CLEARVIEW SPORTS

By Ben Thomas

Rob Bailey’s USW 3rds are within touching distance of the league title which they can secure when they face Gloucestershire 2nds at the USW Sport park on Wednesday.

When asked on how his team can recreate the success of this season, Bailey said:

“We want to make us bigger, better and stronger. I would like to do this by retaining most of the players we have because we’ve got some threes but there are also some guys that are going to do a masters and that gives us bundles of experience.”

“I want to make sure that we’re competitive. We may not win it, but I want to ensure that whatever league the threes are in, we’re competitive and the players are enjoying it.”

“The challenge is, like, in every team sport what’s been successful is that we’re going to do what we’ve done to make sure we’re successful again or give us the best chance of success with what we have.”

Despite sitting top of the league, the USW threes have gone through some ups and downs, but the team have shown a tremendous quantity of teamwork and responsibility to bounce back. Coach Bailey explains the process of how he picked his team and moulded them into the squad that they are: 

“There’s a rule I go by called ‘15 rules’ that the All Blacks use which I’ve just nicked out of a book called legacy by James Kerr. And one of the big rules they’ve got is there’s no d***heads within the team.

“I know It sounds daft, but when we nail down and something goes wrong, are you going to stop, sulk and blame your teammates and be negative or are you going to try and inspire and be positive around teammates? I know which player I’d choose.”

When asked about ‘The team of the year award’ that he has steered his USW team to, Bailey is confident that he and the team can repeat their success of this year:

“For the team of the year, I see no reason as to why we can’t go on and do it again next season. We’d like to maintain most of the players in the squad because they all know each other, and the consistency will make us stronger.”

 “It’s an honour for the team to be nominated though as It’s about teamwork, being respected and people liking the way we play, and how we conduct our business and it’s not just down to the results.”

“This is the second time we’ve been nominated and hopefully it’s a good omen because the last time that the threes got nominated for Team of the Year, they actually went on to win the league. “

“So, it’d be nice to do the double. We could win the league, or we should really get past Gloucester next week and then next season we build on that.”

After finding the application for USW in the South Wales Echo 15 years ago, Bailey has helped USW sport grow leaps and bounds but most recently he has been nominated individually at the awards for ‘Coach of the year’ but says:

“obviously it’s nice to be nominated. But I’m not big on individual rewards because well for several reasons.”

“I mean, top goal scorer for example, a guy can’t be a top goal scorer without having good teammates giving them good crosses and good luck so, you know, it’s not just the guy that put the ball in the back of the net. It’s much more than just one person.”

“I have no interest at all in winning the award. It’s just the fact that someone has nominated me for the award which is pleasing”

“I would much rather the team won the league title next Wednesday and I would much rather the boys won the team of the year because at the end of the day that’s far more important to me than personal recognition.”