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'It's a bit of a weird one having to play Northampton again... there will be a bit of chess here and there'
Matt Kvesic caught RugbyPass on the hop the other day, ringing before the agreed interview time. His reason? Some afternoon shut-eye was needed to help get ready for Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership semi-final.
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“We’re ahead of schedule,” he shrugged apologetically. “I’ll be asleep at four o’clock. I just haven’t been sleeping very well so I just need to catch up, that’s all. Nothing bad. It’s all good. Definitely, it [sleep] is important all the time. Just for your recovery and stuff like that. Just make sure you’re feeling fresh, not just physically but mentally.”
Kvesic is as busy as a bee just now, his prowess rightly acclaimed by his inclusion in the Premiership 2018/19 Dream Team unveiled this week and his nomination on the six-strong shortlist for the player of the year award won by Danny Cipriani.
Eddie Jones mightn’t agree. It’s still May 2016 since he was last capped by England. But the 27-year-old back row senses his game has come on a tonne this term, encouraging progress reflective in the way he breezily reviews his past nine months.
“It has been a good, fun season. I’ve been pretty happy with how I have played. I have gone back more to how I played at Worcester where I carried a bit more. I have had a bit more of an all-round game as opposed to having that tag of a breakdown nuisance. I have had a little more freedom to have a crack, play with a smile on my face.
Your team of the year ?
Hard to pick just one XV from all the fantastic performances in the #GallagherPrem ?
But here is your @btsport Dream team ?glistening with star-quality ?#PremRugbyAwards pic.twitter.com/kTP3xYhyiq
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) May 22, 2019
“You have peaks and troughs but this year has been one of the most enjoyable seasons I have had for a while. It has been a bit like no-pressure rugby where they have just said, ‘Go out and have a crack, enjoy yourself and we can review what happens after that’. That has been really good.”
It’s curious Kvesic’s long-ago stint at Worcester has cropped up in conversation. Not since 2013 has Sixways been his home, but that was where he first encountered Rob Baxter.
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Exeter made a pitch at that time for Kvesic’s services, but he rebuffed them for Gloucester and only said yes at the second time of asking in summer 2017. Even now, the unorthodox manner of Baxter’s initial approach six years ago hasn’t been forgotten.
“It was when I left Worcester quite a while ago, that was the first time I spoke to Rob,” he said, harking back to a juncture when he had just turned 21 and was coming off the back of the busiest season yet in his then fledgling career.
“It was a very different pitch than other coaches. It wasn’t, ‘This is what the club does, this is what we do’. He basically went through a couple of my games, watched some clips and said basically, ‘Look, we like what you do, this is what you do well and this is what we think we can work on, we’re not sure about that’.
“It was very different and quite refreshing. At the time, the move to go to Gloucester was right but obviously hindsight is a wonderful thing. But there we are.”
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Big thanks to @ExeterChiefsSC. You guys make it special for us all week in & week out, home and away! Let’s all get excited for this week ? https://t.co/UdJDdriXxQ
— Matthew Kvesic (@mattkvesic) May 19, 2019
Baxter’s fingerprints are all over the Chiefs, the now giant of a club he took from the nether regions of the Championship and turned into a Premiership title-winning outfit. Having admired this work from afar, Kvesic is enjoying seeing first-hand the way the canny coach goes about his business.
“Everyone expected them to come up and probably head back down, but the way they approached the league back then was refreshing. It was really exciting to watch them play and they have developed their game into what it its now.
“Top of the table last year, top of table again this year, early home semi-final qualification, all that sort of stuff. It’s just hard work put in week in, week out.
“In the grand scheme of things it has happened in a short space off time. I know it has been nine years (since Exeter were first promoted), but in rugby that is quite a short period and the way they have managed to sustain performance in the last few years is pretty impressive.
“The beauty is he is very level-headed, so there is not very many ups and downs. He doesn’t lose his rag, doesn’t get too excited. As rugby players that is what you want. You want to know where you stand. There is a time and a place for a kick up the bum and a pat on the back, but all the coaches here are very level headed, quite pragmatic about everything. That is quite important. We’re all on the same page, not going up and down like the rollercoaster ride.
“It’s a pretty relaxed club and we have approached this week like any other. That’s important, not to make too big a deal out of what the occasion is otherwise you can create nerves that wouldn’t normally be there. It has been pretty chilled out, smiles on our faces. We’re just looking forward to it.”
So much so that Kvesic – along with Alex Cuthbert and Ollie Devoto – took time out midweek to participate in a Sandy Park training session with participants of HITZ, Premiership Rugby’s sport for change programme.
“I got stepped by a few kids, burned on the outside a few times, and it was good fun,” he joked. “I really enjoy that sort of stuff, that connection (they have) with the club, it’s beneficial for them. They are kids who have struggled in school or have not necessarily helped themselves all the time.
“Rugby prides itself on its discipline, its laws, its rules and the way it handles itself and that is what HITZ does with the kids, installing through rugby those values and trying to push that into their lives a little bit.”
https://twitter.com/LandRoverRugby/status/1131229452061614080
Turning back two Exeter, semi-final Saturday will be a touch weird for them. Chiefs must go head-to-head with Northampton, whom they trounced 40-21 only last Saturday. Back-to-back meetings are usually the sole preserve of the Champions Cup every December, not something that crops up in the Premiership.
Having beaten Saints comprehensively, there might be fear complacency could creep in. However, Exeter’s recent run – defeats to Wasps and Saracens either side of a scratchy win over Harlequins – should ensure nothing gets taken for granted from one Saturday to the next.
“It’s a bit of a weird one, no two ways about it. It’s strange having to play Northampton again. We have reviewed what they did, what they didn’t do, what we feel we can work on, what they will think we can work on. It’s a bit of chess here and there, but generally it’s about making sure we do our basics to the best of our ability.
“They will probably have some plays and have looked at things we maybe showed in the last game, so you’re sort of preparing for things you’re not too sure about. But at the end of the day it’s just another game. Yes, it’s a semi-final, it’s knock-out rugby, but ultimately we’re back at home again, playing the same team, and hopefully we can bang in a good performance.
“Form doesn’t disappear overnight. We’re a good team, we know we’re a good team, we play some good rugby. That was the big thing we were re-iterating: we had sort of gone away away from what we did well and were low of confidence.
“Maybe confidence is the wrong word. Maybe more frustration. It creeps in and it becomes a ‘We’re not playing our best, why aren’t we playing our best?’ Or we try and fix things that aren’t there, or try and do things we don’t need to do.
Chiefs TV – Rob Baxter pre SemiFinal Saints https://t.co/VQOlXB7CbE via @YouTube
— Exeter Chiefs (@ExeterChiefs) May 22, 2019
“That does knock your confidence a bit if you’re not playing as well as you can, but it wasn’t panic stations or anything, more frustration that we knew we had a lot more in the tank than we delivered over the last few weeks or so… but we have fixed that for this weekend.”
Having missed last year’s decider, Kvesic would love nothing better than to revel in a fairytale finish to the season. “It would be huge (to win the title). Every rugby player want to top the table and win the Premiership.
“It goes without saying. I’m the same and I’m lucky to be a small cog in a pretty well oiled machine all year. It would be a massive honour. To win would be really nice. Fingers crossed. We have a big job this weekend and then anything can happen in a final.”
WATCH: The sixth and final episode of The Academy, the RugbyPass documentary series on Leicester Tigers
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments