Orlando’s new world
PAUL REES previews the new season and picks a young talent who could set the game alight
When Orlando Bailey started playing rugby as a five-year old at Dorchester Rugby Club, Danny Cipriani was setting out on his senior career. The two outside-halves start the season together at Bath, the master and the apprentice, with Bailey wasting no time in tapping into the knowledge of a player he has admired for years. There is something of Cipriani in Bailey, the England U20 international who will leave his teenage years behind at the end of the month. He prefers to run and seek space rather than take contact or launch the ball high into the air and wants to stimulate spectators.
England head coach Eddie Jones said earlier this year that the new generation of players was challenging coaches more than the previous one, not content to accept orders and direction unquestioningly. They are still mainly academy products but they are now more rounded with most enrolling at college: Bailey is about to begin his second year at Bath University studying international development.
“The game has become more about running again and it is more exciting to watch and to play,” said Bailey. “Players are expressing themselves and doing what they enjoyed when they were younger. If the space is there, play it.”
Bailey is one of a number of young outside-halves in the Premiership – Marcus Smith, Jacob Umaga, Charlie Atkinson and Fin Smith are others – who are challenging the orthodoxy in the professional game of playing for territory and minimising risk. They are not mavericks or rebels but are pushing boundaries in a sport that snared itself in a defensive net.
“David Williams has come in as Bath’s attack coach with new ideas and principles and it is exciting,” said Bailey, who made his first team debut for Bath a year ago this month at the age of 18 and made nine appearances, including six starts, last season.
“There was not much open play in the Lions series against South Africa this summer, but Finn Russell showed in the final Test that with a more positive attitude you can make their strength, line speed, almost a weakness if you really go at it as New
Zealand have done over the years.
“I watched Danny Cipriani throughout my childhood and he was one of my role models with the way he can run, kick, and pass in a very skilful way and he looks very smooth on the ball with so much time. I have already picked up loads of things off him in training and always ask him questions afterwards. It is awesome to have him here and having worked with another great outside-half last season, Rhys Priestland, it can only accelerate my development.”
Bailey was part of England’s grand slam team in the U20 Six
Nations which was postponed until the summer because of the pandemic.
He played at full-back and inside-centre with the team’s coach, Alan Dickens, wanting multiple playmakers behind, reprising the New Zealand side that defeated England in the 2011 Junior World Cup final which had Beauden Barrett at full-back, Lima Sopoaga at 12 and Gareth Anscombe at outside-half, three players who would all win their full caps as a 10.
“Alan wanted to get his playmakers on the pitch wherever,” said Bailey. “He was not too concerned with who played where and having an allcourt game gives you options, run, kick or pass.
“For me, playing at full-back and in the centre gave me perspective and you better appreciate what a fly-half needs from players in those positions. Alan gave us the freedom to get our hands on the ball and attack space and that is my game, being expressive and trying to make things happen.”
Even though he was 19 at the start of the season, Bailey’s time with the U20s is over. “You are only eligible if you turn 20 from January 1,” he said. “It is unfortunate because I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the group. We were together in a hotel for four weeks and it brought us closer, which showed on the pitch.
“I spent a lot of time with the other outside-halves (Smith and Atkinson), learning off each other and sharing the experiences of playing in the Premiership.”
Unlike some of his U20 colleagues who are no longer eligible at that level, Bailey will not be a bit-part player for his club. Bath’s director of rugby Stuart Hooper said at the end of last season that Bailey was one of the most competitive and self-driven players he had seen at academy level, highlighting his maturity and responsibility.
“I am very passionate about the game,” said Bailey. “I want to be the best in the world, as does everyone. I don’t like losing and every day I want to improve and become better. I am not sure I will ever be satisfied with where I am at, which is a good thing.
“I like playing running rugby and it excites me being part of an attacking gameplan. What better job could you want? I know there is so much stuff I have to work on and I just want to get better.
“We have a really good, young attacking backline at Bath and I hope we can stay together as a group. The chemistry will come the more you play together and the results will follow.”
Bailey is aware of the dangers of rugby becoming all-consuming and his university course offers him an out.
“It is good to broaden your horizons,” he said. “But for rugby, I would have applied for Oxbridge and a degree in human geography but it was a no-brainier to go to Bath University. I just want to learn as much as possible and see where pursuing a subject I find interesting takes takes me.
“University life is totally different to the sporting environment and it is really important to get away and do something else. It ensures your mind is fresh when you turn up at training: you can think on your feet rather than get bogged down with stuff and it gives my life a nice balance.”
Bailey has been back in training for a month following the U20s Six Nations and has had time to digest the two law trials designed to encourage more attacking play: the 50:22 indirect kick to touch and the in-goal drop-out which will be awarded if a side gets over the line but fails to ground the ball rather than an attacking scrum.
“The drop-out might have a good impact because teams will not be able to afford to get held up over the line,” said Bailey.
“Last season, pick-and-gos often ended in referrals to the television match official and it might encourage teams to be more creative when it comes to scoring tries in the 22.
“I do not think the 50:22 will make an enormous difference and suspect it will be used more from set-pieces than in phase play.
“I am just looking forward to the season and want to play as much as possible, whether starting or off the bench. Outside-half is my preferred position and it is the area I will be pushing to play in training, but if opportunities arise at 12 and 15 I will jump at them.
“I just want to show my creativity and be a leader in a group which aspires to be brave and excites the crowd.”