Mike Forshaw talks tough to Danny Cipriani and Co
Six weeks into his role at the Sharks, he has been hammering home his ‘3D’ approach to the contact area of defence: discipline, detail and decision-making.
And the summer arrival from Connacht has revealed there will be no hiding place for any of the players – Danny Cipriani included – as Sale bid to eradicate the defensive frailties of the past, which have seen them concede more points than any of their rivals in three of the last four seasons.
“There are options to drop your 10 into the pocket, if that’s the way you want to defend,” Forshaw told The Rugby Paper.
“But I’m not a big believer in that. I’m a big believer that if you’re in the line you need to make your tackles and that’s no different for anybody at 10.
“I worked at Connacht with Dan Parks and to be fair he wasn’t known as a great defending 10, but when he dropped his body height and tackled legs he made his tackles and he was very good at leading the defensive line off a lineout.
“To be fair, Danny had a bad knee last year and has not been in a lot of contact work at the moment, but I’ve spoken to him about defence and I’m sure there are things that he can give us in that area at 10, as can Nick Macleod and Joe Ford.”
Forshaw, who enjoyed a highly decorated playing career during Bradford Bulls‘ halcyon period of the late Nineties and early Noughties, continued: “As a group we’ve done a lot of defensive work in this first six-week block of training because that was an area of concern and the reason I was brought in.
“Ultimately it’s going to take a lot of hard work and that’s what I’ve said to the players – we’ve got to be organised.
“For me, it’s all three key words: discipline, decisions and detail in the contact area.
“Within that 50metre area of your try line – what I call the ‘grey area’ – if you don’t get decisions and details right, the kickers of today will punish you as they don’t miss penalties. And once you go nine or 12 points down in the Premiership it’s very hard to catch up.
“So I want us to become tradesmen in that area.
“After all, if you get a joiner in and he does a poor job, you won’t employ him again.
“You want someone whose detail and discipline is good and who you don’t have to ring up a fortnight later if your door is hanging off. It’s the same with rugby.”
Sale have adopted an open-door policy to defence in recent seasons, shipping over 600 points during the 2010/11 campaign. Last season was little better with painful heavy defeats away to Exeter, Toulon and Leicester.
By bringing in a specialist defence coach after years without one Sale are at least attempting to address the issue.
But Forshaw knows Sale’s new-found resolve will not be properly tested until the action gets underway for real against Gloucester on September 7.
“I’ve been really pleased with what I’ve seen at the moment, but this is the easiest time of the year because there aren’t any games and there’s no pressure of people being dropped,” he said.
“After working in Super League and the RaboDirect I’m really looking forward to my first season in what will be a very, very competitive Premiership.
“I’m sure Newcastle will be strong under Dean Richards and Dean Ryan is obviously a very astute coach at Worcester.
“There is little margin for error and all sides realise defence is a huge part of the game.
“I want us to bring real intensity to the contact area with players throwing their bodies in there, not just dipping their toe in.
“You’ve also got to be smart when you’re defending and defend in the right areas of the field.
“Only the very top teams can attack from anywhere. Generally you can’t keep playing phase after phase in your own red zone and expect people to keep getting to the breakdown.”
JON NEWCOMBE
