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'They are going to ruin a lot of people's weekends' - Missing England stars make Matson wary

By Chris Jones
Tabai Matson /PA

Tabai Matson the Harlequins head coach, never expected former club Bath to be enduring a “horror” season and has warned his players the West Country strugglers are still capable of ruining “a lot of people’s weekends.”

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The reigning champions arrive at the Recreation Ground to face bottom placed Bath without Joe Marler, Alex Dombrandt, Luke Northmore, Joe Marchant and Marcus Smith who are with England, and will be seen as more vulnerable than ever during the Six Nations championship when Premiership matches will continue to be played.

However, Matson is convinced that the Quins squad is strong enough to maintain a top four place and is taking nothing for granted despite Bath’s many injury problems. He added: “This is the toughest and closest rugby competition in the world and if you are going to be in the top four at the end of April, chances are these young men – the future of the club – who are stepping into the breach over the next eight weeks have to contribute significantly.

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“Bath have absolutely nothing to lose and if we give them a 13 point lead then I don’t think we will win the game. I know a lot of the good men and women who work in the Bath organisation and they are proud people. I remember the glory days of Bath and some of my favourite players are Bath from the 1980s and 90s. We don’t care where they sit in the table, we have a job to do.

“They are going to ruin a lot of people’s weekends and we have to have a good enough game plan to play well at the Rec for 80 mins and we haven’t done that for a month. It is a surprise that Bath are in this position but the year I was at Bath, Newcastle got into the top four and then were relegated and that highlights the fickleness of high performance sport and just how tough the Premiership is if you get injuries in the wrong positions and lose a bit of confidence.

“Suddenly, you can end up having a horror year on the back of thinking in pre-season you could push for top six. Bath have very good players and for long periods of games they do well and we are not going to underestimate them and can have a free shot at us.”

Matson spent a year coaching Bath in 2016-17 before having to return to New Zealand for family reasons and has watched his team struggle to pull away from opponents and in January. They have needed to show remarkable self belief to emerge with three points late wins over Gloucester, Cardiff and Castres and a two-point victory at home to Exeter.

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Matson said: “In the last month we have had close finishes that could easily have gone the other way and lost them. I am mentally preparing a losing speech basically every week but haven’t had to roll it out yet. They are amazing (results) and when you got back and look at the games – what phenomenal finishes. As a coach reviewing the performance, we are constantly shaking our heads because there are so many things we could have done (against Castres) like conceding 13 points in the first few minutes. There is an easier way I am sure!

“We live and die by results but are driven by performance and that was why Bomb (forwards coach Adam Jones) had his head in his hands at the end of the Castres game. We all took our heart medicine after Alex Dombrandt scored that last try. The results from last year have given this group the belief that if there is time on the board and they have the ball then they can score a try. That belief has been underpinning the late score changes which are so exciting to watch.”

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 12 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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