Barber: Lessons learned for next season

CLIFTON director of rugby Mike Barber tips his hat to champions Leicester Lions and says that his side has learned some invaluable lessons this season.

With National Two West table toppers Leicester 16 points clear heading into this weekend, Barber has come to terms with the loss of the title but remains positive about a solid season that has seen them pick up 18 wins from 22 games.

“We are pleased but we’ve learned a couple of lessons,” he said. “We’re disappointed to have missed out on promotion but credit to Leicester, if you lose one game all season then you deserve to get promoted. We’ve hit our straps in some games, but I don’t think we’ve been as consistent as we’d like to have been over the season. We’ve still got some tough games ahead with Luctonians and Redruth and finish at Loughborough but we’re pleased with the season.

“It’s been a bit of a transition year for us, we’ve seen boys continuing at the level we expected of them. We haven’t played well on a consistent basis but we’ve had some great performances; putting 71 points away at Hinckley is no mean feet and we beat Redruth down there for the first time in nine years so there’s been some real highlights.”

Barber stresses that the atmosphere at Clifton has remained positive throughout and has enjoyed witnessing the growth of his winger Alex Kilbane, who has scored five tries this season.

“Since we realised that we wouldn’t be able to catch Leicester it’s remained a good atmosphere but we have had some difficult conversations inhouse and have looked at ourselves where we can get better,” he added.

“Brad Talbot’s numbers again have been superb and with his consistent performances, he’s still the best No.8 in the league. A guy who has really come to the fore is Alex Kilbane, he was in and out of the squad last year but went away worked hard, and is now one of the first names on the team sheet.”