‘Work to do’ says Catterick after Singha 7s group win

Saturday 30 July 2016 Written by: Adam


Winning Saturday’s home qualifier in front of 3,825 supporters at Kingston Park Stadium, the 2011 Premiership 7s winner said: “We made it hard work for ourselves – no disrespect to the other teams who turned up and played well on the day.

“Our own mistakes cost us at times. We missed a lot of one-on-one tackles, of which I was guilty myself, and we just didn’t do the basics right enough of the time. Some of our passing wasn’t on the money, it made things difficult and we have to iron that out because the finals are a big step up from the qualifiers.”

Catterick, a former England 7s international, added: “We were a bit slow to start off with, we were a bit in our comfort zone and maybe with our good record and being the home side our ego got the best of us. Being 12-0 down at half-time in our first game against Sale was probably the reality check we needed, and we upped the physicality from there.

“Guys like Dan Temm, Glen Young and Harrison Orr got our kick-offs back, that is absolutely crucial in sevens and we did manage to step things up.”

Noting a climb in quality, Catterick said: “The Premiership 7s has completely changed even in the last four years.

“You used to be able to dance on the spot and gaps would open up for you, but defences are much better these days. You need your big ball-carriers to just go forward and run hard, and that’s what we did in the end. The trouble they caused at the breakdown and the amount of turnovers they won was really the difference.

“It certainly wasn’t the prettiest performance from us and we have played a lot better in the past, but the goal was to win the group and get through to the finals. We somehow found a way to just about do that, but we will forget this day and move onto next Sunday in Coventry.”