Justin Marshall: My Heineken Cup quest

Mar 30 2008 by Simon Roberts, Wales On Sunday

WHEN Justin Marshall speaks, you listen.

When he tells you the Ospreys will win the Heineken Cup in the next two years and are on the verge of becoming a rugby dynasty in Europe, you shut up and listen carefully.

Why? Because Marshall has been there, done it and got the T-shirt.

If there has ever been a Hall of Fame rugby player, he is it.

He played 81 times for the best rugby country on the planet and knows all about winning.

Not forgetting his experience of playing in the Super 12, the southern hemisphere’s equivalent of the Heineken Cup.

That’s why the Ospreys signed him.

The legendary All Black scrum-half won the Super 12 title – the cross-border tournament between the best sides in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa – an amazing five times with the Canterbury Crusaders.

The 34-year-old, who has a year left on his contract at the Liberty Stadium, is the missing link – the player who can lead them to European rugby’s Holy Grail.

And he knows it.

“I know this is a bold statement and I have a reputation for making them every now and then but I think the Ospreys will win the Heineken Cup while I am here,” said Marshall. “I know I am in a team that is capable of winning it.

“There is nothing worse then being in a team that isn’t capable of winning anything.

“Being in a team which you know is out of its depth is totally dispiriting. Players know when their team just isn’t good enough.

“But we have talent in abundance and all we have to do is go on and win the damn thing.

“I am so pleased I am in a side that has the capacity to win the Heineken Cup.

“And, if I was a betting man, I would bet that we would win it within the next two years.

“Then they will win it again and again.”

Marshall claims what he says is a bold statement; but is it really?

The Ospreys, without doubt, have assembled one of the best squads in European rugby and have made no secret of their ambition to be crowned Kings of Europe.

They have already won two Magners League titles and reached two Anglo-Welsh Cup finals.

Shouldn’t lifting the Heineken Cup be the next logical step?

The Ospreys have entered the defining two weeks of their season.

They face Saracens in a Heineken Cup quarter-final next weekend before they play the Leicester Tigers in the EDF Energy Cup final for the second time, a week later.

Marshall certainly believes everything is in place for the Ospreys to become a dominant force in Europe.

“We are now getting to the big cross-border finals and I think we have real momentum and can become a real super-power in Europe,” said Marshall.

“Everything, like the stadium, training facilities, backroom staff, are all in place.

“They are second to none at the Ospreys and all we need to do is the rugby part.

“We have the talent, we just have to build the dynasty.”

Marshall knows about what a rugby dynasty is.

Forget Leicester Tigers, London Wasps or even Toulouse – the self-styled Real Madrid of European rugby; they don’t come close to Marshall’s former side.

The Canterbury Crusaders are the best non-Test rugby side on the planet – a team which includes the likes of Richie McCaw and Dan Carter.

Marshall sees similarities between the Ospreys and the Crusaders.

“There are so many comparisons between the two sides,” said Marshall.

“When I was involved with Canterbury back in New Zealand we sometimes contributed around 13 players for the All Blacks.”

Marshall, though, does strike a note of caution to his Ospreys teammates after their recent Grand Slam success with Wales.

“The players have to come back to the Ospreys and understand they don’t have to try and change the world,” said Marshall.

“We need a rugby confidence and not a head-in-the-clouds confidence.

“What we don’t need is a ‘how-good-am-I-now’ kind of confidence.

“Having said that, I know there is nothing better than a confident rugby player, playing well, who knows what he has to do.

“I have been through the same thing that the Welsh boys are going through now. They have got a lot of publicity – and rightly so – but that only means everybody will be wanting to get the better of us and will really climb into us.”

Marshall has also called for the Ospreys’ Welsh internationals to forget all about their Grand Slam success and concentrate on the region.

“If you have won a Grand Slam, a World Cup or a Tri-Nations, coming back to your club side is hard,” he said.

“We need to remember what we are playing for.

“The Ospreys come first for all of us because without them you don’t play Test rugby.

“We have to bleed for the Ospreys and make sure we really do bleed.”

Marshall knows what he is talking about and wants the Ospreys to adopt a philosophy and approach which was successful for the Crusaders in New Zealand.

“We had a Canterbury creed which was built around a really strong work ethic,” said Marshall. WWe had a mixture of personal and team pride.

“We had standards and if we didn’t meet them, we had to deal with all the pain in the arse stuff that rugby players hate.

“I am talking about sitting in a room where everybody asks tough questions of each other.

“It is a very uncomfortable environment and every player really wants to avoid that at all costs.”

Marshall is adamant that it is now the time for the Ospreys to deliver.

“The Ospreys need to take the next step,” said Marshall.

“Once we have won a major trophy the players will learn a lot about themselves.

“Then, you know you are good enough, and you don’t fear it; and the really great teams say: ‘Lets win it again’.

He should know.

Justin on....

Wales’ obsession with winning

“NEW Zealanders aren’t just happy to win. One thing I have learned is that winning is too important here.

“I know that sounds strange, but scrapping through and getting a win is enough in Wales.

“People are jubilant about winning here. I played for the All Blacks and have been booed off when we have just beaten Ireland.

“Winning sometimes is secondary to performance with the All Blacks.

“I have been in a changing room with the likes of Lomu, Wilson, Bunce, Brooke, Mehrtens, Cullen, Jones, Kronfeld and Fitzpatrick and we have just beaten South Africa in Ellis Park by three points and nobody was happy. The place was like a morgue.

“We weren’t happy because we hadn’t performed. We won the game, but we weren’t satisfied with that.

“Players feel that in New Zealand. Kicking the ball all day and winning isn’t good enough.”

Wales’ 2007 World Cup campaign

“I COULDN’T believe Wales could bow out of the Pool Stages of the World Cup. I sat there watching and I was just thinking: ‘What the hell are you doing out there?’.

“There was no passion, or anything. Whenever I played Wales, they always brought great attitude and passion. Their skills weren’t always the best, but you had to match their passion and physical approach to the game.

“I don’t want to be critical of Gareth Jenkins, because I don’t know him, but they looked like a side without direction or purpose. The players have to believe in what they are doing, Wales didn’t look like a side that did.

“A good coach tells you what he thinks and then adapts it to the players he has.

“Wales, as they are now, would have beaten Australia and played England in the quarter-final and you have to believe they would have won that game.”

The Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards factor

“TO think only five months ago, Wales were knocked out of the World Cup and have now won a Grand Slam.

“They have just found the right recipe. But Gatland and Edwards didn’t have to do much, only bring the team together and offer some guidance and direction. It was all there for somebody to do something with.

“At the World Cup, Wales had the same group of players but had no direction, attitude or purpose. The same group of players are now playing with all those things and, on top of that, commitment.

“Maybe it took somebody from the outside to come in and say: ‘Look we have Shane Williams, James Hook, Stephen Jones, Lee Byrne and Ryan Jones in our squad’. Wales doesn’t have a talent problem. I work with it every day. They just have to get organised.”