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'That was embarrassing': How Vern Cotter set the tone for Blues
The Blues had plenty of praise for new head coach Vern Cotter following their 50-3 demolition of the Western Force at Eden Park on Friday night.
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The coach was credited for instilling an “edge” in the environment by providing some blunt commentary on the team’s recent finals results.
The Blues were knocked out in the semi-finals a season ago in a thorough dismantling by eventual champions the Crusaders, with a final score of 52-15 punctuating the team’s recent difficulty in getting over the red and black hump in the knockout stages.
The season prior, the Blues reached the final only to be dismissed by the dynastic Canterbury outfit, another loss that haunts many of the current Blues squad members.
The coach, aptly nicknamed Stern Vern, was quick to pull on those strings when named successor to Leon MacDonald ahead of the current season.
Speaking to media following the win over the Force, first five-eighth Harry Plummer shared how Cotter has made his mark on the team.
“I think it’s different in the fact that Vern came in straight away, from day one, set the tone, said we don’t want to be losing by 40 points to the Crusaders in the semi-final again because that was embarrassing,” he told Sky Sport’s postgame panel.
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“It’s kept a bit of an edge and he’s kept that edge every week. This week especially being a short week; new boys getting chances. I think the edge is what’s driving the boys to build a squad around the injuries, around the youth, around the experience and trying to get to that end goal of the final.”
Echoing Plummer’s sentiments following the win was loose forward Akira Ioane, who was awarded Man of the Match in the contest.
The All Black was complimentary of how the coach had come in and understood his personnel and how to play to their strengths.
“We’ve just got a great bunch of boys, VC (Cotter) came in here, hasn’t really changed much but has just given us real direction around what we need to do to be a good team,” Ioane said. “We do it in drips and drabs but I feel like we’re slowly getting on a role and it’s looking good for the back end of the season. But, nothing’s given.”
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The coach himself then joined the panel to share his mildly enthusiastic analysis of the win.
“It was okay. I think we started the game properly around set piece and got access through that and then the game opened up and they saw opportunities and took them. So, it’s a reasonable day.
“I think we’re starting to push passes to the outside and I think when we see opportunities we can change a game. We didn’t go down the short side enough in the first half, went down straight away in the second half and got access and scored points off that.
“That makes them start guessing around what we’re doing which creates other opportunities. It’s all bout space and creating it and you’ve got to have your access points and I think the guys are starting to get better at those.
“We’re happy but it’s only halfway through the season.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The feelings of gratitude I feel when thinking about the Boks is difficult to describe. It really means a lot to people here. I would flat out ask Ox for a big hug if I met him in person. And then probably pass out after the squeeze. Totally worth it.
1 Go to commentsFarrell seems to be an outstanding coach and Ireland a very well prepared team. But they looked like they had no plan B against NZ. Maybe they really were looking past them, as Eben says.
6 Go to commentsMaybe if you come once in your life in France you won’t writte so much nonsense 🙃
1 Go to commentsWhy did they kill 14 people at a gaelic football match? What had happened earlier that day? Dowson sounds absolutely pathetic, believing what the Irish say about his people, rather than believing what his people say about the Irish.
4 Go to commentsI haven't really experienced the Irish as arrogant but I guess the players maybe got ahead of themselves after a big win. Just thought it being Ireland and their love afair with WC QF exits and it being the ABs maybe they would have taken it a bit more seriously. Maybe they did and just lost anyways, who knows.
6 Go to commentsNot surprising, they tend to get very carried away with themselves very quickly. I’ve never seen a team so devastated at the final whistle than those irish players in that QF, you’d think they had lost the final.
6 Go to commentsJust a roundabout way of claiming to great fun. Self -praise is no praise, frenchie.
1 Go to commentsIreland have played the ABs since the first game 1905 a total of 37 times. The ABs have won 32 and Ireland 5 times. If we look since the first WC, then they have played each other 28 times. All Ireland’s 5 wins have come since 2016. So the ABs won 23 games. Since Ireland won their first game in 2016, they have won 5 and the ABs 4 times. Fairly even. Whatever anyone says, beating ABs consistently is bloody difficult, and when you manage to win a few, show respect to them. Period.
