The NSW Waratahs returned to Australia on Sunday morning from Japan where they won their first game under new Head Coach Dan McKellar, beating the Kubota Spears 43-17.
No sooner, McKellar was back at the NSW Waratahs training base at Daceyville in Sydney, reviewing the performance in readiness for the next three-week training block.
McKellar took time out to provide his take-outs from the game against Kubota Spears.
“Overall, it was a good trip, breaking up the pre-season. It was tough, travelling to Japan mid-week with a heavy training load and then playing; but it must be tough … that is what pre-season is … tough. However, I'm sure the boys appreciated getting away, as I am sure the staff and coaches did - to break pre-season up with a game against good opposition.
“The beauty of rugby is that it's a global game. You get to go to unique countries like Japan and have different experiences. And for a lot of the young players, it was their first time doing that. Overall, it was very worthwhile … on the field, as well as off the field from a connection perspective.”
“There was some nice transfer of areas our game that we've been doing at training.
“We do most of our training with the rugby ball. We do very little traditional conditioning. “It's all with ball in hand. So, it can be chaotic at times at this time of year, but we saw some good transfer of the detail, and what Mike Catt [Assistant Coach – Attack] has installed in that area of the game from a technical and tactical perspective.
“There were certainly some good signs; and as you would expect, out of a trial game – or our first game together as a group - there's plenty of things to work and improve on.”
“A big thing for me is when I'm picking the team to play against the Highlanders for Round 1 … I want twenty-three players who love to defend. Again, there were some really good signs of what ‘Lochy’ [Lachlan McCaffrey – Assistant Coach – Defence] has been doing.
“We have to be a team that loves to defend when we have to. Obviously, we don't want to be turning the ball all over, putting ourselves under pressure and doing more tackling than we need to. But when we have to defend, we have to have a real thirst and desire to do it, and there were certainly signs of that.
“I made the comment after the game that at 43-17 and with not a whole lot of possession in the last 10 minutes, we could easily have conceded one or two soft tries.
“But we didn't do that. We looked like a team that wanted to defend our line and work hard for each other.
“Defence reflects the heart and soul of a team, how much you care for the bloke beside you, how much you care for the jersey, how much you care and want to constantly show up and deny the opposition.
"Attack is a big part of our game, obviously; but a large part of selection for the Highlanders will be based off 23 players who enjoy defending.”
“The scrum, lineout and maul were solid. Our maul defence was good. We haven't spent a whole lot of time on the maul yet. We'll be developing this over the next three weeks.
“Again, with set-piece, you’ve got to have a thirst for it. You have got to invest time in it from a training perspective. You’ve got to have a real thirst and desire to want to do it.
“That's something myself and Dan Palmer [Assistant Coach – Set Piece], will be looking to instil in this group of players. There were some good signs of that in Japan but with more training time our set-piece will continue to develop.”
“The reality is you can't cover everything in the early stages of pre-season; especially when you are working hard to get fitter, faster, stronger, and improve individual skills.”
“I thought it was mixed. Some excellent kicking and some kick execution that will improve with coaching - our contestable kicking game when used was effective. I thought we found grass in the backfield as well.
“But we need to make some better choices and better execute our exits at times. That'll come again with coaching and knowledge and understanding what we're trying to do.
“So, it was mixed, but I was really encouraged by our desire to shift the ball and then make a decision to run or kick; and we made good decisions more times than not. We have to follow that up with our kick-chase, and that desire to not allow them to get out of their end.”
“It was a great trip, a good few days away together as a group. It was really good to engage with our major sponsors in NRI, and to spend some time with them. We hope that relationship can continue for many years to come. But now we are back and there are three weeks to go before we break for Christmas and it is time to get back to work.
“This week we'll train one day less … only three sessions. Then we have our two biggest weeks of pre-season before we go into a maintenance period over the Festive season.”
