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The Fletcher year[and a half]

Gone
By Leipziger March 11 2008
In the summer of 2006 our Falcons made two huge decisions that received lukewarm responses from supporters; to switch home games to Friday nights and to replace Rob Andrew as Director of Rugby with John Fletcher. The first did not work and lasted a year, the second didn’t work either and has lasted less than two.

Yes, after having one Director of Rugby for almost eleven years, we are now looking at our second appointment in the space of two years this summer, with Steve Bates taking over until then.  Ian Peel has been given forwards coaching duties in place of Peter Walton, who has also left.

 

Whilst the timing could be questioned, what cannot is that a lot of fans, myself included, have now got what we wanted in that a new DoR will be appointed ahead of next season and we hope it will be someone who will improve on what has gone before.

 

Fletcher was the not altogether unsurprising appointment on August 18th 2006 when Rob Andrew moved to the RFU, and his first match was a friendly in Glasgow which brought an uninspiring defeat.

 

The first four league matches, a win over Worcester, but defeats at Northampton, Saracens and at home to London Irish were a continuation of form from previous seasons, and there was precious little to get excited about in 2006/07 apart from a win at Sale and a tight victory over Leicester at Kingston Park.

 

Defeats in Brive and Montauban saw us scrape into the European quarter-finals, where Clermont-Auvergne dispatched the Falcons with little trouble, and in the league we dropped to ninth place despite a long unbeaten home run, although we still lost three home Premiership game.

 

This season has been little better, despite a full pre-season, the proper integration of Mark Sorenson, Joe McDonnell and Russell Winter, and the signing of Carl Hayman.  Again, although there are four trips left, we only have one away win (although the victory in Brive should not be ignored) and are tenth in the Premiership.

 

There are clear errors with the coaching, with the lineout unpredictable no matter which personnel are on the pitch, a sometimes brainless kicking game, and a regular inability to make the correct passes to wingers.  Yes, the scrum has improved, but now we have more ball we often don’t seem to know what to do with it.

 

There are still eight league games to go, and we should not be in any danger of relegation, so whilst we need to get and maintain some Premiership form, the main focus should be on April’s European quarter-final against Castres at Kingston Park.  Lose that, and it’ll be our third season in a row with absolutely nothing to shout about at the end of it.

 

Fletch’s overall record in competitive matches as DoR is as amazing as it is predictable: P55 W27 D1 L27 F1235 A1124.

 

This just encapsulates the whole problem – inconsistency, something he and Walts have not been able to solve, and personally I believe they’re chance has passed.  I think it might have been better to wait until the end of the season, especially as we are still in Europe with a not impossible route to the final.

 

However, this will hopefully either show the players that action will be taken on underperformance, or as has been suggested show potential sponsors we are willing to act to improve, or even better, both.

 

Fletch and Walts leave us with a decent squad, with some top signings having been made in their time working together at the helm, especially the aforementioned four southern hemisphere forwards, and some quality English backs and forwards.  This is a squad which can hammer Sale, beat Leicester but lose to Connacht.

 

I am optimistic about the future, and think Fletch has left us in a better state on the pitch than Andrew did despite Matthew Burke’s expected retirement.

 

I’d like to take this public opportunity to thank Fletch and Walts for all of their efforts as players and coaches throughout their many years at the club.  I’ve no doubt they gave their all, and always did what they thought was best for the team, and it is of course never nice when someone loses their job.

 However, the club is going nowhere fast, and with fans losing patience and a new lucrative sponsorship deal required in the summer, Dave Thompson has made the right decision if indeed, as I personally believe, the pair have been sacked.  Hopefully he will make the right decision when appointing a new regime too.

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