I dropped in on the Waratah’s presser and training session today. Given the importance of Saturday’s clash, I thought it might be worthwhile recording some of the minutiae and impressions I had:
1. At the conference Michael Cheika brought Israel Folau and Ben Robinson with him. I am sure Izzy was brought for his star rating rather than anything new he would bring – he’s shy and reserved when he is interviewed and although he answers questions well I am sure he gets sick of the same-old questions. Better journalist’s questions would help to shed more light. Georgina Robinson was impressive, but overall the quality of questions was not terribly incisive.
2. Ben Robinson looked awkward in interview, he looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there. There was some good natured teasing when Cheika “mistakenly” announced Jeremy Tilse at loose head starter that showed Cheika’s mischievous streak. Good fun!
3. Cheika exhudes the strength that strong leaders seem to have. One thing that I learnt from my business experience was that good leaders focus on the process and leave the outcomes to look after themselves. Cheika epitomises this and constantly refers to it in his answers.
4. Cheika genuinely respects the Brumbies, he was full of praise for their form and he regards them as the best team in the Australian conference. He remarked that he could see a gradual change in the way the Brumbies were playing now compared to last year and that he expected this to continue to evolve.
5. In his answers to questions he suggested that all games were equal, but it was clear from subsequent answers that he is conscious of the importance of this week (an eight point game) and he understands clearly the difference in importance between conference and non-conference games.
6. The training session lasted for just over an hour, but it was very, very intense. There was a lot of talk between team mates, all encouraging. You could see the disguise of intent that Cheika referred to in the conference in the way plays were run.
7. There were some silky skills shown in a couple of the movements, the great game set plays we have seen so far are regularly practised and refined.
8. Alofa has a magic step, better even than Izzy’s. Several times he left his opponent grasping at air in one-on-one training drills.
9. The session had been going really well up till when they began running opposed lineouts and backlines in concert. The first few lineouts went really well but after about five good ones they totally went to custard, with poor throwing and poor jumping co-ordination. Cheika responded to this by discussing rucks – rucken this and rucken that – and I really couldn’t see the connection.
10. The strange touching of elbows at the game is no accident. The training session ended with a short discussion followed by elbow touching practise.
Over the press conference and the training session there was a sense of just how important Saturday will be. Its building up to a real climax, a crunch game that won’t decide the season outcome but will take one team a long way forward and leave the other with some serious catching up to do. This is especially true for the Brumbies but also rings true for the Waratahs. It will be one of about four key games for each team that will decide the outcome of their season.
