The Handre Pollard advice that England's Finn Carnduff has lapped up
Finn Carnduff is living the rugby dream. Last Friday night the 19-year-old stepped off the Gallagher Premiership bench to help Leicester see out their win over Harlequins; this Friday night he will skipper the England U20s when they open their Six Nations campaign away to Italy in Treviso. Lovely.
He is the third Leicester youngster in succession to be appointed age-grade captain, following in the slipstream of Emeka Ilione and Lewis Chessum, and Tigers’ inner sanctum has been his university regarding how best to skipper a team. Just look at the names he has recently been in the ear of.
“The value you get at playing at such a high level as that and players like Handre Pollard, Jasper Wiese, guys who have won a World Cup, the amount of value they give you with questions they ask and experience they have got, you just learn from them and it makes you a better player.”
So what words of wisdom have especially stuck in the mind? “It’s just want would you do in certain situations, particularly from Handre’s point of view having the captaincy role, in these pressure situations what are you thinking, how are you staying so cool-headed, how are you not letting the situation get the better of you and making sure you are staying in the moment and not getting too overwhelmed.”
Getting overwhelmed isn’t something you’d fear happening to Carnduff on duty with England. “We have got plenty experience of Finn captaining age-group teams and if we didn’t feel he was the right person for it, we would have given it to someone else,” enthused U20s coach Mark Mapletoft. “He understands the importance of driving high standards and wanting to be the best.”
Leicester, then, is proving the best pathway for Carnduff’s development. “I have been a Leicester fan my whole life so quite nice to win with them, a bit of a dream come through to play,” he said harking back to last weekend’s 16-minute appearance in London.
“I remember them [Harlequins] scoring the final try and thinking, ‘Oh no, we have lost this game’. And then thankfully we managed to get over the line. Great result and for me, very happy with the honour to play in the Prem. The team win was huge.”
His recent increase in size helped. “I have put a bit of weight on, about 110 kilos now,” he replied when asked if the 106kgs listed on the Leicester website at the start of this season was still accurate.
“It doesn’t come easy. I’m sure most boys would say putting weight on is a slow process, a lot of hard work off the pitch both nutrition-wise and in the gym. But if you are disciplined with it all it does come in the end. The hard work pays off
Winning collisions is a huge emphasis for the 6ft 4in England blindside who comfortably doubles up as a lock. “That versatility for me is huge, it’s something I feel a lot of players can use. Having the ability to play multiple positions is valuable.
“Collisions within our game plan, we want to be a physical team and we want to dominate the collision area so it’s something we have been working on and for me, that is another area of my game that I am looking to develop as well.
“Italy are always strong, they come with a very good forward pack, a physical team, like to get into an arm wrestle with teams. We completely respect Italy but we are going to go to Treviso and play our game, play the way we want to play and get the result.
“We have got a lot of new lads in, fresh faces which is nice. There was a good group out in South Africa at the back end of last season but it’s nice to get fresh faces, fresh ideas. The overall feeling within the group is excitement. We have had two warm-up games already and we’re ready now to go and play a Test match against Italy.
“A big thing for us is how close can we get as a group, how well can we get to understand each other and know what makes each other tick, what gets each other ready for games, how we best receive feedback. That is the best way to get everything out of a team at the end of the day.
“You are going to play your game but it is a team game. Rugby is 15 guys on a pitch, not yourself, so it is how you can work with the guys around you is the thing you have got to work on more importantly.”
The final word goes to the curiosity that Carnduff is the only player from Leicester named in the England match day 23. Tigers used always be well represented but they are currently in the shade compared to Newcastle, Northampton and Harlequins who each have four players named in Mapletoft’s squad for the round one game in Italy.
“It just shows you the strength of all the academies across England,” reckoned Carnduff. “The boys from Leicester that haven’t made the squad, it just shows you the improvement in academies around the country, they’re getting better and they’re producing players of such high calibre.
