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'If you're over the ball and have two blokes over 100 kilos flying into you off their feet, it can be pretty difficult to survive'

Bath's Sam Underhill wants better refereeing at the breakdown (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Sunday at The Rec marked a milestone for Sam Underhill. Not since the 2015/16 season at Ospreys had the back row started 11 games in a domestic league season.

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As someone who managed just four starts in his debut Premiership campaign at Bath last term, making his 11th in the 29-17 win over Wasps marked a triumph for the fetcher with the reputation as potentially one of the best in the business.

He may have missed the Six Nations with England, but that ankle injury didn’t massively hinder his availability to a club he joined in 2017 following a successful PRO12 apprenticeship in west Wales.

But here’s there rub. Having potential is one thing. Ensuring your body has the sufficient long-term robustness and durability to see this through to fruition quite another.

Underhill doesn’t want to come across in any way that he is moaning. It’s just that he more than a tad fed up with some refereeing interpretations surrounding the breakdown. It’s the wild west of rugby, a chaotic area where anything can go from one ruck to the next.

(Continue reading below…)

For a sniffer constantly on the scent of securing valuable turnover ball, as successfully witnessed when winning the penalty turnover that led to Bath’s bonus try move against Wasps, this lack of protection is a concern for a 22-year-old with a history of head injuries amongst his other setbacks.

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Judging by his considered response to RugbyPass, it sounds as if he has been waiting for someone to ask him what actually can be done to better improve player safety in this most dangerous of areas in the sport, a situation where you have players foraging with their head down who then get blown away by other colliding into them like a tonne of bricks.

“Good question, great question,” he said, glad of the opportunity to give a No7’s insight into the mayhem that goes on in this type of collision.

Sam Underhill walks off the pitch injured during a Gallagher Premiership match (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

“The breakdown is one of the last grey areas of the game for me. The law at the moment is you have to make an effort to bind before you hit a ruck. The letter of the law is you make an effort to bind onto a player before you enter a ruck. That never happens.

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“It doesn’t happen because it can’t happen. If you try and bind on to someone before you try and move them off the breakdown, you’re going to be there late and you’re not going to have enough momentum to get them off the ball.

“I understand it is the way the game is played and it’s commonly interpreted the same, but my issue is if all clean-outs are illegal by the letter of the law then you can’t differentiate between the bad ones and the okay ones.

“If everyone is breaking the law by not binding before they hit a ruck you can’t penalise the people that really don’t do it right, those who hit them hard, go off their feet and stuff.

“I’m not going moan about it because it is part of the game, it is how it is played at the moment, but it can be a bit confusing at times. I’d probably like to see it treated similarly to a tackle because that is effectively what a breakdown is now.

“It is sort of a tackle but the problem is you get a lot of them where there is no effort, there is no arms involved and players are flying in off their feet. It’s a lot of momentum. If you’re trying to get over the ball and have two blokes who are over 100 kilos flying into you off their feet, it can be pretty difficult to survive that.

“It’s sort of acknowledged that that is the way it is at the moment but I’d probably like to see the ambiguity cleaned up. Also for the refs because the refs have a hard enough job as it is being consistent in their interpretation and in being fair.

“For them they have got a pretty hard job because I don’t think the guidelines are particularly clear as to what is and isn’t okay – and you probably see that a spectator. It’s a part of the game but if you want to make the game safer and reduce injury rates, it’s probably a good place to start,” he continued.

“You know it [the impact] is coming but the physics of it are pretty difficult if you have got that much momentum coming at you that quickly, it is nearly impossible to survive that.

Sam Underhill admits he is very fond of his time so far at Bath since joining from Ospreys in 2017 (Photo by Phil Mingo/ppauk/Gallagher)

“If you have got the majority of clean-outs where there is two players and they’re both off their feet and neither of them are making an effort to do a wrap in any way, then you’re going to struggle to survive.”

Underhill’s switch to Bath was life-changing. Another season at Ospreys would have made him Welsh qualified, but proving himself in a Premiership where his previous experience was nine minutes off the bench during two seasons at Gloucester resulted in the former England under-18 player returning across the Severn on a three-year deal that now has 13 months remaining.

“Very fondly,” is his reply when quizzed on how he looked back on his stint at Bath so far. “I have really enjoyed my time here, really enjoyed it as a club. I didn’t really have a plan. I kind of learnt from my time at the Ospreys that if you have a plan it tends not to work out.

Beauden Barrett tackles Sam Underhill too late to prevent a try last November that was chalked off following a TMO review (Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images)

“My plan was to get to Bath, be fit all season and play really well. It turned out for Bath that I wasn’t fit for the majority of that first season. It was a bit of a hiccup. This season has been better and I’m hoping next season will be even better.

“I’m hoping it will be third time lucky fitness-wise. I have really enjoyed it here, learnt a lot, built some really good relationships and had some good times. It’s a good club to be around and I’m glad I made the move.”

Much of his work, though, continues to go unseen. Ask your regular rugby fan what memory they have of Underhill and it will invariably be that infamously disallowed try versus the All Blacks last November where be left Beauden Barrett for dead with his fleeted footed acceleration.

“I guess it probably won’t happen again. It is what it is,” he said about that likely match-winning try ruled out for marginal offside by Courtney Lawes at a ruck. What matters most to the flanker is the respect his those he is in the trenches with.

“You’re probably most appreciated by your players and coaches. There is obviously a broader perception of you as a player, but the people whose opinions matter the most are the coaches I’m playing under and the players I’m playing with.

“They’re the ones who see the work that you do in the week and see the unseen work in the games and notice the smaller things. You look to those people as the barometer of how you’re doing and your performance.

Bath held a session for Melksham under-11s as part of the Gallagher Insurance Train with your Heroes initiative (Photo by Phil Mingo/ppauk/Gallagher)

“I’d hope as a seven if you’re doing your job you’re probably not getting an awful lot of attention. If you’re doing your job well you’re probably going unnoticed. That is kind of how you want it to be.”

Currently in seventh, victory over Leicester on the final day of the regulation Premiership season on May 18 can earn Bath a Champions Cup qualification spot. After that, it’s the notice of England boss Eddie Jones that Underhill will be hoping to grab in time for Rugby World Cup selection.

“It would be unbelievable. It’s a childhood dream. You grew up playing in England, you want to play for England and you want to be at a World Cup. It would mean the world to me, but you can’t get too distracted by where you want to go. You have to focus on how you are going to get there. Playing well Bath will hopefully be rewarded with selection. If not, then so be it.”

Sam Underhill lifts weights at an the England conditioning session (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

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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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