Hello Ruckingballers

Ashy here again, and with only 4 days to go until Le Crunch everyone in the England camp is desperate for that first ruck, I can assure you.

Training has gone well this week and both of our half backs, Floody and Benny Youngs, have been impressing all with their speed and tempo, crucial aspects of our current style of play. They’ve not been impressing anyone with their banter however, which is very poor. Floody in particular, who talks more than anyone I’ve ever met!

We’ve got a few surprises up our sleeves for Saturday, and again, as I said last week, me, Cuets and Fodes will be looking to hit that midfield channel off the set plays, going deep to wide, and at pace. Pace is the real key- hit the line at speed and have faith in the pass. Luckily we’ve spent enough time together now to have built up the trust to do that, and I go back to what I said last week about it feeling more like a club side than a scratch international side. That’s truly how it feels and that’s at the core of our current success.

On the subject of the half backs, I see that it’ll be a real key battle area on Saturday. Morgan Parra is an exceptional player, stronger than he looks, great footballer as all French 9’s are, and always looking to dart around the fringes. Trinh-Duc is more of an English style outside half. He likes to control and probe with the boot and is very strong in organisational skills. I reckon Toby and Ben have the skills to edge it but we’ll see.

I’ve been told by the boys that the other key match up is the front rows. However, my knowledge of that is too thin (pun intended!) to possibly comment, so I’ll leave that one to other experts! I’d back Dan Cole in an ‘eat-off’ though!

Personally, I’m relishing the battle against Maxime Medard. I rate him highly and I’m quite surprised it’s taken him so long to nail down a place in the French side. He’s explosive, clever and a handful. Typically French in his style, in that he’s pretty unpredictable, but I’ve watched him closely and I’m aware of what I need to do.

Lastly, one of the Ruckingball boys was asking me about this reputation I’m getting as the joker of the side. I said it’s news to me, but if that’s the case, put it down to the level of comfort and teamship in the camp. It’s taken me a little time to settle in, but we’re all getting on so well and share the same goal, that of being in a winning England side. It’s a great environment to be in and long may it last.

Here’s to a win on Saturday and thanks to all at Ruckingball for having me.

Ashy

Hello all at Ruckingball, and, as they say, thanks for having me!

Well, I have to admit it’s mean a crazy few months for me. I’m enjoying my time in international rugby immensely. It’s all new to me, and with a lot of the lads also in the same position we’re having a lot of fun. Best of all there’s nothing to fear.

Around the youngsters such as Floody, Ben Youngs and myself, there’s also the experience of Tindall, Cueto, Moody and Easter to add that vital blend of experience. We’re big into giving each other help and support. Each person gets a voice and is empowered, which is the best thing about the management. If you’ve got something to say, you’re encouraged to say it, and Cuets is huge in terms of the help he gives me, especially in terms of alignment and defence; equally if I see a way of unlocking the opposition, I’ll speak my mind too. It’s a healthy place to be, more like a club side than an international side, which is great.

By saying that, from a technical perspective, I am aware we have things to work on- on a team level, Forwards moving the ball around a little better, improved defence and so on,. Defensively, we’re striving to hit hard in the middle channel tackles and to force the opposition to go around us. We’ll back our pace out wide to defend those trying to squeeze around, so we’re pretty clear on what we need to be looking to do.

On a personal level, I’m working hard on some other aspects of my play; I’m particularly keen to improve my defence of box kicks and my tackle technique (by that I mean aggressive tackling with a full wrap around- in Rugby league we’re more prone to bounce players without wrapping our arms around them, which could be deemed illegal in Union). No-one is the complete Union winger and I’m aware too that positionally I’m learning all the time. In fact, I know it’s a cliché, but something like Ruckingball would have been huge help to me a few years back. As a kid you want to be coached by the best (my Dad was that- he told me to point that out! Hahaha!) and tapping into the experts on here would have been great. There’s nothing else like it out there.

We’re mixing up the plays a lot at the moment, and both Cuets and I are spending as much time in the 12 and 13 channels as our centres themselves. We’re looking for the mismatch all the time, getting ourselves running at props and locks, and we know the space is exactly in that midfield channel. It’s just about finding it, creating the mismatch and executing it well. It’s a fixed play from both set piece and ruck play to have either Mark or I running the arc to hit the 13 area at real pace, so don’t be surprised to see us there again in the next few weeks.

I’ve been getting a lot of stick in the dressing room about my new nickname, courtesy of the Press. The Predator…I’m not so sure about it myself, but I’ll take it as a back-handed compliment. What I will say to all young players is that I have a fundamental need to score. It’s like an addiction for me, a drug fix, if you want. Never ever stop believing you can get there to take that final pass. Don’t give up on believing that your support is vital, because it is. I know, with the amount of possession we create that there will be opportunities, and I’ll get myself up  off the floor utterly convinced in my ability to ‘be there.’

So my message to you is share that belief with me.

That’s all for this week. I’ll be back on next week to give some thoughts about the French game. Bring it on!

Speak then,

Ashy

Chris Ashton