“Maybe it’s not a reflection on Leicester but a reflection on the other clubs and how well they are doing. It’s exciting that we can pick players from various clubs (all 10 have representation along with Racing 92). Hopefully, the Premiership in a few years will be an exciting thing with a lot of exciting new players.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Titans of under-20s rugby …. Reporters tired verbiage akin to calling every player a “star” and any Fijian side as ”Flying”. The French English and Irish are the Titans of U20 rugby. Noone in the South is now. This tournament is however, good prep to regain titan status.
1 Go to commentsWill be humbling coming back and playing second fiddle to Dmac.
2 Go to commentsSounds like quite a bit of development has occurred regarding Mo’unga’s situation. Either NZR has stepped up their offer (big time) or RMo has had a reality check on what it will be like to be outside of the high performance environment of AB rugby. Maybe both. It reads like there are only a few remaining details to be sorted out before it is a done deal.
2 Go to commentsCurrently, a prop that has been substituted can go back on field if his original replacement gets injured. Can a red carded prop go back if his replacement gets injured, or will it be uncontested scrums?
12 Go to commentsWhat about a free kick from a scrum? Can you call another scrum? Or are they just giving straight penalties now?
29 Go to commentsLoved that comment by Andrew that the ‘water boys’ rule was changed in 2020 just to stymie the Boks!
29 Go to commentsOne of the best the Boks have ever produced. PSDT has an engine that goes non-stop for the full 80 min.
5 Go to commentsThe real deal.
5 Go to commentsIt’s been said that Nienaber will head back to SA too before next World Cup , hoarding all the amazing IP gained in Irish system … get a grip … Irish system needs to Milk the likes of Barrett . First time a leading all Black in his prime has gone to Ireland for any period of time . Enjoy it .
21 Go to comments20 min RC is the only good solution of a bunch of bad solutions. Ridiculous that it has taken this long and caused so many uneven contests. In general these are all very good changes - one is surprised that NH brokers were able to see sense at long last.
12 Go to comments“While a red card will mean a temporary team disadvantage, the replacement system will focus punishment on the offending player instead of disrupting the game itself.” This might work for amateur rugby, where players just want to be on the pitch for as long as possible, but hopefully we’ve got to a point where top level professionals care about the success of their team much more than about whether they personally are on the pitch or not.
12 Go to commentsa lot of focus on the targeting of south africa, but aspects of this are positive. The croc roll; the offside law; and time limits on set pieces are all good. calling for a mark off kick offs is baffling, but I guess we’ll see how it plays out in practice
29 Go to commentsSpeeding the game up is great, but I think we will find that the increase in viewership this year mostly comes down to the competition being more competitive…the fall of the Crusaders has been a boon for viewership. This should be at the heart of super rugby changes - how to make the comp more even
23 Go to commentsThe fact that the press were largely to blame for his taking a break is nothing short of disgusting. He’s made a few mistakes but difficult to name a player of any substance who gives it a full go hasn’t also made mistakes? On behalf of a large number of Bokke fans, bring back Farrell !!!!!
1 Go to commentsPSTD is a fantastic flanker. He could benefit from a bit of self-promotion / flair and he is not quite the danger man that Ardie is. That said, he is my 1st pick to build a backrow around. His speed and hustle made up for Duane who got quite a bit slower at the 8.
5 Go to commentssurprised, disco lights haven't been banned by world rugby board
29 Go to commentsToo many changes. Too often. I’m tired of this WR administration. How do we vote these fockers out? Bill needs to go.
29 Go to commentsDu Toit, 2 time W.Cup winner yet rarely mentioned a “Great “…if one looks back on his stellar carrier perhaps someone will one day elevate him to “Richie” status…a quiet, polite yet devastating loose forward that knew action speaks louder than words..
5 Go to commentsI like the offside rule, but this won't affect my team because all their kicks gets chased and that putts everyone on side. Lekker manne!
29 Go to comments20 minute Red Card is untenable. If you don’t punish the whole team, coaches won’t be sufficently incentivised to pick players with, or coach better tackle technique.
12 Go to comments