September 4, 2007

A clean sweep of three victories for the England Counties XV in the inaugural FIRA/AER Rugby Festival which opens in South West France this week may not be enough to satisfy Team Manager Jim Robinson.

He may have been a fully paid-up member of the Front-row Union during his playing days at Coventry, but the former prop is a staunch disciple of a fast and enterprising style of rugby and he has challenged his coaches to throw off the shackles of the stereotypical English club style and play with the élan and ambition that he wants to be the hallmark of the Counties XV approach.

While he concedes that, in the professional game, results are the only barometer of success, the Counties XV environment provides a perfect opportunity for coaches Dave Baldwin and Harvey Biljon and the players to broaden their horizons and embrace a more daring approach.

"We’ve got a very talented squad with a good balance of youth and experience," says Robinson. "Initially I viewed the prospect of playing three internationals in eight days with some trepidation, but as the squad has come together, I’ve become more excited about our prospects.

"We have some experienced players who have represented England Counties over a number of matches and some lads who people have never heard of outside their own home towns who have a real chance to make a mark against what could be three extremely challenging national sides.

"From our recent trip, we know Russia will push us very hard; Spain we don’t know, but they were on the edge of a World Cup place; and France Amateurs, who we’ve had the Indian sign over in recent matches, will not want to be beaten on their own soil in this sort of festival.

"So I’m looking forward to seeing how the players gel and to see them playing good, quick and ambitious rugby - and hopefully not becoming bogged down in the style of rugby that seems to pervade the England club game at the moment.

"That will be their challenge – to perform at their best while playing with ambition and pace. I think it’s the raison d’etre for every coach in England to try to get players to think for themselves about how they should play the game. I think everybody starts off with an idea of how they’d like to play and they just become constrained by various factors.

"It’s the coach’s responsibility to set the climate whereby players are allowed to express themselves. Obviously you can’t end up with individuals running round making their own mind up what should happen next because you end up with one person knowing what’s going on and the other 14 trying to guess.

"But I think we need to play the ball earlier and not take it into contact, to adopt a sevens attitude, which is not throwing the ball around willy-nilly, but looking for space and moving the ball quickly to where that space is.

"It seems a bit odd going away again having just come back from a summer holiday in France and a Russia tour, but you can’t help but be enthused by the possibility of seeing future stars and seeing how they respond to the challenge.

"I have the benefit of still being an amateur and still believing that winning is only part of a performance – the performance is everything. Obviously in the professional game, that romantic approach isn’t realistic, but on the tour I want us to deliver added value to the players and the clubs and counties they play for.

"Of course I want us to win all three games, but I won’t be content if we do that, but don’t expand our ambitions and play with the pace and urgency that encourages gifted player to parade their skills to the full."

The England Counties XV itinerary is: Thursday, September 6: England v Russia in Fleurance (17.00); Monday, September 10: England v Spain in Morlaas (17.00); Thursday, September 13: England v France in Saint-Paul Les Dax (18.00).

The England Counties squad is:

Craig Aikman (Halifax & Lancashire), David Allen (Blackheath & Kent), David Archer (Henley & Hertfordshire), Thomas Bason (Blackheath & Kent), Dean Bick (Blackheath & North Midlands), Dan Cooper (Durham University & Durham), Glenn Cooper (Redruth & Somerset), Kyle Dench (Otley & Yorkshire), James Doherty (Wharfedale & Yorkshire), Darren Jacques (Redruth & Cornwall), Thomas Jarvis (Stourbridge & Gloucestershire), James Jenner (Stourbridge & Gloucestershire), Peter Joyce (Redruth & Cornwall), James Kellard (Blackheath & Kent), Chris Malherbe (Wharfedale & Yorkshire), Paul Mooney (Otley & Northumberland), Frankie Neale (Blackheath & Kent), Matt Owen (Manchester & Cheshire), Matthew Payne (Henley & Oxfordshire), Tristan Roberts (Cinderford & Kent), Chris Rowland (Stourbridge & Somerset), Nicholas Royle (Fylde & Lancashire), Alastair Simmie (Durham University & Durham), Jack Smales (Tynedale & Northumberland), Richard Snowball (Otley & Yorkshire), James Tideswell (Stourbridge & North Midlands).