograph and say hi to boys, they’ll appreciate that. Some of the guys are also making a trip to the hospital which is important. Again we’re really looking forward to our time up in Whangarei and want to make Toll Stadium a fortress as well so please come along, dress in blue, wave those Blues flags and make a lot of noise!
The game against the Cheetahs on Saturday is not going to be easy and we saw what they did to the Waratahs, they’ve only won one game but all their losses have been by small margins bar last week’s loss to the Reds in Brisbane heat. If you look at the type of rugby they’re playing, their systems are a lot different from what other South African teams do and they actually like to use the ball which will make for an exciting game so we need to be on our guard defensively and it’s important we front with the same attitude and intensity that we have in the last couple of weeks otherwise we could be embarrassed like we were last year when we went up there. That game still grates on me when we lost last year and we were expected to win but it pretty much ended our season so we certainly owe them one this time around and preparation this week is going to be key.
For those heading north to the game, drive safe and we look forward to seeing a sea of Blue at Toll Stadium on Saturday night.
Until next week,
Pat Lam
Blues Head Coach
Future All Black Coach
GO THE BLUES!!
