Q: Can you tell us a bit about the overall game plan. Do you think we have been a bit cavalier going for tries instead of taking the points, like the first kick up at Pertemps Bees? Or was that what they were told to do? 

DR: On the field of play it’s entirely up to the captain to decide whether to go for the three points or not. We sit down before the game with the strategy group which consists of the decision makers within the side - invariably the hookers, the nines, the tens, the eights the fullbacks and if Vossy’s not playing eight then he’ll be in there too – and we’ll discuss our game plan going into a particular match. So for last week against Doncaster they played in a particular way, I think defensively we saw four of them doing a particular thing so by playing a particular pattern and playing that for two or three phases for fifteen to twenty minutes then click into another pattern we knew we could catch them cold in a certain way.

So some times before a game we decide that we are going to run quick penalties and we’re not going to kick to the corners, or we decide to take the points, like we did up at Nottingham, to get the points on the board. But if you look at that after nine points we felt it was the wrong decision and we decided to take quick tap penalties. 

Before the games we work out how best to tire them out or make them play and defend as we want them to and then hit them with a sucker punch later on. 

It all depends on who we are playing against, what we thing their strengths and weaknesses are, it also depends on the personnel we have playing – we have to realise our own strengths and weaknesses. For instance if all the wingers are injured and we’ve got Ceri Jones playing on the wing then obviously we’re not going to play a wide game [laughs].

Q: We’ve heard about the idea of searching out your opposite number after the game to have a pint with them, is that encouraged because we’re in the first division and the opposition are not all full time players or is it just because that’s what rugby is about and it should be encouraged throughout?

DR: I think you’re right on both counts. One of the things I have noticed over the past ten years, ever since the game has gone professional, is that you play your game and you don’t meet your opposite numbers. One reason is that the home side will undoubtedly have hospitality work right after the game and then the visiting side will have to get on the bus to go away. One of the things we sat down and decided before hand was that we wanted to seek out our opposite numbers – the perception is in some circles that Harlequins are a bit toffee nosed and a bit snobbish and I can assure you that the boys here are anything other than that. So from a PR point of view it’s a great opportunity for us to spread the word that we’re not like that and to spread the word that we are a reasonable club, quite easy going and easy to get on with.

And why shouldn’t we as well? When I played we would always have two or three pints with the opposite number, and you learned so much from them. [Barman drops a tray of drinks to much hilarity and DR saying “He was supposed to be starting on the wing this week!”] I used to play against Dave Egerton down at Bath two or three times a year and after every game I would seek him out and every time we were on an England training weekend I would sit and eat with him, because I knew if I would sit and talk to him he would tell me something about his game that I would log in my brain. The next time I played against him I would play to that weakness or strength – he thought he was good at picking up and going round the base of the scrum, so I would just turn round to Backy and say this lad thinks he’s got something special, he’s going to do this, and this and this.

You learnt so much from talking to your opposite numbers, not just about them but also about the game as well. I think it’s something that we’ve lost in rugby, it’s become a bit stale, the people don’t talk to each other as much as they should do. So what we are doing is sending out the right message saying we are a personable group, the players are nice people [laughs] and why shouldn’t they have a beer after the game, as long as they look after their bodies properly why shouldn’t they enjoy themselves a little bit – they’ve worked hard on the Saturday as well.

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