Irish aim to break into Eddie’s England clique
LONDON Irish were the only one of the Premiership 13 who were not called on by England for last week’s training camp. All the other clubs supplied at least two players and the Exiles are determined to emerge from the cold.
Irish had three players involved in England’s summer squads, full-back Tom Parton, wing Ollie Haskell-Collins and second row Chunya Munga, who was named as an apprentice player for the summer Tests against the United States and Canada but suffered an injury which has kept him out of action at the start of this season.
“It is a massive focus of ours to improve our players individually,” said London Irish assistant coach Corniel van Zyl, the former Italy second row. “You want your players to be pushing for a spot, but while the bigger picture is international colours, it is a team sport.
“No one can shine individually if you are not performing as a team and that is why we as coaches are always looking for improvement. It comes down to consistency, something we are striving for.”
Irish’s home match against Sale last weekend summed up their form since returning to the Premiership two years ago. They trailed by 17 points at half-time but pulled back to 31-31 and had the chance to pull off an unlikely victory
with a late long-range penalty that Paddy Jackson was unable to convert.
“The fighting spirit was good to see,” said van Zyl. “We need to be more clinical and take our opportunities. This is a league in which momentum is important and that means developing a winning habit. Every week presents a different challenge and we do not want to have to keep coming back from big deficits in matches trying to win at the end.”
Van Zyl arrived at London Irish at the start of the year having spent five years at Free State Cheetahs coaching the forwards. He spent the bulk of his 12-year playing career with Treviso, qualifying for Italy on residency, although he spent a season at Rotherham in 2003-04, the last time they were in the Premiership.
“It is a great league,” he said, “and a real challenge. “Playing top class opposition week in week out takes it out of the players physically and mentally. You have to keep your standards high and it is a competition in which anything can happen on the day.”
The Premiership offers more variety than the homeland of Van Zyl, who was born in Nelspruit. Irish are among the adventurous sides, along with Harlequins, Bristol, Newcastle, Northampton and Wasps, and England look to be set for a change in direction after giving their squad a spring clean.
“The game is healthy in the four Home Unions and all of them have the capacity to make their mark in the next World Cup,” said van Zyl.
“I would like to see England play a bit more than they have done in the last couple of games and the Lions will probably believe they could have approached the series against South Africa differently.
“The way Australia and New Zealand have played against South Africa since leaves a few question marks.”