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The Handre Pollard advice that England's Finn Carnduff has lapped up
Finn Carnduff is living the rugby dream. Last Friday night the 19-year-old stepped off the Gallagher Premiership bench to help Leicester see out their win over Harlequins; this Friday night he will skipper the England U20s when they open their Six Nations campaign away to Italy in Treviso. Lovely.
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He is the third Leicester youngster in succession to be appointed age-grade captain, following in the slipstream of Emeka Ilione and Lewis Chessum, and Tigers’ inner sanctum has been his university regarding how best to skipper a team. Just look at the names he has recently been in the ear of.
“The value you get at playing at such a high level as that and players like Handre Pollard, Jasper Wiese, guys who have won a World Cup, the amount of value they give you with questions they ask and experience they have got, you just learn from them and it makes you a better player.”
So what words of wisdom have especially stuck in the mind? “It’s just want would you do in certain situations, particularly from Handre’s point of view having the captaincy role, in these pressure situations what are you thinking, how are you staying so cool-headed, how are you not letting the situation get the better of you and making sure you are staying in the moment and not getting too overwhelmed.”
Getting overwhelmed isn’t something you’d fear happening to Carnduff on duty with England. “We have got plenty experience of Finn captaining age-group teams and if we didn’t feel he was the right person for it, we would have given it to someone else,” enthused U20s coach Mark Mapletoft. “He understands the importance of driving high standards and wanting to be the best.”
Leicester, then, is proving the best pathway for Carnduff’s development. “I have been a Leicester fan my whole life so quite nice to win with them, a bit of a dream come through to play,” he said harking back to last weekend’s 16-minute appearance in London.
“I remember them [Harlequins] scoring the final try and thinking, ‘Oh no, we have lost this game’. And then thankfully we managed to get over the line. Great result and for me, very happy with the honour to play in the Prem. The team win was huge.”
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His recent increase in size helped. “I have put a bit of weight on, about 110 kilos now,” he replied when asked if the 106kgs listed on the Leicester website at the start of this season was still accurate.
“It doesn’t come easy. I’m sure most boys would say putting weight on is a slow process, a lot of hard work off the pitch both nutrition-wise and in the gym. But if you are disciplined with it all it does come in the end. The hard work pays off
Winning collisions is a huge emphasis for the 6ft 4in England blindside who comfortably doubles up as a lock. “That versatility for me is huge, it’s something I feel a lot of players can use. Having the ability to play multiple positions is valuable.
“Collisions within our game plan, we want to be a physical team and we want to dominate the collision area so it’s something we have been working on and for me, that is another area of my game that I am looking to develop as well.
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“Italy are always strong, they come with a very good forward pack, a physical team, like to get into an arm wrestle with teams. We completely respect Italy but we are going to go to Treviso and play our game, play the way we want to play and get the result.
“We have got a lot of new lads in, fresh faces which is nice. There was a good group out in South Africa at the back end of last season but it’s nice to get fresh faces, fresh ideas. The overall feeling within the group is excitement. We have had two warm-up games already and we’re ready now to go and play a Test match against Italy.
“A big thing for us is how close can we get as a group, how well can we get to understand each other and know what makes each other tick, what gets each other ready for games, how we best receive feedback. That is the best way to get everything out of a team at the end of the day.
“You are going to play your game but it is a team game. Rugby is 15 guys on a pitch, not yourself, so it is how you can work with the guys around you is the thing you have got to work on more importantly.”
The final word goes to the curiosity that Carnduff is the only player from Leicester named in the England match day 23. Tigers used always be well represented but they are currently in the shade compared to Newcastle, Northampton and Harlequins who each have four players named in Mapletoft’s squad for the round one game in Italy.
“It just shows you the strength of all the academies across England,” reckoned Carnduff. “The boys from Leicester that haven’t made the squad, it just shows you the improvement in academies around the country, they’re getting better and they’re producing players of such high calibre.
