A big thank you!

THANK you for your support last weekend the people of Nottingham really made a difference.

 

I can safely say that the Nottingham crowd went home satisfied on Sunday after an outstanding game of rugby at Meadow Lane.  In last week’s column I called for the support of the Nottingham crowd and you certainly delivered.

 

To run out in front of our biggest crowd of the season was a great feeling.  It was a huge game for us against Bedford, they were above us by a point and by all accounts had been the in form side in the league.  It promised to be a fantastic game and it didn’t fail to deliver.

 

Sunday was, by far, some of the most entertaining rugby that we have seen this season and the game had everything for the full 80 minutes. 

 

I was certainly feeling the effects on Monday morning, but somehow those bumps, bruises and ruck marks don’t feel quite as bad when you have won and moved up to third in the league!

 

The atmosphere at Meadow Lane was amazing and I can’t thank the fans enough.  Over 2000 people came down to watch us take on our East Midlands rivals and I just hope that they will keep coming back, there can’t be much better value for money on a Sunday afternoon and we haven’t lost at home for nearly a year now!

 

So Bedford dealt with and we move on to another tough test away at Otley this weekend.  They may not have won a game yet but we haven’t got a great record in Yorkshire. 

 

After such a high it is the test of a really great team to build yourself up again for another challenge, our focus will be on bring home 5 points.  The big games don’t come along unless you win these ones!!

 

Thank you again for your support last weekend!!! 

Why do we always chop down our greatest talents?

DANNY Cipriani is a both a talented and lucky man but I do fear for him at the moment.

 

He is an immense rugby talent and I have no doubt that he will be starring for England and Wasps this season and who wouldn’t want to be seen out and about with Kelly Brook, never mind what they do behind closed doors!  But I just hope he is being managed well.

 

The media in the UK have a habit of setting people up for a fall and they are hardly being subtle about this with Cipriani. 

 

He is everywhere you turn at the moment making headlines on the front and back pages, the darling of the media at the moment but how long will it be before it goes the other way?

 

A classic case of tall Poppy syndrome – why do we always want to chop down our greatest talents having built them up and up and seemingly enjoy doing it at the same time? 

 

I suppose it sells papers but surely creating a winning team would be better for all concerned?

 

This week was a perfect example, Cipriani and Lewsey had a head to head in training, so what!!! 

 

Anyone who has been to a rugby training session will know that confrontation is common place.  Honesty is the name of the game in any top level rugby team and if one of the players isn’t pulling his weight he gets told.  If you have to tell him forcefully then so be it. 

 

What happens on the field stays on the field and as soon as the game ends or training finishes the matter is closed and lesson learnt.  Cipriani and Lewsey showed that with the try celebration on Sunday.

 

Let’s leave Cipriani to play World Class rugby and good luck to him with his World Class girlfriend.

 

 

 

14 Hours on a coach journey-but another five points

I had a lot of time to think and reflect over the last weekend.  On Saturday morning at 11am I boarded the coach with the rest of the team and embarked on the long trip to Cornwall.

 

I am not going to say that being a rugby player doesn’t have its perks but having to sit on a coach for 14 hours over a weekend is not really one of them.  However, when you are sat on a bus with nowhere else to go you do find time to relax, switch off, people watch and engage in some weird and wonderful conversations.

 

The trip was definitely worthwhile we picked up another 5 points and moved nicely into joint second in the league but it is on these trips that you find out more than how good you are at rugby.  From 11am Saturday until 1:30am Monday morning we were totally immersed in each others worlds. 

 

True you have time to relax and be alone in the hotel but for the rest of the time you are together.  I tend to sleep a lot on the bus but for a few hours, and there were plenty of them, I just studied what people were doing.  A group at the front were whiling away the time watching DVD’s, some people read books, others read rugby reports and papers, a small group played on their PSPs and the crazy gang at the back held a card school.

 

What intrigued me the most was that within one team we have so many different characters, who all prepare differently for the game and enjoy spending their leisure time doing lots of different things.  But come 3pm on game day we all have the same focus goal and drive to deliver one thing and for the fourth consecutive game we have done that this season and long may it continue.

 

Every player will have a very different week in the build up to the game on Sunday against Doncaster but we will all arrive at 3pm ready to deliver as a team.

 

See you there……………………….