Simon Taylor looks forward to life in the Premiership –
RUGBY Former Lion is relishing role at Watsonians and looking forward to life back in the Premiership. Stuart Bathgate reports
SIMON Taylor played rugby with an understated elegance and he talks about it in the same way. No matter how compulsively analytical the game has become for some, no matter how physically punitive at professional level, the former Scotland forward, now assistant coach at Watsonians, sees it as still an essentially simple affair. Something, above all, to be enjoyed by players and spectators alike.
It is an enjoyment he hopes to keep on communicating to his squad as they prepare for life back in the BT Premiership. Having been recruited two seasons ago by his friend and former Edinburgh and Scotland team-mate Marcus di Rollo, who remains the club’s head coach, Taylor played for a year before focusing fully on coaching last season.
It was an ideal start for him, as Watsonians won National One to regain their place in the top flight. But Taylor is well aware that this season will bring tougher challenges – none more so than on Saturday, when the league champions and cup winners Heriot’s, the club with whom he began his senior career, visit Myreside for their season opener.
Newly-promoted clubs have sometimes struggled to get up to speed in the top tier, with Selkirk, for example, going straight back down last season. While declining to make a bold statement about how well Watsonians will do, Taylor is confident they at least have a clear picture of just how demanding this campaign will be.
“We’ve got that bit of apprehension – anxiety almost – which isn’t a bad thing,” he says. “We’ve got guys who have played in Prem 1, and they know how hard it is.
“We’re working very hard to make sure we’ll do as well as possible, but there are no illusions. It’s a good standard, with a lot of good players that the wider rugby public have probably never heard of. There’s a lot of quality in the league.
“The teams seem pretty evenly matched. There are no easy beats in the Premiership, and I think that’s one of the major differences. Every week, if you want to get a result you’ve got to get everything right, from preparation on.”
It is sometimes said that the most talented players can become the most frustrated coaches, because they find it hard to cope with others who are not as gifted and cannot learn as quickly as they do. But Taylor is disinclined to define himself as having been particularly talented, and hints at a greater variety in the club game compared to the relentless collision-based ethos of the professionals.
“I have to say, having played a wee bit here, I didn’t really find they were less gifted than me,” he says of the Watsonians squad. “And as a coach you do drills and they get it first thing.
“You play professional rugby without being the most skilful or naturally gifted guy in the world. You try hard, you make your tackles, you hit your rucks – that boring stuff that matters and coaches tick boxes about.
“In the club scene there’s guys with a lot of speed, and good handling ability. In terms of contact, if everyone loved getting their heads kicked in every week we’d all be playing professional rugby, because essentially that’s what you have to want to do – just get battered.
“And if you turn up Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, you might not quite be in that state of mind every week. That’s maybe where the frustration comes in.
“But I really enjoy it. I’ve only done a year, but I loved it. It’s good fun. It gets you out the house Tuesday and Thursday in winter – it’s as basic as that.”
Having only turned 37 last week, Taylor has time on his side should he ever decide to try to become a full-time coach, though right now he regards himself as a novice and has no definite plans. “You don’t know what’s going to happen,” he says. “I’ve not really thought about the future in that sense.”
His reluctance to commit himself is understandable, not just because he has only coached for a year, but also because he seems happy, for the time being at least, to have got out of professional rugby. He was a natural as a player, good enough to be selected for the 2001 Lions when his pro career was in its infancy, but the apparent effortlessness with which he thrived at the top level was actually achieved at a price. And, if the pro game was relentlessly physical then, he is convinced it has become more demanding still since he quit.
“You get worn down by it,” he says. “On TV after a Six Nations game, for example, you see the energy levels sapped from players. It just drains you. I’m not a physiologist, but your central nervous system and everything get worn down over the course of a professional season. Obviously that affects you mentally.
“At that top level, where you can’t move a metre without getting smashed – there is the challenge in that. That physical challenge every week of knowing you’re going to have to go out and do that.
“That’s probably different from the club game. It’s maybe rosetinted specs, but you do get former professionals coming to watch an amateur game and they say it’s much more fun to watch. Because there’s more space, more breaks – more missed tackles too.
“They’re two different things, aren’t they? There is beauty in seeing guys absolutely smashing each other as well. I watch the professional game now and I can’t believe people do that. It’s progressed since I played it.”
The aim now, for Watsonians and the other clubs in the Premiership as they look forward to the new season, is to become as professional as possible in terms of attitude while also holding on to their love of the game.
But asked if he and di Rollo have a specific target, if the coming Premiership campaign is about survival or something more ambitious, Taylor refuses to commit himself.
“I’m not really into saying a bold top half, top four, because it doesn’t really mean anything. We’re preparing for our first game, which is Heriot’s. That’s as much as I can take in. There’s not huge value in looking much beyond that.
“Ultimately it’s quite a simple game. It’s who goes forward more, who makes their tackles and gets their set-piece right, who scores more points.”
Point made.
We’re working hard to make sure we’ll do as well as possible, but there are no illusions