Trust Meeting Part 3 : A Coach's View

By Slick
June 23 2005

It’s always fascinating to hear a coach’s insight into a season’s campaign. But Richard’s presentations have become unmissable. He shows an openness and honesty which have become a crucial part of the last 2 years and last night was no different. My thanks to Richard for access to his notes.

Before he started the review, Richard demonstrated his latest technological purchase – an interactive whiteboard, which will enable him to demonstrate many aspects of coaching even more fully and efficiently than is already the case in the new Analysis Room at Coombe Dingle. He can even clone Tommo, which is a scary proposition! Richard’s report picked up where his last one left off at the end of 2004 and was interspersed with motivational footage when the technology allowed!

The plan had become more ambitious, to aim for 2nd place rather than 3rd. Despite Joe and Matt being absent around the turn of the year, January passed with that ambition unscathed. However, the match at Exeter on Saturday 5th February was always likely to be crucial to the season and the travelling support well remember a day when we were soundly beaten, only to then witness England turned over by the spikey-haired one in Cardiff. Richard was brutally honest in his assessment that his organisation of the day ultimately proved to be key to the team’s downfall. With all the best intentions, a visit to the Royal Marines Commando Training Centre near Exeter changed the player’s normal routines, while a traffic jam and injuries to Bernardo and Jason during the match further disrupted the team, leaving a pumped up Exeter to clean up. To make matters worse the hangover carried over into the following weekend with the hugely deflating home defeat to Penzance. Despite league victories at Pertemps Bees and at home to Henley, the reversal in the Shield at Plymouth prompted a meeting between Rob Clilverd and Richard Hill. With all the shenanigans that had taken place concerning parachute payments and the threat of ring-fencing, Rob stressed the importance of winning the league this year rather than taking the risk of waiting until next season. That, twinned with all the hard work behind the scenes from the Board of Directors to find willing investors who would secure the long-term future of Bristol meant that it was make or break, NOW or NEVER!

Richard called a team meeting for Thursday March 10th, where the squad and coaches decided to increase training and go all out to win the league. A ‘Skills Programme’ was introduced for individuals as coaches discussed with each player the skills they needed to improve between then and the end of the season: the title could be decided upon someone executing one piece of skill at a crucial time! The fixture list looked like this: COVENTRY(A), PLYMOUTH (A), EXETER (H), ROTHERHAM (H), ORRELL (A), BEDFORD (A), OTLEY (A), not the sort you would want at such an important time. But the team put pressure on themselves to treat each game as ‘Sudden Death,’ like a round of the cup.

Just as the Supporters had responded favourably to Richard’s request before Christmas for a full back and bought Bernado Stortoni under the People’s Player scheme, just as the Board had responded favourably to his requests for another back row (Craig Short) and half back cover (Hentie Martens / Mark Woodrow), the Board again responded favourably to the request for a centre and just before the registration deadline he was able to sign Manuel Contepomi.

Now things began to come together before the Coventry match: Jason Strange &
Bernado Stortoni returned from injury and with Matt Salter also back in full flow all we needed then was to hope for a top quality performance from Manuel on his first appearance. We were not to be disappointed! Richard reminded the team of the earlier win over Coventry (53 v 10) with another of his motivational videos and despite early setbacks a win was secured.

The Supporter’s Club coaches rolled into Plymouth on a beautiful sunny afternoon the following weekend, the Bristol chant was in full flight and despite our inability to beat Albion on 4 previous attempts, the team were convinced that finally the tactics right were right and all that was needed now was the confidence to follow them through. Richard spoke of the smiles on the faces of Joe and Matt before the game, just keen to “get it on”. It didn’t take long for supporters to witness the best 40 minutes of the season to date, virtually home and hosed by half time and despite the expected Plymouth rally, a crucial victory with an unexpected bonus point was secured.

Once again Richard used the motivation of video footage ahead of the top of the table clash on Easter Sunday against Exeter. Often the team had put together excellent passages of play for 20 / 30 / 40 or even 60 minutes but never for near to 80 minutes as a 10000 crowd and thousands more watching on Sky witnessed a performance beyond everyone’s wildest dreams. A comfortable win the following week against a potentially tricky Rotherham side kept us firmly in the hunt. And so to Orrell, a 53-5 victory and the unexpected news that Exeter had lost to Coventry. We had WON the league with two matches remaining!!

The final 2 matches became academic as the results did not really matter towards the league title.
And a disappointing loss to a pumped up Bedford side, fresh from victory in the Shield was more than offset by a hard fought win in the last game of the season at Otley who had the best home record of any team in the league. Hundreds of supporters joined in the celebrations of a victory made all the more satisfying for a little lack of hospitality from the normally welcoming Yorkshire club.

And so to the future. It’s been a difficult three weeks since the end of the season. The spirit had been tremendous throughout the season and particularly good under pressure during the run in towards the end of the season. There have been salary reviews and the difficult task of releasing players. But Richard had to take a decision about those players he didn’t feel would add to the squad in the Premiership and thanked Owen Evans, Adam Billig, Hentie Martens, Mark Woodrow
And Luke Nabaro. Ed Pearce had a break clause in his contract which meant that he could re-negotiate his contract terms if we were promoted. The club offered new terms but he declined to accept the offer. Jim Brownrigg’s motivation was, in two years, to contribute towards getting Bristol promoted into the Premiership. When this was achieved after year one, his reason for joining Bristol had been achieved.

That means that 7 players have been released and 26 retained. A few have contracts to sign, but Richard is confident of securing deals with Salts, Joe, Alex, Marko and Beanie. As far as recruitment is concerned, targets come in 5 categories, with those already secured in each category:
a) Promotion of Bristol Academy players to a 1st XV contract + recruitment of other promising English players :
Dave Attwood, Redford Pennycook, Danny Howick and Rich Bignell; Rory Teague, Andy Reay
b) Exciting talent from 1st Division :
Sean Perry, Dan Ward-Smith, Lee Robinson
c) Premiership players from other Clubs who have experience of the league :
Roy Winters, Geraint Lewis
d) Bristol players returning to the Club :
Mark Regan
e) High class players from around the world.
Mariano Sambucetti

With a full schedule of A league fixtures, Richard is aiming to sign a total of 15 new players. Fitting those above into a team scenario, he stated that it was pretty easy to see where further signings are needed (1, 3, 5, 11, 13, 15)


Richard attended a dinner down the road recently, where Andy Higgins was the leading try scorer with 5! In comparison, Beanie scored 21 this season and Lee Robinson got 23 for Plymouth last And so the plan for the Premiership 2005/6 will be to play 15 man rugby, a higher risk strategy, passing the ball out of and before contact with ambition, scoring tries!
“There is a huge challenge ahead, to play the Bristol brand of exciting rugby under the pressure of the most competitive club competition in the world.”