I was lucky enough to catch up with Bath's Director of Rugby, Todd Blackadder, for a chat about the season so far and rugby in general. Click the video below to listen to the highlights of the interview or read on. Full interview video to follow...
How would you say the season has gone so far?
A bit like my school report! Plenty to work on. It's been a bit of a mixed bag, I say that because of the inconsistency. We've been massively impacted by injuries. The other reason is that we've put in a new attack structure which takes a bit of time to bed in. We've had 14 Friday night games. What that really means is that when you're impacted by injuries you can't properly train on Monday and also too with the internationals coming back and forth and the impact of the injuries means that we've only really had at times 23 or 24 players and if half of them are injured and they're not coming right until Wednesday then you only get one day to train, Captain's run Thursday and then play Friday and that's the cycle of death that we've been on! We've almost had a perfect storm which really hasn't helped.
There has been a lot of long term injured players coming back and what happens with long term injuries is that the players take a couple of weeks to get back in the groove and preform. There is A league and a little bit of Anglo Welsh but we really haven't had a platform where we can bring guys back to play to perform and for example Ross Batty, he was out for so long and came back and he was just starting to find some form and then he got injured again. Henry Thomas came back and it's alright being fit and available but our job is to preform and it took a while and then he had his best game and then he injured himself again. Tom Ellis is another guy who has been out for nine months and has come back, hasn't injured himself, but is just struggling to get into the groove. Zach Mercer is another one. I mean the impact of the internationals. I think we lose them for eleven games a year and then with Rhys out for ten weeks and we've had injuries to half backs. If you actually look at it all it all makes sense but every week we prepare a team to win and I still think that we should have been, there were a couple of really tight games at the start which have probably had a massive impact now. The Newcastle game, the Gloucester game we had both of those games in the bag and lost them in the last minutes and that's 8 to 9 points which has a massive impact at this time of the year.
As injuries have been such a big issue, do you think that Dave Attwood would have been a useful player at this time of the season?
Well yeah, he definitely would have been useful there is no doubt about that. But there is more to it than just putting him out on loan. It was more of a decision for Dave, a personal one, which we agreed to. Which has been good because he's gone out and played really well. At times I wish he was back, there is no doubt about that, I'm just looking forward to getting him back for next season.
Who is the first choice fly half at Bath?
It's interesting. Every week those guys are in a dual to be the very best. I just think at the moment, with the framework they are both really class players and there is not a lot between them. I just think the rub of the green so far has, it's not that Freddie is not a great player because he certainly can be but probably the rub of the green has gone to Rhys a little bit just because I think he's into his second year of knowing us coaches and he understands it all like he the type of game that we are trying to play and it's not that Freddie can't. But Freddie has come back in at a time when we've been really impacted by injuries with all those guys around him and what that means is that every week we are trying to build a game instead of building on the games we are trying to rebuild it at the start of the week. I think it's been tough for Freddie. There is not a lot between them and you've always got to have two class players in every position and sometimes it's just a gut feeling, form and sometimes you just want a change.
It must be good as a coach to have two players of such high quality to choose from.
Rhys played so well that he made the Wales squad, that says something about him and also too both of them are 82% goal kickers so yeah they are world class.
Do Rugby players get paid enough?
I think that Rugby is a really tough job. Rugby is one of those sports where it is just so physically and mentally demanding, especially here in the premiership because these players get four weeks off and they go week in week out. It doesn't matter if it's premiership, Champions cup, Challenge cup or Anglo Welsh or A League I mean it is very physically demanding and mentally tiring for them. I just wonder if that's one of the issues when you have a smaller squad and a massive amount of injuries, it's tough for these boys. If I had my way we would be playing less games.
I was just going to ask, do you think Rugby players need more rest?
I think they do.
How would you propose that happened?
I would probably be getting rid of one of the competitions that we play in.
The Anglo Welsh?
Yeah. And try and congest the season a little bit more so that there is more down time in the off season to allow these boys to rest and recover. Performance is all about rest and recovery. You play a massive match and train for it and on the flip side you have rest and recovery. So the quicker you can rest and recover the better. When we've got 22 year olds and 26 year olds with the types of injuries which in my experience I never saw in New Zealand. I just wonder if from too an earlier age if we are asking too much of the players both physically and mentally.
Do you think that Rugby Union has an injury crisis?
I don't think it's an injury crisis. I think that in certain competitions it is different. I only know in New Zealand and I know that most of the injuries are collision because the game was just so physical but because they get more time to rest and recover it's different types of injuries. The ball in play time is going up each year. It's gone up from 32 minutes to 46, so if that time has increased then so have the collisions. Then last year the IRB changed the rules around the tackle and everyone started tackling lower and then what happens is that people tackle lower and are getting their heads caught on knees and the whole HIA thing went up through the roof. This season the HIA's have gone down because everyone is focused on technique and everyone's focused on neck strength. I still think the HIA thing is still a concern. As a coach you don't ever want to put anyone at risk. The problem is that all of these things are now having an impact on performances and outcomes. Last season we lost a massive game and it was because we had two HIA's on two props in the same position and we had to play with 14. You're penalised for player welfare. So, it's a good challenge.
Do you think that Eddie Jones deserves to be criticised over England's performance?
It's like my job. You go into these jobs and there is always going to be scrutiny when there is expectation and I'm sure that Eddie, as a seasoned campaigner, he knows what he's doing. He worked them all pretty hard and probably to their detriment. A lot of good will come out of it. They will rest a lot of those players for the end of the year and take a whole new group away and maybe through a little adversity and a little bit of pain they may have a little bit more steel and resilience and resolve. I think that Eddie has a plan towards the World Cup and he will be solely judged on that. But they've won the last couple of Six Nations. I think there will be some great learning for them. Better now then next year whens it's all a bit too late!
