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'Happy and good is unacceptable. What would Callum say?'

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

No one knows, apart from Wales boss Wayne Pivac perhaps, when Callum Sheedy might be thrust into the Autumn Nations Cup fray against England on Saturday to make just his third Test appearance in his fledgeling international career. 

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The 25-year-old Sheedy made his debut at the tail end of the Dublin loss to Ireland, coming on with Wales under the pump and heading for a derisory 32-9 defeat. 

Last week, though, he made his first start, guiding Pivac’s strugglers to the 18-0 win over Georgia that snapped a six-match losing run. You’d imagine the rookie would be chuffed with himself but he wasn’t completely, peppering his club boss, Bristol’s Pat Lam, with a flurry of texts.

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How Wales can beat England this Saturday

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How Wales can beat England this Saturday

It has been ever thus. When Lam arrived at Bristol in 2017, Sheedy was way down the pecking order but his appetite for learning has turned him from a bit-part player to being the conductor of a Bears outfit that signed off 2019/20 as European Challenge Cup champions and Gallagher Premiership semi-finalists. 

It was June 2019 when Sheedy fleetingly popped up in the England colours, taking part in their annual Twickenham rendezvous with the Barbarians, but it was always likely the Cardiff-born out-half would ultimately wind up in the bosom of the Wales set-up with an eye on becoming the long-term successor to Dan Biggar.

That process began in earnest this month and while he will only play bench back-up to the established No10 when Wales welcome England to Llanelli, Sheedy getting to that level has greatly enthused club boss Lam. “He is just a great example of if you have got a dream and you have got a plan, and you’re committed and hungry to work, it will come right for you,” said Lam, who will be in catch-up mode on Saturday concerning the international as the second half of Bristol’s Premiership game with Worcester will overlap with the Parc Y Scarlets start. 

“Then it’s constant review and also understanding the three non-negotiables – game culture, leadership, understanding the game. Understand culture is a big part of it in the sense that you’re not happy or you don’t feel comfortable. 

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“Callum is all about the game and the team game, he is all about culture and he is a great team person, so he fits in, he makes relationships real easy, he makes people feel comfortable.

“And then the other third thing is the leadership and he has got leadership skills because he will never ask anyone to do anything that he doesn’t do himself. Through all of that the reason he has climbed so fast up the pecking order and the reason he is doing so well is because he has unbelievable self-awareness. 

“As an example – he does it after most games anyway – but after the Wales game, he was sending me texts about how he was happy with a couple of things but there were things he thought he could be better and I was just dropping him back messages, but that is just Callum. 

“It’s funny, we had a meeting Wednesday – we always catch up with the tens, myself and Conor McPhillips, the assistant coach, on the down day – and I asked a question to one of them, I said well how did you think training went yesterday and he was, it was good, I was happy. 

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“I looked at him and I said what would Callum say? I said ‘I’m happy and good’ is unacceptable. What would Callum say? Callum would go through the chat, the connection, the lines, the timing, he’d talk about the overall flow, and I said, so now boys give me some more detail please, what happened and what did you think of the training game? 

“That is Callum. His understanding of the game that any coach is trying to do, he is very meticulous and understands okay this is what you want to do, this is my role in it. Everything on a rugby field is around connections and being able to connect and tune in and that is one of his strengths.

“Of course he has got a lot of work-ons and his general skills, he knows that and he has put time into that. He is going to continue to develop and he is hungry to get better but his greatest asset – and you could see it when he started for Wales – there was a lot of inexperienced guys but everyone seemed to know exactly what was going on and he directed it really well. 

“I thought he was very good and it just shows it doesn’t matter the level, as long as he has got clarity and gives everyone else clarity then he will be successful.”

Sheedy’s penchant for constantly asking questions reminds Lam of how he himself was as a player who enjoyed a European Cup and league-winning career in England alongside his Test exposure with Samoa.

“Callum will always want to know why and that is what I challenge all my players, you better know the why. Don’t just do something because the coach tells you to do it. That was like me as a player – I was probably a bit of a pain in the backside for coaches because I wanted to know the why. 

“If we are doing this drill why does this have any relevance to what we are doing in the game, and that’s the thing that Callum will always ask the why. I never ever have an issue to answer the why because the big picture is explained, but he is very good and the beauty some times when other players ask is I go well, what do you think Callum and Callum will give them the answer. Callum can present and he normally nails it.” 

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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