Exeter go to movies to help inspire more blockbuster tackling
Chiefs’ new defence coach Julian Salvi has a special highlights reel, writes Charlie Morgan
Defence coaches essentially forge careers out of asking people to hurl themselves repeatedly towards harm’s way, so charisma is a pretty important trait. Imagery can work well, too.
Julian Salvi heard about how Paul Gustard, a pioneer of predatory animal-based gimmicks, had installed a motivational bear at Harlequins’ training ground. But he opted for a different approach.
Earlier this summer, in one of his first pre-season meetings as part of Exeter’s backroom staff, Salvi presented the squad with a video of their defensive highlights from the previous campaign.
Between dominant tackles, clever turnovers and courageous interventions from smaller players punching above their weight, the Australian edited in short clips from action movies.
“I had Wolverine from Logan,” explains Salvi. “The bit where he’s running through the forest slicing, slicing, slicing. The Incredible Hulk was in there, the Spartans from the film 300. It was about how we all have different personalities and different tackle techniques but, at the end of the day, it’s about attitude, mindset and coming together as Exeter Chiefs to make it work.”
The scars across Salvi’s forehead bear testimony to eight successful seasons in the Premiership as a scavenging openside flanker with Bath, Leicester and Exeter. Either side of a year at the Rec, he accumulated 63 Super Rugby appearances with the Brumbies.
Having helped out Cambridge University during his Leicester days and Plymouth Albion more recently, Salvi has not stumbled on to Rob Baxter’s staff. At 32, he stepped away from playing this summer with plenty in the tank.
“Rob’s been trying to sway my mind that way for a while now,” explains Salvi, who joined Exeter from the Tigers in 2015 and still looks fit enough to last 80 minutes.
“I was telling him, ‘Look mate, I’m good for another couple of years at least’. To be fair, if you gave me a jersey now I’d put it on, play my heart out and I’d be all right. But it was one of those – did I carry on playing or did I transition earlier, knowing there could be more longevity in a coaching role?”
Adding a streetwise breakdown scrapper to his coaching team would not be the first move that has shown Baxter to be ahead of the curve. On Thursday, refereeing chief Tony Spreadbury suggested that this season would see a more vigorous contest at the tackle area.
Just as the best defences rely on both technique and emotion, Salvi aims for Exeter to develop a blend.
“From Leicester to Exeter, I had to change my game,” he says. “Leicester was more breakdownfocused. Over three years, I learned that Exeter was about line speed and making big stop-tackles.
“Now, I suppose for me it’s about maintaining the elements we have instilled over the past years and adding a bit more edge – so, being a bit more proactive around the breakdown area, giving specific people licence to do stuff.
“Luke Cowan-dickie and Matt Kvesic are very good in those roles. Sam Simmonds could be, too. Dave Ewers is very good over the ball. Attacking the breakdown is a decision-making exercise. It’s finding a balance and suggesting to those guys that it’s about picking your moments and going for them hard. Then, if you don’t get the ball, those extra seconds you can buy for the team are worth so much.”
Salvi’s time in the Premiership has coincided with reluctance from England to select and stick with a mobile, disruptive dynamo in the seven shirt. Arguably, overseas imports, such as Salvi, might not have helped cultivate home-grown opensides. He disagrees.
“That dynamic has always been a big thing for me, having someone constantly around the breakdown being a niggly sort of character. If he’s attacking the ball, you’re going to need one or two, maybe three people there to clear him out.
“But if you have that sort of player [at seven], you need the balance from your six and eight to work with that. You always had Francois Louw at Bath and Schalk Burger at Saracens. They were non-english. When Matt Kvesic was at Gloucester you knew it was going to be a big battle. Luke Wallace has come through all right. There are the Curry brothers.
“I really like the look of Sam Underhill. He’s a big-hitter, so I think it’ll be interesting to see him string together a few games. There are guys who can do it. It comes down to the coach and the role he is trying to find.”
If Salvi can make Exeter into breakdown superheroes, Chiefs will be even tougher to beat.