Gustard cuts the mustard on debut day

WHAT particularly caught my attention on a vibrant opening weekend of Premiership Rugby was two coaches making their competition debut as the men in charge. I’m a massive supporter of young English coaches and was delighted when Harlequins — one of my old clubs — turned to Paul Gustard at the end last season, as opposed to a big name from overseas. Paul is a quality guy — he was my England Under 21 captain many years ago when I coached them — and it will have taken some bottle and conviction to step out of his role as England’s defensive coach with Eddie Jones en route to the World Cup. Being the main man is very different to being a loyal, valued and talented backroom boy and not everybody can pull it off. I believe Gustard can and he certainly made an encouraging start with that thumping 51-23 win for Quins over Sale when his side showed some real mettle, as well as some of the attacking skills we normally associate with them. Like Gustard (right), Pat Lam has loads of Premiership experience as a player. In fact, he was one of the best ever overseas stars to grace the League, but Friday night against Bath was his first Premiership game as a coach and he faces a big job in first keeping Bristol up, then making them a force in the land again. Despite his vast experience — 14 years as a coach — he will have been nervous on Friday and delighted to get the result. Both he and Gustard will know that, like international rugby, you must win your home games in the Premiership. That’s the cornerstone of your season and why Bristol need the majority of that bumper 28,000 crowd to keep coming back. My other observation from the opening matches is how the sheer strength in depth of the Premiership can make the job of picking England teams very difficult! So many good players, so many strong sides which puts even more emphasis on the coach — Eddie Jones — making the correct judgment calls. I will give you an example. Exeter were in commanding form on Saturday and completely outplayed Leicester Tigers. If you parachuted in and watched that match in isolation you probably wouldn’t pick Ben Youngs and George Ford as the England half-backs. Other England players could find themselves in a team that are being outplayed at various times this season and struggle to shine. Assessing all that, factoring in the match circumstance and backing your judgment on their intrinsic quality is therefore the most important skill of all for an England coach, especially at a time when Eddie really does need to be nailing down his starting XV and match-day 23.