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'Physically I've not seen too many better players. He's 6-feet-2, has bigger leg muscles than I do'

By Robert Rees
(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Ed Slater didn’t see professional rugby as a career when he grew up as a staunch Charlton Athletic fan with a passion for football, but a tour to Amsterdam with his local rugby club set him on a path to being one of the most respected and experienced locks in England. Currently isolated at home with his wife and three children, he is is focusing on the positives of quarantine as he heals his foot; and is quite happy to discuss learning from past mistakes, Gloucester and his career influences.

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Slater spent over three months of the season out of action, but strongly believes he’ll be back fitter than ever. With the abundance of negativity during such a torrid time for the world, Slater has taken it upon himself to look at the positives.

The foot is nearly fully recovered, with Slater having returned to action before the COVID-19 onslaught. Gloucester have plenty to work on, but speaking to the 6-feet-6, 19-stone lock, the focus is put firmly on self-improvement.

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The Season | Series 6 | Episode 4

The first home game ends positively and the team immediately focusses on Ipswich Grammar – the competition dark horse. The rugby program continues to build its strength and conditioning foundation under the supervision of Sophie Pidcock while another successful BBC program prepares for a premiership of their own. As the school community make their voices heard, two players – positioned at two different stages of their high school careers – reflect on their journey in the Green White Black. 

Video Spacer

The Season | Series 6 | Episode 4

The first home game ends positively and the team immediately focusses on Ipswich Grammar – the competition dark horse. The rugby program continues to build its strength and conditioning foundation under the supervision of Sophie Pidcock while another successful BBC program prepares for a premiership of their own. As the school community make their voices heard, two players – positioned at two different stages of their high school careers – reflect on their journey in the Green White Black. 

“The reality is, when I broke my foot in November, it was around 14 weeks until I was back playing. A broken foot is one of those niggly injuries that takes ages to heal. You won’t see a fully healed bone in your foot for 12 months because of blood supply and weight you’re putting on it.

“When I came back I didn’t feel as fit as I could have been. It’s been massive for me to spend time on that and the physios have given me stuff to manage it.”

“It’s really difficult [to set aims] if you don’t know when you’re re-starting. That’s why the focus is on what we did last year and what went wrong. Rugby evolves really quickly and if you’re not constantly thinking about it then you can get left behind and we were a little behind the pace last season.”

With all of his success though comes thanks for the childhood friend who introduced him to the sport, after he initially started out in the round ball code.

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“I played football until I was 15. I was fed up of the changing room environment. It was all about who you’d played for, had trials with and what boots you wore. My best mate at school at the time, who I’d said this to a few times, said come down to the local rugby club, and I turned up just in time for an U16s tour to Holland. It was great fun.

“I saw a different side to sport and it wasn’t hard to leave football behind after I came back from that tour.

“The mate who sent me to the club had played rugby since four or five, so when I turned up at Leicester about five years after starting the game, he was like ‘you’re an a******e, I’ve been playing my whole life’, but I have to thank him for starting rugby for me.”

The transition to rugby has given him the chance to work with some of the very best in the sport, most recently a certain Welsh wing sensation.

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“Physically I’ve not seen too many better players [than Louis Rees-Zammit]. His raw pace is ridiculous. He’s 6-feet-2, has bigger leg muscles than I do, so he’s built solid. I know from experience that the older you get the more opportunities close up; people are aware of his pace now.

“’How is he going to change?’ is the conversation I’ve had with him. It’s great to burst on the scene and have people being scared of him, so not giving him the space. So, that’s his next progression, how does he keep all the physical attributes he’s got and make them work again for him as people will be a lot more wary of him now. If he can nail that he’s got a massive future ahead of him.

Ed Slater
Joe Cokanasiga of Bath Rugby is tackled by Ed Slater and Jason Woodward of Gloucester Rugby (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

“We don’t have a huge amount of internationals here, so coming back to Gloucester keeps him on the ground a bit. Whilst he’s away and doing his bit with Wales we’re cracking away at Hartpury. The expectation is when you return from that you just get on with Gloucester mode.”

There’s not just the upcoming stars, but established World Cup winners to push the standards. Springbok Franco Mostert is now in his second season at Kingsholm. How does Slater react? He’s worked harder.

“It was his work rate that stood out and that drove me when he arrived, as well as being competition in my position. That made me assess where I was physically. I was a bit of a fridge around the pitch. I’ve had to lose weight and become more mobile as the years went by. He’s had a massive influence on me and how I play the game.

“Even when he turned up prior to the World Cup, I saw him as one of the top locks in the world and it pushed me to work harder. I looked at what he did around the pitch. That’s his x-factor, his work rate.”

Ed looks fondly back on his Leicester days, before the switch deal with Jonny May, and extends his gratitude to those who influenced his career.

Cockerill Leicester Ed Slater
Richard Cockerill

“Richard Cockerill,” he says, “Mainly for driving up the standards expected of someone who was playing at Leicester and not giving an inch on that. There was no grey area, you either did it or didn’t and I had to get myself up to that standard very quickly.

“Cockers is the main person I learned a ridiculous amount from in terms of attitude.”

The 31-year-old, who represented the England Saxons still hasn’t completely given up on a full Test cap.

“It’s less thinking it’s never going to happen and more about how can I prolong this career as long as possible, be as fit as I can and play at a level I want to play at. If I can do that, be a decent enough player, and if they’re desperate enough for locks, then I can put my hand up. My priority is performing as well as I can for Gloucester.

“I feel with the quality we have we’ve got to be pushing Champions Cup and top four, and when it comes to semi-finals anything can happen. You just have to put yourself in the best position to make those knockout stages.

Rugby is a sport that’s constantly evolving, and looking to improve. Slater believes a second referee could be a useful next step.

“I’d like to see a second referee brought in, similar to rugby league, to police the breakdown and offside line a bit more. I think that could take pressure of the referee and the assistants.

“I don’t like anything that slows the ball down. I’d like to see if you get held up and into a maul that you have to release the player and the ball is fed back to the scrum-half. There’s basically no advantage then to holding a man up to create a maul and hopefully you’d see a change of tackle technique which you can deliver quicker ball from.”

He’s worked with plenty of talent, but who makes his list of best teammates?

“I was lucky enough at Leicester to play with a ridiculous amount of naturally talented players like Ben Youngs, George Ford or Manu Tuilagi. Those guys stick out massively. Thomas Waldrom at eight, Craig Newby stands out, Brad Thorn.”

The jokers in the team also lie warmly in his memories. “Mark Atkinson. He’s always on it, cracking jokes and he’s hard to get one over on. There’s also Fraser Balmain. He’s very, very dry and a cartoon character. Those two guys are great blokes to be around.”

Slater may be entering the autumn of his career, but you get the impression there is still plenty left in the tank of this engine room veteran.

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J
Jon 1 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

34 Go to comments
j
john 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 9 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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