Dennis: Proof is there, tries win you trophies!
Premiership sides managed 725 tries in 132 regular season matches last season – the highest figure since 1999-2000 – with title winners Chiefs (86) and finalists Wasps (89) proving adventure can pay dividends by notching 175 tries between them.
England head coach Eddie Jones has espoused an all-action style in order to surpass world champions New Zealand and former Waratahs and Australia back rower Dennis believes moving away from ‘safe mode’ is benefitting the English game.
Dennis who joined Exeter from Australian rugby last summer, told The Rugby Paper: “As far as Exeter are concerned in how we want to play the game, our backs coaches Ali Hepher and Ricky Pellow want us to attack and play good footy.
“Five years ago, the perception back in Australia was that the Premiership was a kick-fest and set-piece grind, but over the last few years the Premiership has shown that if you want to win it, you have to attack well and score points.
“Unless you’re just trying to survive in the Premiership or finish in mid-table, you can’t be conservative. If you want to be a leading team you’ve got to score tries, which both ourselves and Wasps showed throughout last season.
“Saracens do things slightly differently but they still score lots of tries and that’s got to be the way forward for English rugby. That’s certainly our mentality at the Chiefs and I don’t think anyone could argue it’s not successful.”
Of Jones’s promptings in the background, Dennis added: “I imagine Eddie is having some influence. He’s got the national interest at heart and, building towards 2019, he’s encouraging people at administration level and within clubs to really have a go by trying to develop young players.
“In Australia things aren’t going as well as they should be, but over here things seem to be really thriving. You’ve got 12 very competitive teams in the Premiership, England are going great guns and the junior programmes are growing.
“The game in England is really healthy so it’s looking promising for their chances at the 2019 World Cup.”
In stark contrast Australian rugby is in crisis, with uncertainty over the future of Western Force and Melbourne Rebels, poor performances in Super Rugby by the Brumbies, Waratahs and Reds and the Wallabies struggling under boss Michael Cheika.
Dennis, a Super Rugby winner with the Waratahs in 2014, lamented: “I had ten great years at the Waratahs and it’s a special place to play, but unfortunately things aren’t tracking as well as they should be for any of our teams right now.
“The situation with the Rebels and the Force is unfortunate and it’s incredibly tough for those teams.
“I think we could manage five teams but we need to work harder on our juniors and development programmes.
“Participation levels have dropped off so we need more kids playing and to improve our pathway systems. All I want to see is Australian rugby thrive and, hopefully, there are enough good people to get our game back on track.”
Dennis admits his first year at Exeter exceeded all expectations. And after winning league titles in both hemispheres, the 31-year-old now has his sights set on the Champions Cup.
“I consider myself very lucky,” he added. “I’ve been privileged to face a new challenge be part of a great place to play rugby and be involved in the Chiefs’ first-ever Premiership win.
“I had some good reports from people who’d been here, but it’s far exceeded anything I envisaged.
“I’d only ever been at the Waratahs and that’s all I knew, but I can’t imagine there being too many places in world rugby now where you actually feel the same community spirit and passion for the game the people here in Devon have.”
Dennis is now primed for a big season with European success high on the agenda.
He added: “Not long after winning the Premiership final the chairman Tony Rowe and coach Rob Baxter were talking about winning the Champions Cup, which sent out a clear message about where they want to take this club.
“Some people never win a league title in their whole careers, so to do it twice with the Waratahs and Exeter is fantastic – there’s no reason why we can’t push on and achieve greater success at European level.”
NEALE HARVEY
