Tom Marshall made his return to action against Exeter last Friday and insists he isn’t bothered by the shirt number he wears. After a physical battle against the Chiefs he looked ahead to what shall be an enthralling encounter against league leader Saracens this week and how they must balance physicality in training.
Physical comeback but ready for next challenge
Tom Marshall returned to action last Friday and told of just how hard it was on his body saying, ” Physically it was tough for me but mentally I was excited. I haven’t played much rugby in the last year or so, so the challenge of playing against one of the best sides in the competition excited me and I had a good time.
” The second half was good but we’re not where we need to be, but we showed a lot of heart on our line and it’s tough to hold out an Exeter side like we did. We’ll take a lot of pride from it but we’ll also take a lot of learnings from that.”
” Physically it is quite tough when you’ve missed long periods of training it takes a while for the body to condition and for the next couple of weeks, I’m hoping that’ll just feel better.”
” I’m a little sore but that’s just the body getting used to playing a physical sport again.”
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Marshall not bothered by number on shirt
Despite being utilised as a utility back Marshall is just hopeful of game time no matter where, ” I mean try not to think about what number is on my back, I try and play a similar style and enjoyed myself on the weekend.”
With injured players returning there is now some competitive depth amongst the squad which he explains is just creating a better atmosphere at the club. ” We’re starting to get a good squad together and we’ve got lots of competition for starting positions and we’ve got good players are on the bench and that’s a healthy thing to have.”
” It’s tough to man manage but if we want to be a good side then we need players challenging each other and to create a competitive environment.”
Cipriani driving high standards
Starting outside of Danny Cipriani would be a dream for many players, but Marshall explains just how much the England fly half demands of the team.
” Danny’s a class player and brings a lot to the team. I haven’t played a lot of rugby with him in the past so it’s nice to get to know how he plays on the field.
”He’s got high standards and demands it from everyone in the team and that’s good if we want to be a top four team.”
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Saracens a big task but are a ”Carbon copy” of Exeter
Looking ahead to Friday’s clash at Kingsholm the utility back discussed just how similar Saracens are to Exeter and how that can translate into keeping momentum throughout the week. ” They’re a similar team, we’re not going to change too much of our game plan. We can expect a lot of kicking from them as well as a physical contest. They’ve got an excellent defensive line, so we want to play in the right areas of the field.
” We saw that Alex Goode played at 10 and we’re not sure if they’ll have the same team out on the weekend. It doesn’t change our preparation we’re more concerned about the little bits of detail in our game.
” If we win the physical battle the it’ll go a long way to winning game so we’re demanding a lot from our forwards, especially at set piece time. We want to play in the right areas and make the most of our opportunities. It’s making sure everyone does the small jobs well.”
” The fixtures have been quite favourable. If there’s ever a good time to play Saracens, it’s this weekend where there’s Six Nations going on and going from Exeter to Saracens not a lot has changed in our game plan. It’s like a carbon copy of what we want to do next weekend.”
Kingsholm faithful
Looking back at the win over Exeter Marshall spoke with praise of the Kingsholm crowd and just how much they mean to the team saying, ” You can tell the Kingsholm faithful missed their rugby so hopefully with another big challenge the crowd will turn up again in big numbers.”
Balancing physicality in training
Playing the top two teams back-to-back in the league is a tough ask for any team. Looking at their week between the ties Marshall spoke of how they load their work early in the week to allow for rest explaining, ” For me I’ve been sore but we’ve had Monday and Tuesday as our two big days of training so now it’s getting a full day of recovery and some light training on Thursday to get the body right for Friday.”
”We have to front load our week and get the hard stuff in early and then it’s about recovery.”
Gloucester will take on Exeter at Kingsholm tomorrow evening.
