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'You can't be a top-six club if you're not conditioned properly': Worcester bring in ex-Ireland age-grade Six Nations winner
Worcester have recruited David Drake from Ulster to become the Gallagher Premiership club’s new head of performance and head of strength and conditioning. A 2007 Six Nations U20s Grand Slam winner with Ireland, the former out-half had a short-lived career after that due to injury, quickly moving into the S&C area of the sport.
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Drake has worked at Ulster for eleven years and Worcester will hope he is the latest piece in the puzzle solved with new head coach Jonathan Thomas seeking to radically change the dynamic at the seemingly forever lower table Warriors.
“When you talk about the direction a club is going in a lot of discussion is centred on the recruitment of players or coaches,” said Thomas. “What sometimes goes under the radar is the appointments in the S&C department. If your players are not conditioned in the way that you need them to be it doesn’t matter how good a coach you are you won’t achieve your goals.
“There is room for huge growth in this team and the club. David has unbelievable knowledge and he is going to transform our S&C department. We want to be a top-six club but you can’t be a top-six club if you are not conditioned properly. David Drake is going to be a high-class appointment for us, coming in and bringing alignment to all the departments and, in terms of high performance, taking us to another level.”
Drake has been in a variety of roles at Ulster, his latest being senior athletic performance coach, while he also spent a few years working with the Ireland U20s, the Ireland women’s hockey team and at the Irish Institute of Sport.
?? @DavidDrakeCoach will join as Head of Performance and Strength and Conditioning in the summer.
— Worcester Warriors (@WorcsWarriors) April 26, 2021
“I have been blown away by the vision this club has and the people involved. I’m very much looking forward to supporting the players and support staff to make progress next season,” Drake said. “In what has been a time of change for the club, I am excited to help Alan Solomons, JT and the wider support staff to develop the best possible environment and programme we can. That work will begin this pre-season where we have an opportunity to prepare this exciting squad for a successful season.”
Drake will succeed Johan Pretorius who has left his role as Warriors’ head of performance by mutual agreement. “David is an outstanding S&C coach, who has all the credentials to head up our Performance Department,” added Solomons. “He is the ideal fit for us and I believe that there will be great synergy between him, JT and the other coaches.
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“We are indeed most fortunate to have secured such a good replacement for Johan Pretorius, who did such a great job for us here at Sixways. We thank Johan for his invaluable contribution and wish him all the best for the future.”
"I could easily have been rocking around Belfast going ‘I play for Ulster’, wearing all my Ulster tracksuits and living in fantasy land."@NiallAnnett2, speaking on the @RugbyTelf podcast, urges more fringe Irish talent to look overseas for playing time https://t.co/9vbb1aL9F0
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 25, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
The evidence is not strong that this is necessary. Mounga choked on clutch kicks in the WRC final and lost the match by not performing his core goal kicking role to the level required. He also choked in the Semi final against England and was targeted as the weak point in the defence allowing them to score. Not a test great frankly. Why bend the rules for a player that is competent but not brilliant at test level?
11 Go to commentsDear Robbie, Please return to the Crusaders next season. Sincerely, Scott
1 Go to commentsDid the big E call the Irish the ‘White Can’ts’? That would’ve been good
29 Go to commentsDalton Papalii will be lucky to be selected on the Matchday 23. Ardie Savea, Ethan Blackadder, Luke Jacobson, and Peter Lauki are all as good or better openside flankers
9 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a lock and they have a much longer shelf life than a loose forward. Far more likely that Barrett will still demand a starting position based on performance at age 33 at RWC 2027 than Savea, whose explosive athleticism will have declined and he will in all likelihood have been surpassed by Hoskins Sotutu, Wallace Siti, Peter Lauki and Brayden Iose.
9 Go to commentsExtremely frustrating to get yet more speculation over whether or not Eben actually counted 12 players or not, but honestly big respect to McCloskey for keeping it classy and not pointing out Etzebeth’s hypocrisy. The Irish are a popular team outside of Ireland because they do their talking on the pitch, and its honestly a PR masterclass that they’re keeping it that way following Etzebeth’s provocation.
