Gibbes beds in at Leinster
Tuesday 16th September 2008
It didn't take long for Jono Gibbes to find a post-playing position. Within mere days of his announcement that injury had ended his career, Gibbes was bound for the Emerald Isle, for Irish capital Dublin, and a forwards coach position at Leinster.
There's no doubting Leinster will be the beneficiaries from one of the finest exponents of pure forward play in the professional era. But it's been quite a month for Gibbes, who started the season believing he might get back into a brightly-coloured Waikato jersey, and is now stalking the touchline in Leinster's rather more sober navy blue tracksuit.
"I'm settling into the new role still. I think a big part of coaching is relationships and learning about the players that you're dealing with and I'm still very much in that process and it's ongoing. I'm enjoying it," he said, ahed of his team's top of the table Magners League clash with the Ospreys this weekend.
There are well-documented cultural differences between New Zealand and European rugby, not least the difficulty involved in getting results on the road.
Gibbes freely admitted he had been surprised by the intensity of places he had visited.
"I think the Cardiff performance (16-16) was a bit of an eye-opener for me, understanding how the home team get up for the visit of away teams," he said.
"I think they were very committed and didn't allow us to play an awful lot of rugby. Having said that, I believe we actually put ourselves in a position to win that game. Whilst disappointed not to come away with four games, I think that two was a fair reflection of the amount of opportunities we got."
Back home, in the first Magners Leage match of the season at the RDS, things were very different, as Leinster ran out 52-6 victors over Edinburgh last Friday.
"For me, Edinburgh was a reflection of our Monday to Thursday," he said.
"We prepared bloody well during the week and Friday was the outcome of how well we had prepared. The players were focused and we didn't give Edinburgh an awful lot and we took the opportunities that we created.
"I wouldn't say that we played a whole heap of rugby in that game, but we certainly converted the opportunities that we did create, and I think that was a real positive. The fact that we got 20-odd points ahead and didn't take the foot off the gas was also a positive for us."
Gibbes' career was plagued by injury - most believe that had his body held up, he would have been one of the greats. And as every player who can no longer hit the turf running knows, the urge to get out there is as strong as ever even when the flesh wants nothing to do with it.
"I still get the urge to be involved in drills, but when they're doing fitness stuff I'd tend to say 'Sorry guys, I've retired!' he joked.
"I have moved on from that aspect, but I have to say that going to the RDS for the first time on Friday, just being down there and being part of the pre-match routine again, it was tough to go up to the box and be a spectator.
"Those kinds of thoughts will take a while to leave. Plus, I don't really put myself in too many positions to get hammered in training in case they want to target the new guy!"
The match against the Ospreys, who have also hit the Magners ground running with three wins from three, is lining up as an early-season 'eight-pointer', and Leinster will do their title aspirations no harm with a win at home.
"They will bring a big physical pack. It's going to be vitally important that we meet them head on and we win the gain-line," said Gibbes.
"The guys are focused. They've had a reasonably good win on Friday and they turned up for training on Sunday and Monday focused, with a good attitude and working hard again.
"The Edinburgh result was indicative of four days great preparation and thus far our Ospreys week has been prepared well, which is a good sign."
Jonno Gibbes Interview
Moderator: moderators