think about what we had focused on in the previous weeks of training
not to leave the pitch until they had made at least one full tackle
remember that the tackle is not complete until they return to their feet and compete for the ball
to secure as many turnovers of ball at the ruck as possible

As a coaching team, we approached the morning as an opportunity to see where we are at the start of the season, and to mix and match players around the various positions to see how they coped/performed in recognition of the constant change in rate of development; physically, mentally and in relation to skill levels.

I’m very pleased to report that every single member of the squad who played on Sunday, stepped up and delivered. The level of physicality, effort, commitment to their teammates and to the job in hand was outstanding, as was the willingness to try new playing positions. The work rate around the breakdown was much improved from last season, with strong and intelligent rucking and counter-rucking, securing and turning over the ball. When we made strong individual breaks, support players went with the ball carrier, arriving to ruck over and secure the ball as needed.

Ball handling, protection and passing was in the main well-executed and intelligent. Right from the very first game of the morning, the number of players who stepped into the back of a ruck, retrieved the ball and then whose first thought was to zip out a ‘scrum-half’ pass to supporting team mates (rather than automatically pick and go) was significant, allowing us to make use of available space on the pitch. Speaking of which, we only ran the ball back into pressure on a couple of occasions throughout the morning so well done again there! Players listened to the suggestion of moving the ball 2-3 passes away from each breakdown and this started to open up more attacking opportunities as the morning wore on.

One area that we already recognised as needing work is in the organisation of the attacking line at each breakdown – we still tend to get a little too ‘flat’ and defensive-looking. Whilst on the whole we ‘got away with it’ at Derby, I’m sure we can work to improve this given the way the players have responded to coaching input already this season.

I would also like to specifically mention the forwards. Many players stepped in and out of the pack during the morning, and there was a great deal to learn in respect of using the new scrum engagement sequence for real, along with the addition of a No.8 at the back of the pack. I’m very pleased to say that on balance we seemed to have the upper hand in relation to the scrummage, putting the different Derby packs under a lot of pressure and winning both our and their put-ins in the games. Thank you to all players here, as they have all contributed to the brief but effective scrum sessions in training.

As a result of all of the above, we scored a good number of tries during the morning, a blend of some well taken opportunistic individual tries, but more importantly the majority were well-worked team efforts generating attractive rugby for both players and spectators.

Finally, I would like to thank Derby for hosting us - it’s always a pleasure to play there. I hope they got as much out of the morning from a player development perspective as we did.

Well done boys – let’s see if we can maintain and further build on this as we go forward!