A World Cup-winner in 2003, Ben Kay remains one of the most experienced players in the England set-up. The Leicester lock spoke to www.rucked.com
How’s things?
Good, we had good training today. We’re all properly focussed and everyone knows what it’s going to take to beat France in Paris.
And what is that?
If you look at the way England have been successful in the past it’s been the physicality that has tended to win the games. We’ve got a lot of new faces in the squad that can throw up something different but the last thing we want to do is play a loose game. We don’t want to kick the ball down the throat of their back three so that they can come back and have a go at us.
What are your own hopes for the Six Nations?
I’m still hoping to have an impact and get some decent game time, hopefully this weekend. But Bothers has been playing and so has Shawsy so I’ve got to bide my time and wait for an opportunity to show that I should be starting. In terms of my role in the squad, I’m a senior play so it’s important that I use my experience and maybe pass a few things on to the younger guys coming through. I also want to help make sure the atmosphere is right as it was in the past when we won the big games.
How good is this England side?
The talent is there, it’s just a case of building it into team that plays as a unit. We shot ourselves in the foot recently, we’d get ourselves in a good position but then not play very smart. That comes with experience though. Look at what we did against Italy, we let them score and that made it close. We then rushed the kick off whereas we should’ve taken the sting out of the game. It’s about having a level head on your shoulders and knowing that can’t always throw that miracle pass or make that miracle kick. Occasionally you have to just cement a winning position. You have to know when it’s right to try and offload and when it’s right to just hold on to the ball.
On the club front, you happy?
Well I think it’s going pretty well, we’ve got a hell of a lot of competition and we’ve got a policy of using the whole squad so that we’re fresh at the end of the season. It seemed to work last year for us…
How’s Loffreda settling in?
Obviously he’s a big change from the type of coach Pat Howard was but he’s now had a couple of months to settle in and get across the way he wants to play. It’s all starting to develop now and, although it was disappointing against London Irish, we’re still in a pretty good position.
How does he want you to play?
It’d take a couple of hours to tell you that, it’s difficult something to put into words you just get a feel of how the squad is moving.
What do you think makes Leicester different?
I think as a professional club we’re very proud and we’re never weak in training. It’s all about standards and it’s very important that everyone maintains those high standards and the guys that come through know that. In the age of professionalism we’ve got a lot of young guys earning an incredible amount of money and it’s important they keep their feet on their ground.
How do you do that?
I don’t think it’s necessarily one thing you do in particular, we just make sure the club ethics aren’t lost. Guys need to buy into the attitude it takes to be a Leicester player and if you don’t do that you get a rude awakening. And how players react to that is judged by how the coaching staff react and how long they keep you…
Your club-mate Tom Croft is now in the England squad…
He’s a good addition, he’s completely different type of back row forward, his style of play is more akin to that of a French back row with his speed and ball-handling skills. He’s obviously something different to what we’ve got and I think it’s a huge bonus for the coaches to have him on the bench.
France in Paris isn’t going to be easy…
No it’s not, you don’t want to knock the confidence out of anyone by stating how difficult it’s going to be. There is a good chance of turning them over as we did in the World Cup but that was the first time I’ve won at Stade de France in an England shirt –it’s a difficult place to go. To get a win there would be a monumental achievement.
Still enjoying life at the top?
I still enjoy being in the squad, you dream about it and it doesn’t get tempered by the fact I’ve been here a long time. Martin Corry and Martin Johnson said you know when to retire because that feeling goes, but it’s still there for me, I’m still enjoying it.