Irish must learn from Bristol woes - Laidlaw
LONDON Irish backs coach Clark Laidlaw believes Bristol’s Premiership struggles offer a stark reminder of why the unbeaten Exiles must up their game on and off the field.
Irish are sitting pretty at the top of the Championship with six wins from six, but Laidlaw knows that having to negotiate promotion play-offs could hinder recruitment.
Laidlaw, a survivor of the summer coaching cull, told
TRP: “I’d like to think we’re in a better place now, but the club needs to make sure it works hard on recruitment and retention because you live or die in terms of getting the right people in.
“Nobody in English rugby is standing still at the minute and Premiership teams are snapping up quality players from around the world. There are big challenges ahead and if you look at Bristol in the Premiership now, they’re not finding it easy by any means.
“We’re very realistic as a club that, yes, we’ve won our first six games, but we’re nowhere near where we need to be in terms of next year if things go well.
“If the Championship was first past the post and you’re in that top two around Christmas, you can potentially get on the front foot. But with everything going down to those last four games, we’re going to have to work very hard to add to the team.”
Laidlaw says Irish are seeking top quality recruits, adding: “We’re fortunate that we kept the majority of our squad and we’ve got another group of academy backs coming through with development in them that we’re excited about.
“But we’ll still need to bring in two or three really quality players to keep adding to the group because it’s the only way you continually improve.”
Meanwhile, Laidlaw has revealed that star centre Johnny Williams has been given a five-week rest and reconditioning break after last season’s exertions.
Williams, 20 on Tuesday, played a full part in last season’s Premiership campaign before helping the U20s lift the World Cup.
Laidlaw said: “Johnny played more rugby than anyone anticipated and had a couple of niggles, so we’ve taken him out of the team to give him the best chance of being as strong, fast and athletic as he can be.
“We’re delighted with what he did but sometimes young players end up playing too much at the expense of their development.”
Fly-half Tommy Bell has proved a roaring success since his summer move from Leicester, a delighted Laidlaw adding: “We were excited about signing Tommy and his decision to move has been vindicated.
“He’s a good man, a hard worker and his kicking game is really helping us.”