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The Canadian lock that Newcastle are relying on to avoid the drop

By Chris Jones
Evan Olmstead during Mitre 10 Cup match between Southland and Auckland (Photo by Dianne Manson/Getty Images)

Canadian lock Evan Olmstead is uniquely qualified to help drag Newcastle away from the relegation trap door with just three Gallagher Premiership matches left for the north east England club to save themselves.

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Olmstead faced a similar three-game shoot-out with Canada in Marseille in November when they needed to defeat Kenya, Hong Kong and Germany to grab the 20th and final qualifying spot for the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

The heavily-bearded Olmstead, who was brought back from New Zealand to bolster Newcastle’s forward power at the most crucial point of the season, believes that experience of delivering under pressure can help the Falcons survive.

The 28-year-old, 6ft 6in forward left Newcastle at the end of last season and headed to Auckland, helping them win the Mitre 10 Premiership Cup for the first time since 2007.

He was also part of the wider Blues Super rugby squad before Dean Richards, Falcons director of rugby, called to offer him a route back into the Premiership and high quality rugby in the build-up to the World Cup campaign.

Olmstead is well aware of the ramifications of relegation on and off the pitch for Newcastle and they must defeat an improving Northampton team at Kingston Park on Friday night, then Gloucester (away) and Bristol (home).

The Canadian, who played at the 2015 World Cup, said: “When I left we were in the Premiership play-offs last season and now it’s about staying alive. It’s about fighting for your job, your life and the organisation. Going down brings a lot of consequences. No-one has their head in the sand and our mindset is still positive. We will keep working hard.

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“With Canada we had three games to qualify for the World Cup and there are many similarities with our current position at Newcastle. We went to Marseille knowing we had to get three from three and we did that. It’s the same now. If we can do the business we should be okay because I can’t see the other teams near us winning all of theirs.“

Newcastle’s Evan Olmstead is tackled by Saracens back row in the Gallagher Premiership on April 06  (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

With no relegation worries in New Zealand rugby, Olmstead experienced a totally different mindset with players prepared to take the kind of chances not regularly seen in the Premiership.

He explained: “It’s completely different in New Zealand. The attacking and defensive philosophy and the emphasis is on skills and decision making rather than set-piece.

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“It’s all about having a go and running with the ball because there is no relegation which means it’s high risk high reward while here it’s a more conservative game. I learnt about how to react to different players.

“Over here you could have a couple of players in the team who are bit random like Sinoti Sinoti or Niki Goneva in our squad, but over in New Zealand the whole back line is like that and so you have to get used to guys doing things that would be considered rogue over here. It was quite an experience.

“Going to the World Cup, hopefully we can ruffle a few feathers and we’re not going there just to turn up. We’re in a pool with New Zealand, South Africa, Italy and Namibia.

“At the last tournament I’d just broken into the Canada team and getting as much first-team action as possible in a high performance environment is really important leading into Japan.”

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Bull Shark 40 minutes ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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