'We actually have to start getting some wins' - what life's like in the Premiership dogfight
At last it’s over, the enormous 40-day new year hibernation in between Premiership games. Only the 2019 summer off-season will have a longer break in between matches than what we have experienced following the final whistle blowing at the Ricoh on January 6 and the kick-off whistle sounding at Ashton Gate and Kingsholm tonight.
European and Premiership Cup fixtures have been the focus the past five weekends, but the league now comes roaring back into fashion and will focus minds over the next four weekends.
There are multiple areas of intrigue. Just four points separate the duelling top two. Next is the nine-point log-jam that contains eight more teams on the ladder. And then comes the pair of cellar dwellers, the relegation battle where only four points separates bottom from the safety of 11th place.
The trapdoor is the league’s hottest topic. Premiership club owners are seeking RFU talks to ring-fence the tournament and put an end to the annual basement battle where the worst team is send packing to the Championship.
Delivering long-term financial sustainability for professional rugby in England is their stated key objective and an update is due on April 9. However, all that backroom politicking is of no use just now to the likes Newcastle and Worcester who are duking it out down in the basement.
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The clubs will meet at Kingston Park on March 3 in what will likely be a delicious Sunday roast of a collision. But there are two rounds of matches before that summit to alter the current dynamic that has the four-win Warriors perched on 21 points, one win and four points better off than the Falcons whose fourth place finish last term is now but a distant memory.
Worcester are at Harlequins and host Leicester before they visit England’s north-east. Newcastle, meanwhile, have daunting away days at Bath and Exeter before they host their must-win match against their fellow strugglers. Some wins here and they could drag the likes of Bristol and others into the end-of-season fight for survival which both clubs are very familiar with.
Glance at the finishing positions over the last six seasons and you will find either Worcester or Newcastle occupying the table’s 11th spot. That is admirable stickability even if they have each slipped up once, Newcastle relegated in 2012 and Worcester suffering likewise in 2014.
Given the preference, Newcastle midfielder Chris Harris would prefer if his club wasn’t slugging it out down the rear. It was felt Falcons had come of age last season, finishing up with 14 wins in 22 matches, featuring in a league semi-final at Exeter and qualifying for a first Champions Cup appearance since a 2005 quarter-final against Stade Francais.
The #GallagherPrem comes sweeping back into our lives ?
Will @BristolBears hold off the invading @WaspsRugby force? ?
Can @gloucesterrugby defend the Kingsholm gates from @ExeterChiefs ? ?
It all goes down ? TODAY ?
Play our Predictor Game now:https://t.co/PGqYRDX9AR pic.twitter.com/1mXRvWTHpV
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) February 15, 2019
However, their old inconsistencies have since returned, plunging them into their latest fight for their future. “There has been a bit of a confidence thing going on at the club,” reckoned Harris, the Scottish international who scored against Italy in the Six Nations at the start of February.
“We weren’t playing badly at the start of the season, we just weren’t getting the results. That led to a bit of a confidence knock and it just spiralled, but it has got to the point now where we have got to park that and kick on. We are still showing we can play some good rugby and it’s about getting that consistency for 80 minutes and walking away with the victories.”
Has the experience of juggling rare Champions Cup involvement with league commitments hindered? “No, I don’t think so. There was a bit more rotation in that European block but no, I don’t think that has had an effect on it at all because you still go out to win whether it is the Challenge Cup or the European Cup. Nothing changed there.”
Newcastle going down would look bad for the RFU business of spreading the rugby message around the country. Interest in England’s north-east has been growing since it hosted a share of 2015 World Cup matches.
Who can get back on track in the #GallagherPrem? ?
Who used the time off better? ?
Can @FalconsRugby get a head of steam? ?
Will @bathrugby challenge the top 4?? ? ?
Questions, questions, question ????
Read the preview here:https://t.co/pEapUdVN9q pic.twitter.com/yo7dST2bBZ
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) February 13, 2019
Next May’s Champions Cup final in the Tyneside city has already been declared a sell-out, England are due to play a Test there against Italy next September, while the Falcons themselves have got into on the big-game action, drawing a 30,174 attendance to St James’ Park last March, a venue experiment they are repeating with their March 23 fixture against Sale.
This increased appetite for rugby is putting added pressure on the club to stay afloat in the Premiership and not suffer the catastrophe of relegation and a return to the Championship wilderness.
“Rugby is growing and growing and we owe it to the area, to the club and the fans to start putting some victories in,” accepted Harris.
“We’re at the stage now where we are very much aware of our league position. We are looking at this next block of four games looking to pick up as many victories as we can, but you have to take it week on week and Bath away is the first target.
“We’re going down to get something out of that and we then have got Exeter away, two tough fixtures but two fixtures we have to give a good go at.
“It’s just trying to get us to focus on ourselves, to get back to enjoying rugby because you can’t let the pressure get to you to much as you start playing within yourself. We’re just looking at how we’re playing the game and where we’re going wrong, putting those wrong parts of the game right.
“Relegation does keep everything interesting. There is more pressure on you to perform when there is relegation but that is just the way the league is. There is nothing we can do about that at the minute, but it does make it especially more interesting for the spectators and there is more pressure on teams at the bottom to be putting in performances.”
Harris was one of the main beneficiaries of Newcastle’s improvement last season, his form catching the eye of Gregor Townsend. The 28-year-old has gone on to make seven appearances for Scotland and while he hopes to add to that with a recall for next weekend’s trip to Paris, he would like go there on the back of a club result at Bath as he knows time is running out on the Falcons to spread their wings and lift themselves off the bottom.
“There is loads of time (Newcastle have 10 matches remaining) but the weeks go by pretty quick and we have addressed that in the team. We can’t week in week out keep coming in saying ‘we have to get a win boys’. We actually have to start getting some wins and that starts this week.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Did footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
34 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
34 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
22 Go to comments