How Freddie Clarke became an overnight success at the age of 29
Imagine becoming an overnight success at the age of 29. That is essentially what happened to Gloucester academy graduate Freddie Clarke last season. Before he used to struggle for consistent XV selection, starting in just 19 of his 56 Gallagher Premiership appearances. However, he was transformed in the 2021/22 campaign, starting in 21 of his 23 league games.
That earned him selection in the BT Sport end-of-season dream team and also bagged him an England training camp call-up at the start of June. Swell. What gives? Essentially, the back-rower became a very different player in a different position.
Injuries had drained the club’s engine room resources and needs must. They convinced Clarke to give lock a go and he has since become indispensable in that role, Gloucester shaking hands with the player last week on a contract extension beyond the end of the current season.
There wasn’t much indication that Clarke would suddenly metamorphose into the must-pick forward that he now is. In his previous 19 league starts for the club through to the end of the 2020/21 campaign, he was mostly viewed as a back-rower. There were 14 selections at blindside and another three at No8. Just two were at lock.
That massively changed last term with 20 of Clarke’s Premiership starts coming at second row with just a single start at blindside. What did Gloucester boss George Skivington see that tempted him to convert Clarke from one position to another in the pack?
“Ironically we were short on locks last year and I sort of said to Fred, ‘Would you do it?’ What has made him integral is actually his attention to detail and how hard he has worked off the field,” explained the Kingsholm coach to RugbyPass ahead of this Saturday’s trip to Bath, another game where Clarke – who turns 30 on October 10 – has been chosen at No4.
“He has been unbelievable the last twelve months in terms of he has had to learn how to call a lineout. He has been brilliant in terms of looking after himself and leading the team. By the end of last year, they were calling him the pack leader because he was so on it and driving standards.
“He is one of those guys who got given the opportunity and took it and probably for the years before that, either wasn’t given the opportunity or didn’t quite grab it when he got it. Last year he just grabbed it and went for it. He is a really good player and a really good bloke but he has proven to be a brilliant professional as well.
“He is definitely an athlete, without a doubt. He is a good rugby player and everyone who has coached him would know that. But like I said, we were always trying to get him in the back row and ironically last year with second row sort of opening up, it was more by default he ended up in the second row.
“Then, like I say, he put a few good games together and when the second rows were fit and available, we kept him in there because we have always stuck by if you do well and go well then you are going to keep your spot. He kept his spot and obviously had a very good season. Let’s hope there is another good one.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Honestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
133 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
7 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
7 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
133 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
133 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
133 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
7 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
7 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
133 Go to comments