Survival!

London Welsh put a very spirited performance in against the Tigers on Sunday, but ultimately came a cropper to a nousier Leicester team. I found myself asking what exactly does a new team in the Aviva Premiership need to make sure they don't return from whence they came. I'm going to look at the variety of factors, both team and wider variables that a club's Director of Rugby may have to look at in order to secure their status as a tier one side.

Forwards

I can sense the rolling of eyes of rugby purists worldwide and accusations of boring, forward dominated Northern Hemisphere rugby, but the fact is a DoR in the Premiership has to abide by the precedent set out in front of him i.e.there is a very realistic chance of going straight back down. Without a hard, competitive pack, you are not going to get a sniff. When people talk about a slight, but still existent physical step up from the Championship to the Premiership, no where is it more evident than in the set-piece, especially in the scrums. Steve Diamond knew the importance of forwards dominance when he joined Sale, Leicester have always known it and Saracens knew it when they started bringing in their South African imports. As a statement of intent to other sides as well as the more practical realities of survival, this one is key.

Number 9 and 10

Now I won't be using Worcester as a positive example of much in this blog, and I'm not really going to start now. But signing players of Shaun Perry and Andy Goode's quality, you're going to get one thing, consistency. Nothing flashy, just good percentage based choices in most situations. Exeter, with players like Steenson, Mieres, Chudley and Powell, you are going to get a certain level of service that makes everyone, including the fans and coaches, feel relaxed. This makes players around them more focussed on what they need to do off of them.

Community and Local Connection

The importance of community sections at clubs is growing. Saracens have a particularly good one, and it's about more than running summer camps for parents who can't quite cope with six weeks of their kids not being in full-time education. It's about getting into schools and clubs, not even playing rugby necessarily. Maybe they'll talk about nutrition, teamwork or get the players to answer mind-numbing questions from kids who just want to know what was the nastiest injury they've ever seen and how much they can bench press. One of the best coaching sessions I participated in was when Paul Gustard came to Saracens Amateurs and worked on our lineouts. Made me like him and the club more and as a result, and by association, more likely to go watch. The local connection thing I've gone over in previous posts but imagine trying to attract people shopping in Oxford who may know nothing about rugby to come and watch 'London Welsh', you can imagine some fairly (justified) confused looks. I am looking forward to visiting both Bath and Exeter this season, two clubs I've wanted to go to for some time and both of whom have their sense of community well tuned in. 

Training facilities

Old Albanians for Saracens in Herts and Bath's stately home training ground Farleigh House in Somerset are just two examples, along with a couple of others, of training facilities other clubs should be envious of. Training facilities are so so important, especially for a team that has just stepped up a level. A fresh place to train with top end gym, medical and analysis facilities would instantly put those players making the transition in the mind-set that they are big time now and whilst the club is providing more, they also need to. This may seem superficial but Dai Young said but a few days ago that had he known about the mess Wasps was in before he joined, he would have run 100 miles from the post. He sighted the training facilities as one of the things that needed improving dramatically and using the same facilities they had all season, just remember where they ended up at the end of it.

There are other factors obviously, but these are the ones I've identified as being the most important. Any more I may have overlooked? Let me know.