203 Go to comments‘Mom'.
1 Go to commentsA specialist in hitting smaller guys hard and late. Serial cheap shot merchant who deserves more than the usual token sanction for such actions.
1 Go to commentsI like to see the Crusaders lose as much as the next non-Crusaders fan, but the fact that most of their best players have not been available this year is being hand waved away like it shouldn’t effect them. It’s no coincidence that their first dominant performance came when they had more of their best players back. This is not rocket science. If they can stay fit their team at the business end of the season will include Tamaiti Williams, Codie Taylor, Fletcher Newell, Scott Barrett, Quentin Strange, Ethan Blackadder and Cullen Grace in the forwards - most of whom have barely, or not played this year. That is an outstanding pack that have not played together this season. McLeod, Havili, Aumua, Reece, and Halfpenny will be a very different prospect behind their first choice pack as well. Having said all that Penney’s record is scratchy at best, but given the players that have left and their injury list I’m reserving judgement. Penney’s appointment, a bit like Foz, has a similar stench of the incumbent having too much say in his replacement. They are lacking a truly high quality and experienced 10 which will make it hard for them to go the whole way IMO, but the list of teams who would want to play them in the finals will be very short.
17 Go to commentsWhere’s this people's champion come from? Irish people yes….other people? Their arrogance has become breathtaking. Not tested? Oh dear.
203 Go to commentsIf a coach having Crusaders heritage is so sacrosanct, why did the Crusaders not pursue Vern Cotter as Scott Robertson’s replacement?
17 Go to commentsFinau is definitely operating on razor thin margins. He hasn’t done anything wrong… yet. But a player going into contact 6 inches lower than he is expecting, without him even knowing, will end in disaster. You can imagine a situation where the pass dies on Edmed and he has to bend down a little lower to catch it at the last second. Finau’s hit would have been catastrophic. The margins are just too fine. He needs to study how PSDT, at 6’7”, manages to drop his tackle height and exert just as much force with close zero danger of taking someone’s head off. Given how poorly NZ has adapted to lower their tackle height, and that this issue which has plagued the ABs for years and played a big part in them not winning the World Cup, I thought NZR and all SR coaches would be prioritising sorting this issue out. If I was Razor I would be on the phone to Clayton MacMillan and Samipeni Finau saying exactly that. Finau is a monster and shaping up to be the closest thing to Kaino since Kaino, but I wouldn’t risk selecting him for the ABs at the moment.
18 Go to commentsThe surprising stat I saw in the Blues game when showing Sotutu equaling the Blues forwards record was that Akira has not scored a try since 2019. Now my memory is pretty bad when it comes to those sorts of the things, I can remember his AB try though, but anyway I can’t see I can remember his last blues touchdown or any in recent years. Surely that still has to be a bogus stat. Maybe excludes SRA games?
3 Go to commentsDude to me looks pretty fast for a big man, nearly 2m and 130kg, in his workout vid he was signed off. Possibly a bit slow on his reads movement wise though, but I’ve not got anything to compare him to. Hope the dude nails it and finds his sport, could have been a devastating lock in rugby if he wasn’t a footballer growing up.
4 Go to commentsWell, does that make it every year Moana has lost it’s best player the following year? Normally it’s more immediate I guess, at least there best player had a follow up year this time.
1 Go to commentsFinally, an answer to Dan Carter.
1 Go to commentsNever read such tripe. He was hit just as he passed the ball which was reviewed and deemed legal by yes the Australian TMO and referee
18 Go to commentsTerrible idea…will be too hot, no one will travel, fan zones will be promised nice cold guinness and last minute will get water. Also how do you squeeze this into the already busy battle rhythm, Prem, summer series, 6 nations & world cup….if, and its a big IF you’re going to do this, do it in a rugby nation.
2 Go to comments