That's the end of part one. Make sure that you check this page again tomorrow for part 2...
How would you say the season has gone so far?
A bit like my school report! Plenty to work on. It's been a bit of a mixed bag, I say that because of the inconsistency. We've been massively impacted by injuries. The other reason is that we've put in a new attack structure which takes a bit of time to bed in. We've had 14 Friday night games. What that really means is that when you're impacted by injuries you can't properly train on Monday and also too with the internationals coming back and forth and the impact of the injuries means that we've only really had at times 23 or 24 players and if half of them are injured and they're not coming right until Wednesday then you only get one day to train, Captain's run Thursday and then play Friday and that's the cycle of death that we've been on! We've almost had a perfect storm which really hasn't helped.
There has been a lot of long term injured players coming back and what happens with long term injuries is that the players take a couple of weeks to get back in the groove and preform. There is A league and a little bit of Anglo Welsh but we really haven't had a platform where we can bring guys back to play to perform and for example Ross Batty, he was out for so long and came back and he was just starting to find some form and then he got injured again. Henry Thomas came back and it's alright being fit and available but our job is to preform and it took a while and then he had his best game and then he injured himself again. Tom Ellis is another guy who has been out for nine months and has come back, hasn't injured himself, but is just struggling to get into the groove. Zach Mercer is another one. I mean the impact of the internationals. I think we lose them for eleven games a year and then with Rhys out for ten weeks and we've had injuries to half backs. If you actually look at it all it all makes sense but every week we prepare a team to win and I still think that we should have been, there were a couple of really tight games at the start which have probably had a massive impact now. The Newcastle game, the Gloucester game we had both of those games in the bag and lost them in the last minutes and that's 8 to 9 points which has a massive impact at this time of the year.
As injuries have been such a big issue, do you think that Dave Attwood would have been a useful player at this time of the season?
Well yeah, he definitely would have been useful there is no doubt about that. But there is more to it than just putting him out on loan. It was more of a decision for Dave, a personal one, which we agreed to. Which has been good because he's gone out and played really well. At times I wish he was back, there is no doubt about that, I'm just looking forward to getting him back for next season.
Who is the first choice fly half at Bath?
It's interesting. Every week those guys are in a dual to be the very best. I just think at the moment, with the framework they are both really class players and there is not a lot between them. I just think the rub of the green so far has, it's not that Freddie is not a great player because he certainly can be but probably the rub of the green has gone to Rhys a little bit just because I think he's into his second year of knowing us coaches and he understands it all like he the type of game that we are trying to play and it's not that Freddie can't. But Freddie has come back in at a time when we've been really impacted by injuries with all those guys around him and what that means is that every week we are trying to build a game instead of building on the games we are trying to rebuild it at the start of the week. I think it's been tough for Freddie. There is not a lot between them and you've always got to have two class players in every position and sometimes it's just a gut feeling, form and sometimes you just want a change.
It must be good as a coach to have two players of such high quality to choose from.
Rhys played so well that he made the Wales squad, that says something about him and also too both of them are 82% goal kickers so yeah they are world class.
Do Rugby players get paid enough?
I think that Rugby is a really tough job. Rugby is one of those sports where it is just so physically and mentally demanding, especially here in the premiership because these players get four weeks off and they go week in week out. It doesn't matter if it's premiership, Champions cup, Challenge cup or Anglo Welsh or A League I mean it is very physically demanding and mentally tiring for them. I just wonder if that's one of the issues when you have a smaller squad and a massive amount of injuries, it's tough for these boys. If I had my way we would be playing less games.
I was just going to ask, do you think Rugby players need more rest?
I think they do.
How would you propose that happened?
I would probably be getting rid of one of the competitions that we play in.
The Anglo Welsh?
Yeah. And try and congest the season a little bit more so that there is more down time in the off season to allow these boys to rest and recover. Performance is all about rest and recovery. You play a massive match and train for it and on the flip side you have rest and recovery. So the quicker you can rest and recover the better. When we've got 22 year olds and 26 year olds with the types of injuries which in my experience I never saw in New Zealand. I just wonder if from too an earlier age if we are asking too much of the players both physically and mentally.
Do you think that Rugby Union has an injury crisis?
I don't think it's an injury crisis. I think that in certain competitions it is different. I only know in New Zealand and I know that most of the injuries are collision because the game was just so physical but because they get more time to rest and recover it's different types of injuries. The ball in play time is going up each year. It's gone up from 32 minutes to 46, so if that time has increased then so have the collisions. Then last year the IRB changed the rules around the tackle and everyone started tackling lower and then what happens is that people tackle lower and are getting their heads caught on knees and the whole HIA thing went up through the roof. This season the HIA's have gone down because everyone is focused on technique and everyone's focused on neck strength. I still think the HIA thing is still a concern. As a coach you don't ever want to put anyone at risk. The problem is that all of these things are now having an impact on performances and outcomes. Last season we lost a massive game and it was because we had two HIA's on two props in the same position and we had to play with 14. You're penalised for player welfare. So, it's a good challenge.
Do you think that Eddie Jones deserves to be criticised over England's performance?
It's like my job. You go into these jobs and there is always going to be scrutiny when there is expectation and I'm sure that Eddie, as a seasoned campaigner, he knows what he's doing. He worked them all pretty hard and probably to their detriment. A lot of good will come out of it. They will rest a lot of those players for the end of the year and take a whole new group away and maybe through a little adversity and a little bit of pain they may have a little bit more steel and resilience and resolve. I think that Eddie has a plan towards the World Cup and he will be solely judged on that. But they've won the last couple of Six Nations. I think there will be some great learning for them. Better now then next year whens it's all a bit too late!
That's the end of part one. Make sure that you check this page again tomorrow for part 2...
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