Huge gains made in face of adversity insists Carnegie captain Jake Brady

The 2019-20 campaign was nothing short of brutal for Yorkshire Carnegie’s players.
Yorkshire Carnegie captain Jake Brady, pictured preparing to contest a line-out during a Championship clash with Bedford Blues, says he has been able to take plenty of positives from the 2019/20 season, despite the club’s relegation to National One. Picture: Steve Riding.Yorkshire Carnegie captain Jake Brady, pictured preparing to contest a line-out during a Championship clash with Bedford Blues, says he has been able to take plenty of positives from the 2019/20 season, despite the club’s relegation to National One. Picture: Steve Riding.
Yorkshire Carnegie captain Jake Brady, pictured preparing to contest a line-out during a Championship clash with Bedford Blues, says he has been able to take plenty of positives from the 2019/20 season, despite the club’s relegation to National One. Picture: Steve Riding.

Anchored to the foot of the RFU Championship having lost all 14 of their league fixtures with a frightening points-difference of minus 528 when the season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, the Headingley outfit were last week relegated to National One.

Their current plight is world’s apart from their 2005-06 Heineken Cup heyday and represents very much the nadir of the club’s recent history.

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The experience of the last seven months will doubtless have tested the resolve within the Carnegie camp, indeed captain Jake Brady admits that this period ranks as the most challenging of his career.

A sparsely-populated Emerald Headingley stadium for the visit of Bedford Blues last October. Picture: Steve Riding.A sparsely-populated Emerald Headingley stadium for the visit of Bedford Blues last October. Picture: Steve Riding.
A sparsely-populated Emerald Headingley stadium for the visit of Bedford Blues last October. Picture: Steve Riding.

Yet, the 31-year-old second-row forward insists that he has no regrets about giving up his job as a teacher and making the switch from Darlington Mowden Park last summer.

“It has been tough at times, it’s never easy when you’re consistently losing games, but I’m definitely pleased that I made the decision to sign here,” the ex-Harrogate captain said.

“This is a club with a lot of history, so to have captained it has been an honour and a pleasure.

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“I wanted a challenge when I came and I knew that I would get one. I wanted to test myself at Championship level and improve my own game. From a selfish point of view, I am fitter, stronger and faster than I have ever been. I also know a lot more.

FAMILIAR FACE: Phil Davies took over coaching duties at Headingley again earlier this year. Picture: David Davies/PAFAMILIAR FACE: Phil Davies took over coaching duties at Headingley again earlier this year. Picture: David Davies/PA
FAMILIAR FACE: Phil Davies took over coaching duties at Headingley again earlier this year. Picture: David Davies/PA

“Due to the quality of some of the coaching we’ve had and the fact that I’ve been able to train more regularly, I’m in better shape than I ever have been and am playing as well I ever have.

“I have no regrets. We haven’t had the results, but, for me, it’s been good.”

Forced to re-build their squad from scratch following their switch from professional to part-time status at the end of last season, Carnegie have been on the back foot ever since.

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Unable to meet their financial liabilities, the club’s very existence was under threat until late June when they secured a company voluntary agreement with creditors, which allowed them to trade forwards as a business.

TOUGH ASK: Martyn Wood (left) and Joe Ford (right), who were 
Yorkshire Carnegie's coaching team at the start of the 2019-20 season. 
Picture submittedTOUGH ASK: Martyn Wood (left) and Joe Ford (right), who were 
Yorkshire Carnegie's coaching team at the start of the 2019-20 season. 
Picture submitted
TOUGH ASK: Martyn Wood (left) and Joe Ford (right), who were Yorkshire Carnegie's coaching team at the start of the 2019-20 season. Picture submitted

This left newly-appointed director of rugby Martyn Wood less than two months to assemble, integrate and organise a team. That group of players has struggled to compete at times, kicking off the campaign with an 83-0 defeat to Nottingham and going on to concede more than 50 points in 13 of their 20 outings this term.

However, as bleak as things appear from the outside looking in, Brady’s insight suggests that it wasn’t all doom and gloom within the Emerald Headingley changing room.

One of the main reasons for this, according to their captain, is the fact that all of the Carnegie players “knew what they had signed up for”.

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Because of their financial constraints, Yorkshire’s summer recruitment policy centered around bringing in players from lower divisions who wanted an opportunity to prove themselves in English rugby’s second tier.

“The thing is, we’ve got a really good set of boys here who are only at this club because they want to be,” Brady added.

“Everyone knew what they had signed up for when they put pen to paper. We all knew the situation that the club was in and how difficult this season was going to be.

“That’s important because, even though we’ve been losing quite badly at times, nobody was under any illusions.

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“The other important factor is the fact that, although it might not show in the results, we have improved a lot and the boys can see that.

“Our line-out has improved massively, the scrummaging has got better, as has our ability to follow a game-plan. In some aspects, the team is unrecognisable from the start of the season.”

Brady is correct when he says that those improvements in Carnegie’s game weren’t reflected in their results.

Their last outing before the season was terminated saw them ship 73 points at home to fellow strugglers London Scottish, though the imposing lock is adamant that a positive outcome wasn’t too far away.

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“I honestly felt that we were due that first win very soon,” he added.

“With some of the games we were supposed to have coming up, we were targeting not just one win, but maybe two or three.

“As captain, if you don’t believe that you can win games, what sort of that example does that set? You may as well just go home.

“Phil (Davies - Yorkshire’s current director of rugby) has brought in some really good players who he coached when he was with the Namibian national team and I think they would have ended up making a big difference.

“There are always excuses, but we’ve had a lot of injuries and seeing players as influential as Joe Ford (fly-half) and Ryan Shaw (wing) leave the club halfway through the season didn’t help either.”

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