Foundations in place to make Coventry great says Narraway
WITH 11 league wins from 11 Coventry stand head and shoulders above the pack in the race to Championship promotion.
Cynics may accuse them of buying success, but in his new role as player coach Luke Narraway, sees a sustainable plan for the future of a historic club.
After captaining London Irish to promotion back into the Premiership last season, the former England back row selected Coventry for his first venture into coaching.
He told The Rugby Paper: “Guys like myself with Premiership experience have come in but if you look at the run from the back end of last season, it’s 17 or 18 on the bounce so that shift had already begun.
“We’ve got a great chairman Jon Sharp – Cov born and bred – and his dream is to make us a Premiership club. He is a businessman and understands you can’t pay your way up there. The foundations are in place for progression at the club, through our history and fanbase.”
After seven England caps and a successful stint abroad at Perpignan, Narraway’s love for the game slowly depleted until arriving at Coventry.
He added: “As I got older I went away from rugby a bit, but I always enjoyed the idea of coaching and Cov has reinvigorated me – I’ve enjoyed it more than I thought I would.”
As Narraway continues his transition from sportsman to civilian, he plays a prominent role in his family butchers and co-owns a chain of cocktail bars – but the idea of becoming a DoR down the line piques his interest, providing rugby maintains its old school values.
The top two sides in England, Saracens and Exeter, are renowned for their social scene, and while acknowledging the technical strides the game has made in the pro era, Narraway wants to see more rugby men and fewer rugby robots.
He added: “I think the whole rugby fraternity is slowly beginning to eek out of the game.
“I wouldn’t say I got disillusioned with rugby but where I came from, with rugby young in its professionalism to where it is now is worlds apart.
“You have kids coming through academies that have never been in an amateur club and the fun that goes with it. That has a correlation with the men they are, coming through and the craic.”
With that in mind he has some refreshingly honest views on how over professionalism in some areas has served to work to the detriment of the game.
“This game is tough and physical, and because of the contact element there will always be an emotional segment... if you don’t have that emotional attachment to your players and club it becomes just a day job and that's not what the game is about to me.
“Look at the way Exeter and Saracens play and look at the contact levels – you know they care about their fellow man and the club.”
Narrway is adapting well to his new role but adds: “Being a coach and a player is a tightrope. I can’t just get down and dirty with the boys anymore!”