THE new first team assistant coach at Launceston Rugby Club, Oli Bastion, admits ‘it’s great to be back involved’ at Polson Bridge.

This summer has seen plenty of change at the club with last year’s head of rugby, Jimmy Tucker, stepping down to be replaced by two members of last year’s coaching team, Ryan?Westren and Ian Goldsmith, who have become joint coaches.

However with Westren still playing, it was decided that another set of eyes were required, leading to the new coaching team to ask Bastion whether he’d be interested.

Explaining his decision to accept the challenge, Bastion, said: “They’ve enquired a couple of times about getting back into it again but now’s the right time to do it.

“I’ve recently got married and it’s good to be involved. So far it’s been good, I’ve had to dive into everything but I’m really enjoying it.”

Having had to curtail his career eight years ago following a couple of serious knee injuries, the former full-back, now 32, believes he can make a difference at his boyhood club.

After starting as a five-year-old, he made the first team squad and has also been captain of the seconds before rupturing his cruciate ligament at the age of 24.

He said: “I’m quite analytical, I like to look at a problem and see why it’s occurred and try to fix it. Ryan is the main backs coach but I’ll try to give the players some pointers and I’ll focus on the skills mainly and the need to focus on the basics well.

“I also want to encourage the players and talk to them about what they’re doing right, that’s how I’ll approach it. I wont be a sergeant major, my approach is to be calm and laid back and try to help the other coaches and work as a team to give them the best coaching we can.

“I’ve already taken some skills sessions but my main role is mainly to stand back and watch and analyse what we’re doing well and not so well.

“I quite like looking at it and helping improve the little bit which will make the difference at the end of the season.

“With the way the club is now, we’re hopefully set up to go back through the leagues. The average age of the squad is about 22 or 23 and are mainly local players.

“They’ve bought into the ethos of the club and it’s a great place to be, so the aim is to push on.”

Explaining Bastion’s appointment, Westren believes it was the ‘right way to go’.

He said: “First and foremost we needed another voice, particularly on matchdays with me still playing. Last year there was Jimmy and Goldie (Ian Goldsmith).

“However Oli is a Lanson lad through and through and unfortunately had his playing career taken away quite early through injury.

“He’s got a really good rugby brain and it’s a way of him staying in the game he loves. We’re getting another really good rugby brain back involved.

“He understands the game and when we thought about someone, Ian and I consulted Jimmy and we all agreed that it was the right way to go. It’s nice to keep Jimmy involved. He’s been down on Thursdays and he’s more than happy to help out and it’s great to be able to use his advice if needed.

“When you’ve put in as much time as he had, he was always going to be around. But now there’s less pressure on him and this arrangement suits everyone!”

Although Tucker will still be around, Westren believes Bastion has plenty of attributes.

“He’s got a great rugby knowledge. He trains at my gym and we’d often be talking about rugby and he sees the bigger picture. In rugby coaching you have to be able to look at the bigger picture sometimes.

“There’s always two things to think about, either do you look for short-term gain or the long-term sustainability and its all about finding that balance.

“Everyone has different ideas and he’ll be there to keep us on our toes.

“His natural skillset is kicking and handskills and he’ll also help me and Goldie and be an extra set of eyes to keep tabs on things.”

The players have been back at Polson Bridge for three-and-a-half weeks in preparation for their first pre-season friendly at home to Old Fullerians on August 11.

And Westren admits he’s been happy so far.

“It’s been really good, we’ve been impressed with the boys’ attitude and willingness to learn and work hard.

“Everyone hates pre-season but being only part-time we only have four hours together so we don’t want to be spending two of those on fitness.

“I want it to be a case of the boys doing fitness in their own time so that when we’re together as a team we can spend each hour focusing on the team patterns and strategies and skills and so on.

“Fitness is obviously incorporated into all of our rugby-based sessions but we don’t want to just be running up hills.

“We’ve been revisiting core skills, doing high-intensity work and co-ordinated six four minute games with a minute’s rest, which will have extra rules to make them more competitive.

“We’ve been working them hard and anyone who hasn’t been pushing their weight with the fitness has been set off to do the conditioning.

“It’s all about getting them ready for the first game of the season.”