The baby Eagles have arrived in Poland, where they will be playing at the European Championship from Friday. Before departure, we took the opportunity to talk with the head coach Aleksandar Nedeljković about how the preparations went and what the preparation work itself looked like. It is of crucial importance how the preparation period looked, because your results in the tournament will depend on how well you prepared. However, it is also extremely important at what level and how you work with the team during the preparation period.
Tomorrow, that is, on Friday the 21st of July, the first day of the European Championship awaits us, which will be extremely tiring for us. We start the competition against the big favorite of the tournament, Romania. That match is scheduled for 12:06 p.m. Then we have a match against very strong Austria at 1:44 p.m. The last match of the day awaits us at 16:14 against excellent Latvia. Only one match awaits us on Saturday, when we will complete the group stage with a match against Moldova at 5:12 p.m. The draw wanted us to have 5 teams in our group, three rounds will be played on the first day, and two rounds on the second day of the competition. The draw wanted us to play 3 matches on the first day and only one on the second.
On the third day, we will most likely have two more matches. If you would like to know more about the competition system, we highly recommend visiting the results and standings section of our website.
Rugby.rs: Preparations started symbolically on Vidovdan, 28th of jun. What is your training and preparation plan before the start of the competition?
Aleksandar Nedeljković: From 28.6. until 11.7. 14 training sessions were held at Banjica, which were attended by guys from a wider list. From 11.7. I selected 14 guys who from 14.7. until 17.7 in Karatash fought for 13 places at the U18 7s EP in Poland. After Karatas, I selected the team that will play in Poland.
Rugby.rs: How satisfied are you with the training you have done so far?
Aleksandar Nedeljković: We had some difficulties due to injuries, which fortunately were resolved properly. The boys worked hard, the pace is high, the criteria at the highest possible level. Preparations are going in the right direction. Progress can be seen day by day, we were in a good position against Karataš. We finished there thoughtfully.
Rugby.rs: As a coach who takes special care of video analysis, how important is it for the progress of the national team's training sessions that every training session is recorded and that an analysis is done before the start of each training session?
Aleksandar Nedeljković: At one of Vladimir Koprivica’s lectures at the FSFV, the professor stated that theoretical training is an extremely neglected and little-used training tool. Just a few weeks after starting his coaching career in 2016 I held the first video analysis. I have been using them regularly ever since. In this cycle, I decided to record everything and start each training session with a video analysis of the previous one. Video analysis is the key to faster and better understanding of the rugby game, transfer of information, correction of mistakes, progress. For me personally, 15-20 days of this kind of work gives a better result than two months of work without recordings, analysis, blackboard.
Rugby.rs: How much can players improve their game and effort in training after analyzing videos?
Aleksandar Nedeljković: Extremely much. One situation is when during training the coach stops a segment and tries to change, explain, correct, convey. It’s a completely different story when the whole team sits, looks at the board, we go through the segment again, we come to conclusions about what was good, what could be better, all the details are visible, the message is clear to everyone. As far as commitment is concerned, everything can be seen in black and white, every standup after contact, the speed of the setup in attack and defense. This way of working will always be my first choice. On this occasion, I would like to greet our cameraman Danijelo Stojanović, who was eaten by mosquitoes for 14 days.
Rugby.rs: The Serbian Championship and Cup are played in the format of rugby 7, which is an Olympic discipline. How much does the experience from the domestic competition mean for preparations before the EP?
Aleksandar Nedeljković: It would be immeasurably more difficult to prepare players who do not have this much experience in playing rugby 7.
Rugby.rs: Domestic competitions were played in the rugby 7 format, scrum players, whether they wanted it or not, became extremely mobile. How much advantage is that for us?
Aleksandar Nedeljković: Rugby 7 has advantages and disadvantages, especially as far as scrum players are concerned. The boys were forced to evolve if they wanted to play. Rugby 7s is not a place where an old fashioned scrum player can make a positive difference on the field.
Rugby.rs: Modern rugby requires all players on the field to pass the ball perfectly in a full run, to position themselves in time, to play and run even when they don't have the ball. How well can this generation of young rugby players meet the challenge of modern rugby?
Aleksandar Nedeljković: It definitely helps that the boys have been playing rugby sevens for years. Everyone more or less knows what and how. The question was to raise standards to an unrealistically high level, reload, stand up after contact, endless support, efficiency. This generation has been training for a long time, they have been together for a long time, I am very impatient to see what level we are at compared to our opponents.
Rugby.rs: Rugby 7 is a very fast format of rugby, how much can general discipline, as well as discipline in the game, affect the final result of the match?
Aleksandar Nedeljković: In rugby 7, every mistake is more or less a missed or conceed try. The game lasts a short time, if you are not in your element for ten minutes, you almost certainly lost the game. Every good move and every mistake is amplified. Discipline on the field, off the field, during preparation, recovery is the key.
Rugby.rs: How important is it in rugby 7 that all the players on the field always know, that is, that they play the set system of the game at all times?
Aleksandar Nedeljkovic: Rugby without a game plan is rampage. By going wild, you can beat a team that doesn’t have a system, that you are physically superior to, that isn’t trained and doesn’t have any special ideas on the field. When you stand on the line against an organized machine, a disciplined defense, an attack that has a goal, maybe not at this stage but at 10th or 15th phase, and then you are at trouble.
Rugby.rs: We have a very difficult group in which, in addition to Serbia, there are also Romania, Moldova, Austria and Latvia. What do our young national team members need to show in order to play equally with all teams?
Aleksandar Nedeljković: We did our best in the preparation process, the boys should be proud that they are performing for their country. It won’t be easy, we are in last place in our group, we got the hardest draw. I’ve known these guys for a long time, I know they don’t like to lose, neither do I. If the guys give it their all as I know they will, it’s wide open.