“Maybe it’s not a reflection on Leicester but a reflection on the other clubs and how well they are doing. It’s exciting that we can pick players from various clubs (all 10 have representation along with Racing 92). Hopefully, the Premiership in a few years will be an exciting thing with a lot of exciting new players.”
Comments on RugbyPass
This is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
9 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to commentsRugbyPass writers are useless! you guys should get a real job because you all suck at writing about rugby!!!
9 Go to commentslooking forward to RWC2027 …. Boks on mission impossible for the Three-in-a-row, ABs to prove they being on par, France wishing to crown the “DuPont-era”, Ireland knocking on the Semi-Door ….. until then we’ll probably have to deal with Weird Ben’s fantasy-RWC23 (fun fact is, the drivel always creates a flooding of comments) …..
221 Go to commentsBen Smith you really make some good points in this article, the Springboks were not close to perfect and good still beat the All Blacks, imagine if they were as good as they were against France what a hiding the All Blacks would have gotten… maybe another Twickenham drubbing
221 Go to commentsIt is a good argument to keep the Rebels for one more year but also isnt this just opening the door as well for keeping them beyond 2025. If they can create some sort of financial stability in the next year and if their performances lift as they have this season then how would RA even cull them after that? It might be the most cost effective decision at this stage and perhaps many people are guilty of keeping relationships going because of the cost to decouple but then again when does that ever work out well?
24 Go to commentsDear Ben Smith you are a genius! God please become the next all blacks coach that can take on the mighty BOKS. Your rugby acumen is second to none - imagine your dads sperm bounced as unfortunately as that oval ball did….we would not be blessed with your presence. Just as the all blacks were missing a man you too are missing a chromosome for 80% of your life, so your insights are not only profound but ring true from your own experiences. Just as the TMO interfered with citing an illegal pass I am sure your local authorities interfere with your illegal passes you make on women - How dare they!!! God forbid that rugby be officiated fairly. You are the right man for the job. Next all blacks coach is here ladies and gentlemen Miss Ben Smith (He/She/They/IT)
221 Go to commentsHuge engine this guy and great to see him back ..The amount of clean outs he does at the ruck are ridiculous !!
3 Go to commentsThe level of desperation in this article is just embarrassing.
221 Go to commentsSome silly trolling in the comments.
9 Go to commentsEverywhere you turn some irish journo is advocating Ireland as the greatest, reasoning that the wc is a 4 year cycle event so, they say wc doesn’t matter it’s the rugby in between that should account for the accolade. If there was no wc then some substance could be gained, however in my opinion the moment that defined Ireland’s fate against the abs was 37 phases of repeated head bashing against a brick wall. If a change in strategy or a tinker with the game plan was executed then things could've been vastly different. And to point a finger the let down was in the hands of the number 10.
64 Go to commentsI have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.
24 Go to commentsYeah, and ours is waaay bigger than yours. Just as you's get a semi…oh hold on that never happens
64 Go to commentsLove watching
1 Go to commentsThe Melbourne Rebels lineout is a complete disaster so not surprisingly a kiwi coach of the Wallabies hires the worst lineout coach in the country and a foreigner to boot. No surprises whatsoever here…….
6 Go to commentsThank your for wasting 2 minutes of my life Daniel. There is a useful message in there somewhere but your delivery sucks.
9 Go to commentsBen Smith, you are cry baby
221 Go to commentsSux that homophobia is still a thing though. I wonder how many players who could have become legends never kept playing rugby because they felt unwelcome.
9 Go to commentsCrazy he’s only 28, feel like he’s been around forever - don’t mind the move, safe pair of hands and creates depth in a thin position for ABs. Hopefully aides Kemara’s growth also without thrusting too much responsibility on him
1 Go to commentsMen should show strength and be mean, but they should be able to show emotion to those close yo them in certain times, birth of your child, death of family, proud moment. This article is stupid
9 Go to comments