English Rugby / Ralph Ellis / 04 September 2008 / Leave a comment

A new Guinness Premiership season starts this weekend - and last year´s regular winners Gloucester are the showcase Sunday game on Sky. Betfair went to find their long serving England flanker Andy Hazell for an exclusive chat about what we can expect from club rugby this winter.

Andy, you´ve had ten years in the game now, how much has it changed?

Massively really, on the pitch as well as off it. On the pitch every year has got tougher, you hear it all the time but it is true, everybody is faster bigger and stronger, but off it every year gets more and more professional. The pressure gets bigger every year too, people expect a bit more.

What´s changed at your club?

What hasn't would be an easier question to answer. Everything is different, there´s a new stadium, new coaches, we´ve had All Black fitness conditioners in, virtually everything. No stone is left unturned really. Denis Betts from Wigan is doing defence work with us. We are training in a giant sandpit learning to move people around, so that once you've tackled them you can turn them on their back.

We suppose that´s all part of the change from amateur to professional that your career has encompassed?

I was being paid to play when I first started, but the attitudes were probably still pretty amateur in comparison to what it´s like now. Over the years I´ve seen a lot of people come in, and we´ve now got the most talented squad since I've been here. You have a mix of young guys who are amazingly talented, to the older ones like Mike Tindall who have seen and done it all. From the time I've been here the squad has got better every year and this year it will be better again. That´s all the more reason why it is so annoying we haven´t actually won anything yet.

You´re a local lad who came through the system. Like football will that become more rare?

Sadly I think the game is going that way. It's inevitable really. The one hope is that Gloucester is such a hotbed for rugby and everybody loves the sport, so I can see one or two kids still coming through every now and then.

It´s a traditional working class sport in your area, isn´t it, which is different to most other clubs?

Yes, definitely that's fair to say. Everybody around here loves rugby, everybody from my nan to my uncle, it's just the way the city is. As you grow up you always go and watch Gloucester, and it sparks the passion to want to play for the club.

So tell us about this pre-season, we hear you´ve been working with tyres and dumbbells.

It´s been really tough this year, because the new laws have come in and the ball will be in play a lot longer than it normally has been. That means we have to be fitter again. We´ve been doing a strongman circuit where you do tug of war, flip a tyre, pull a sled with 120kilos on, all different stuff like that. It´s been interesting, that's for sure. We went over to Canada for a week and played Canada A and did some training. It´s been busy.

What do you make of the law changes?

Well the different numbers in the line-out is the most obvious, but the biggest change I think is that from the scrum the backs have to be 10 metres back, so that's given us a lot more scope for some back row moves, and people just attacking straight into the number ten. I think some of the changes are quite good, but we'll see how some of the others work out.

Does it mean the ball will be in play more?

That´s the aim - I think the design has come from the Southern Hemisphere where people want to see a more fluent game

Tell us about this year´s Premiership. You finished top in the regular season last year so can you do it again?

Definitely. I think we learned a bit last year. We faltered in the semi-final with Leicester at home, but like I said before we have got nearly 40 full time players all of a very high standard. To be top of the league you have to have a very good squad, but we found last year you could finish top of the league and get nothing.

You suffered yourself from the 40 players because you lost your place near the end of the season.

That's one of the things about the new standards. When you have all those players at the club then if somebody is really on form he has to play. It´s not a problem because I´d back myself to get back in and you need that squad because every year gets worse for the number of injuries. This year we want to make sure we peak towards the end of the season rather than earlier.

Starting against Leicester is a bit of a cruel reminder that they stopped you reaching the Grand Final.

Exactly, I think it´s a good game to hype up for the people who write the fixture list. We'll try to make it just another game. We know all about them, and it would be good to get one over on them back at Kingsholm to start the season off right.

What did that feel like, to have won the league and then you haven't?

We've done it a few times now and it's not nice, I'll be honest. You're a group of guys who've worked really hard all year, week in and week out to get the results, you've come top of the pile of similar teams who've done the same, and there's nothing really. If it was football I don't think they'd let it go on! We all know the rules. I suppose if we came fourth and ended getting to the final and winning it I'd say it was all fair!

Who else will be up there?

You´ve still got to be aware of Wasps , although they´ve lost Lawrence Dallaglio and he's their main talisman. I think Harlequins could be quite good this year, they seem to get better every year under Dean Richards and every time we've played them it´s always been a tougher game. I think they could come through. But there's no weak teams. Last year you couldn't say Leeds were weak, but this year Northampton coming up have spent an awful lot of money on recruitment so that's going to be tough too. I think the Premiership has definitely got tougher

What about your own England ambitions. Any chance of adding to your seven caps?

Well I´m no spring chicken now, but if you look at my test results every year then luckily for some reason I seem to be getting fitter, stronger and faster. Obviously I´m a bit more experienced now too, so the hope still burns bright. But the first aim is to play for Gloucester

Thanks for your time and good luck - we´ve a free £50 bet for your favourite charity.

That´s great, I´m supporting Winston's Wish as the official charity of my benefit year this season - and I´m going to back us to finally win the Grand Final this season at [4.5]