Geoff Says

Emma Kemmish | 12/02/2019

Bridgwater and Albion director of rugby Geoff Sluman was full of praise for the side after they came away from second placed Launceston with another victory under their belt.
He said: “This was another good performance from the squad and it takes us to seven wins a row, which is the best for some while.
“I am sorry but I don’t know exactly how long it is since we won seven successive games. It is something people are asking me about, but we are not focussing on it ourselves. As the old cliché goes “we just approach the next game on its merits and on what we have to do for that game.”
“It was by no means a perfect display, we made errors at times, but you do that playing against a top side because they put you under pressure. However, our play put the opposition under pressure too and that was greater. We imposed the way we wanted to play and it got us rewards.
“A lot went right, our preparation all week was positive from even before we selected the side to play. Training went well, our match day warm up went well and we started the game strongly.”
Geoff highlighted two areas that he was especially pleased about.
“Firstly, Launceston are a good side, they are not second in the league without good reason and you do not win games against good sides by luck. Our approach, game plan and execution were all good, the buy in from the squad, including how hard they are prepared to work for the cause was impressive – we won because we were better.
“Secondly, I am really pleased because a lot of the things we have been doing all season are coming good. We have managed our squad carefully for some while now and rotated players to give opportunities and development to others. Whilst doing that at times is a challenge the benefits are, that we now have a squad, without everyone fit and available, capable of going away to a team second in the league and gaining a bonus league point victory and prevent them from gaining any league points.
“All of the players, those selected for the first XV this week, those playing in the second XV and those not even playing should be proud of the results this weekend. That includes a great result for our second XV who are also on a good run in Somerset One.”
Looking ahead to this Saturday Geoff said: “We return to College Way to host Lydney. Sometimes it is difficult after such a good win to guard against the things we need to be wary of so it will take another good week of preparation. Lydney were relegated from the league above last season and we narrowly lost to them in the away fixture back in October ten points to eight. Lydney had a good result at home to Teignmouth this week winning 42 – 3.
“Our preparations will focus on what we want to do and we will be keen to put in a good performance on our home ground. Kick off is at 3pm. Please come along and support if you can.”

Tags: featured, full-image