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How Nathan Hughes has reacted to 'honest conversation' at Bristol
It’s been quite the struggle for Bristol at the start of this latest Gallagher Premiership campaign. They netted 13 try bonuses in 21 regular-season outings in 2020/21 but that strike rate has since dried up. Zero from five is their current try bonus ratio and some Bristol players have paid a heavy price – especially Nathan Hughes, the No8 who was one of Pat Lam’s big signings in 2019.
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His place on the team sheet was never in doubt until this September. Bristol got annihilated at Wasps nearly five weeks ago and Hughes hasn’t started since, his only appearance coming off the bench at Harlequins on a night when he was only called into the matchday 23 due to a late failed fitness test for Steven Luatua.
Young Fitz Harding has suddenly jumped ahead in the selection pecking order and it has left Lam with an interesting challenge regarding his 30-year-old who was last capped by England in 2019 – how to get him back to his best at a time when the club is struggling for Premiership wins?
“It was an honest conversation with Nathan and he has been fantastic,” explained Lam about what unfolded with Hughes on the back of last month’s 44-8 pummelling for Bristol at Wasps. “He led our A side the other day. It’s all about Nathan getting back to being at his best because we need him. But to be fair, Fitz Harding has come in and done an unbelievable job. It’s all about competition and Nathan has now got real competition there and that is what I want.
“Nathan was the first to say the only thing he can do is action, get back into it. But once you let someone back in there, the pressure is on. Fitz was superb two games in a row so Nathan has got to push him and that is what I want right through. We achieve a lot when people compete against each other. Nathan is working hard trying to get back and once he gets his opportunity, then I am sure we all want him to take it. It’s nothing about the attitude, it’s just about performance. Everything is around your performance.
Last weekend at Harlequins was a rare Premiership start for Harding…#Bears #NEWvBRI #GallagherPremhttps://t.co/hEiBS01ggF
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 15, 2021
“I don’t mix relationships and performance. Relationships are really important to me, with all the players and the staff, but ultimately we have all – myself included – got to perform. If there is someone else that is performing better they get the opportunity.” Did the initial conversation catch Hughes by surprise? “No surprise because it is the same conversation I have with every player. Every game I have conversations with every player about their performance. We have a system where the boys come through and we talk through so I catch up with all of them. So no surprise at all, it’s exactly the same.
“The boys are great because it is transparency, there is consistency and there is honesty and all of the players are exactly the same because they all go through that process and regardless of who you are and where you sit in the team, you go through that process and that is what the boys respect and the boys play a big part of that.
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“They do a lot of the talking. I ask the questions and that is the key. The greatest tool is self-awareness so Nathan was the first to admit to me that it [Wasps away] wasn’t his best performance but the key then is we put together a plan on how we get that (improved) and that is not just Nathan, it is all the guys as they go through.”
'It was emotional with tears and I knew then we were going to beat Wales.'
30 years ago Pat Lam and his @manusamoa teammates shocked Wales and the world, and it all came down to a meeting the night before. He talks to @heagneyl ??? #rwc2023 https://t.co/8ap17Vo0KD
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 17, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
36 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments