RUGBY:With a heavy heart, I will attempt to address what has been happening at London Irish these past few weeks. Plain and simple: we are in a rut. A slump.
WHEN YOUR job is to win for a living, a nine-game losing streak creeps into every aspect of your life. Your rugby becomes all consuming.
And so, with a heavy heart, I will attempt to address what has been happening at London Irish these past few weeks.
Plain and simple: we are in a rut. A slump.
Remarkably, as my Dad pointed out on Saturday night, we remain fourth in the Aviva Premiership standings. Lose nine games in succession and by right your season should be in ruins but ours is still alive. We are only eight points adrift of league leaders, the Northampton Saints.
But I have averted my eyes from the table these past few weeks. That was not out of fear but simply a case of trying to remain focused on halting this terrible slide. This kind of losing streak is new to all of us at the club and it has impacted badly on my life away from rugby. To be honest, it is on my mind 24-seven.
Sure, I can play it down by stating two defeats came in the LV Cup or that some of the defeats were suffered in the most difficult places to win a game of rugby like Toulon, Adams Park (Wasps) and Franklin’s Gardens (Northampton). But I would only be masking the problem. And that will solve nothing.
When a professional club goes through this type of miserable spell you begin to see different sides of people. It is unavoidable. The banter that is synonymous with a bunch of men working cheek by jowl on a daily basis loses some of its lustre.
People don’t linger around the dressing room as much as they would when we are winning. It is not a reflection of the guys, merely human nature. The temptation is to get out of there. Monday morning is the worst. This is the video session.
The horrible feeling from last Saturday’s agonising 25-24 defeat to Bath – when Olly Barkley sunk us with the last kick of the game – must be revisited. I may sound overly dramatic but other pro sportspeople will confirm that nauseating feeling. You get literally sick to your stomach when things go this badly wrong.
The solution? Just get a win. Doesn’t matter how, doesn’t matter how ugly. Just get it done.
We thought we had done enough against Bath but for the ninth successive game it didn’t break for us. Guys are so desperate to make a difference that they are not playing their normal game. I know I haven’t been. We are trying to do other things like deny opposition clean ball that is just leading to unnecessary penalties. Skill levels are also affected as you are trying to force plays you wouldn’t normally contemplate.
Every facet of your game comes under the microscope when you are losing.
Confidence might be low but I can say with utter conviction that I know we will come out of this dark tunnel very soon. The next three weeks won’t be easy. We have Saracens away before two tough European ties, against the Ospreys and away to Munster. We still believe we are good enough to win these games.
After that we are home to Newcastle. And we are still fourth. And we are still a damn fine rugby team. We have not performed badly in all nine defeats. It is nobody in particular’s fault. We have been unlucky. We do only have ourselves to blame but I can honestly say a culture of blame is not evident at London Irish. For that we can be grateful.
We deal in facts not blame. Each week Toby Booth and the coaches have addressed the most pressing issues, be it set piece or whatever, only for a new set of problems arise. They are working around the clock but, ultimately, it is up to the players to fix this.
We are avoiding the blame game by ensuring everyone accepts their individual responsibility. That means not focusing on other people’s deficiencies but your own role and duties within the squad.
It has become like any problem in life. How you behave, as a man, when faced with adversity will be remembered when the good days roll around again.
I am trying to play from one minute to the next. Stay in the moment (I may have to get out The Secret again!).
It becomes equally tough on loved ones. Shauna told me how she was unable to watch the last 10 minutes against Bath. My parents have been over for the past week and they have shared in my disappointment. It hits them hard too.
Losing streaks are part of a sporting life. No team or person is exempt. Just look at Roy Hodgson at Liverpool or even one of the world’s great coaches Carlo Ancelotti and Chelsea. A string of bad form creates an unbearably difficult situation for the head coach but thankfully rugby is not like
football.
We lost 28-18 to Harlequins on December 27th. The disappointment of defeat overshadowed, for us the players, what was actually a fantastic occasion where 75,000 turned up at Twickenham. It was a Harlequins home game and the event was actually the brainchild of Lorraine Rooney, who is a good friend of Shauna. Matt Cardle and Rebecca Ferguson from The X Factor performed and I’m sure helped to swell the crowd.
It was the third such occasion Quins have hosted this season and a massive success in comparison to the 38,000 who showed up at Wembley when Saracens played Wasps the day before.
Both coaches and players at London Irish desperately want to put an end to this losing run. We want to do this for ourselves in order to regain professional pride but also for our friends, family and loyal supporters.
I know the fans have been suffering as well and I can only thank them for not turning on us.
I have borrowed my old man’s favourite line recently. I have probably overused it but it always gave me a lift when he said it to me growing up.
Keep the faith. We must and we will.