29 Go to commentsGood option for the lineout lost there.
1 Go to commentsIt’s not like Saffas have a long history of spouting absolute shite at any & every occasion. Oh wait… The dangers of an inferior third world education strike again.
29 Go to commentsI’m so glad we’re revisiting this. Really needs to be dissected further. I’m also so glad that a guy in the stands who wasn’t anywhere near the field when any of it would have been said (and even confirms this) has taken the lead and commented as Ireland. Definitely cleared it all up. This article would be hilarious if it wasn’t so misleading.
29 Go to commentsits such a shame he hasn’t achieved more success at club level. He’s really not been a potent finisher for a while now, but he’s still excellent in the kick chase. That’s the kind of skillset that generally only gets appreciated when you’re playing in premiership and european finals. I’m not sure whether the challenge cup counts given the quality of the competition seems lower than in previous years, but his duel with Mapimpi should be enthralling.
1 Go to commentsThe point is the irish players were arrogant,call it like you want sugar coat it aswell but they were you could see it in their way they handeled themselfs on the field when they got something right so dont tell me it was not arrogance it was,you can fool other people but not me,and to say to one of our players see you in the final put a nail in the coffin for this bullsh@t,just be grown men and accept it that you were arrogant,you could if seen it from a mile away, and then you lost to the allblacks what a cocky move that didnt work out for you ,Eben was right when he said u were arrogant,the point is you will deny it because you lost it all just grow some balls and move on we had won you lost accept it.
29 Go to comments“summer tour of North and South America” so its a summer tour of america?
1 Go to commentsEverybody is giving the Irish players the benefit of the doubt in ‘what they meant’, but none of these pundits or commentators offer the same courtesy to Eben. I don’t think Eben went, 1, 2, 3… etc. What might have happened is he didn’t count and when the 3rd or 5th guy said he went, hang on why are so many of them saying this… and then started to concentrate on it more and more as players continue to say it. So no, he didn’t count it, he realised many Irish players said it and made an assumption based on that… The Irish team was VERY confident at the time and I do believe they believed they were going to win the World Cup, which borders a bit on the arrogant side…
29 Go to commentsI can see how some of the Irish players would have said”see you in the final” as a gentle comment after a victory. It’s open to interpretation but it’s clumsy language. I don’t know the fella but I assure you Eben doesn’t have an axe to grind with Ireland. He has never been the media seeking pro. Oh and BTW it is I’ll be our winter in July so won’t be wet.
29 Go to comments*McCloskey*: _I saw this clip. Like, I wasn’t playing that game; I was in the stands…so you don't know sh!t in other words, infact you know just as much as Goode on this matter. I will believe the guy who was on the pitch when things were said as appose to two people speculating over what was said._
29 Go to comments@ turlough dream on buddy. Your boys are in for one tough time down in sa this summer…
29 Go to commentsI think Goode is looking to establish a platform for himself. Eben said “Probably” so that suggests he wasn’t counting. It’s an estimate Goode. I think even with your short and uneventful experience with the Sharks you probably realise winding up Saffas will get you some airtime. It’s a none event. Move on
29 Go to commentsRugby has never been as structured and synthetically pleasing as it is at this moment. The game is simply beautiful and messing with it too much will ruin it for everyone. I can't help but feel that over the past decade or so many rules have been changed to accommodate a certain hemisphere and counter another. Perhaps I am wrong but I somehow don’t think so.
2 Go to commentsNoted some excellent defensive steals from the Rebs last week against the Reds, largely J Canham, I think. It’s not a Rolls Royce but they are a real threat with their defensive line out at the beginning matches. What do you make of Canham Nick, WBs squad material?
86 Go to commentsCoin flip between Ardie and Scott Barrett. Both have their pros and cons, and both would probably be decent. Ardie has way more passion on the field, but that hasn’t always translated into the best decisions. They will both turn 34 at the next World Cup, so both will most likely have their best days a few years behind them. It’s hard to imagine now, but looking at young players coming through Ardie will probably be under the most pressure to retain his place in the team. Beauden Barrett also an outside chance if Razor sees him as the first choice 10.
9 Go to comments