The 'dark conversations' that jolted Koch into action at Saracens
Springboks World Cup winner Vincent Koch is looking to sign off on his six-year stint at Saracens with another Gallagher Premiership title on Saturday, but the tighthead wasn’t always as coveted at the London club as he is now. The 32-year-old will definitely be fondly farewelled after he plays his last match before his move to Wasps for the 2022/23 season.
However, he took time out in the build-up to this weekend’s Twickenham showpiece to explain how the club’s tough love during his maiden season with them was awkward but it eventually became the making of their prosperous relationship together.
Having arrived from the Super Rugby Stormers, the international front-rower made a November 2016 Anglo-Welsh Cup debut for the club before heading away again to start a couple of more Test matches, including against England at Twickenham.
He soon returned to make his Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup debuts only to find himself axed at the turn of the year, going without any Saracens match in early 2017 in between a January 15 European run against Scarlets and a March 11 Anglo-Welsh game against Leicester.
It was a jolting dent to his ego, given that he thought he was the whole package being a Springboks player, but he eventually got his head down. Rather than sulk too long, he absorbed the criticism voiced by Mark McCall to finish his first season in England as a Heineken Champions Cup winner, starting the final versus Clermont and establishing himself as a Premiership playoff starter as well.
“After the autumn international period where I was with the Springboks, I came back to Saracens and didn’t play for eight weeks and Mark’s words were, ‘We think you’re a good player but we think you don’t work hard enough’. For me that was a massive eye-opener,” revealed Koch ahead of a Premiership final when he will be packing down for Saracens against Leicester skipper Ellis Genge.
“Coming from an international set-up I thought I was the full package but they were ‘you don’t work hard enough’ and that was the best eye-opener for me. I had a nice chat with them and they said, ‘We want to make me a better player, we think you can get better’. All the coaches spent so much time with me.
“The things I didn’t do, which you don’t see too much with a prop, were kick chases, for example. They worked hard with me on that, how hard can you work off the ball. For a tighthead prop, it’s something you don’t expect to do but if you can do it, it stands out and they have made me a better player.
“They have kept me on my toes. I would have dark conversations with them if a game didn’t go well, they would tell me what they expected from me and the work-ons I had to do. Throughout the six years they never stopped coaching and they had open conversations. I wanted to get better every time, I’m not the perfect picture, I’m not the full package. They invested loads in me trying to make me better.”
Koch now compares the level of training done at Saracens to what he has experienced in recent times with the world champion Springboks. “We had some of the Springboks coaches here a few weeks ago and they were quite surprised by the way we trained and the level we train at,” he explained.
“It is definitely not that they train harder here, it’s just they expected something else, they wanted me to do something else that maybe I didn’t think I had to do and maybe back in the day it wasn’t a great journey for us with the Springboks in 2016, maybe I just went into a comfort zone and thought it was good enough and the club actually told me it is not good enough, we want our boys to peak, to train and to play at this level.
“Saracens training is exactly like the Springboks set-up at the moment. The Springboks coaches were very impressed by the way we train. Maybe back in the day it was a bit different and it was probably one of the reasons, I’m not sure.
“Saracens wanted the full package for us to work harder and for me, that was the toughest thing to hear – that I had to work harder and had to learn the tough way not playing for eight weeks and seeing the boys playing. They just opened my eyes and now I know exactly what the club wants and they expect from me as a player.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben 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.
19 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.
7 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.
19 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?
7 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.
7 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 commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
7 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments