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Five Lives, Rugby Union Weekly.

Right, welcome to this special episode of the Rugby Union Weekly podcast, our big preview of the Premiership Semifinals.

We're a few days out from two of the most eagerly anticipated fixtures in Premiership history, Bath against Bristol Friday night, Lester against Sale on Saturday morning.

It would be amazing to have one DOR in the room, amazing two of two, fantastic two of three.

So it's an absolute pleasure to be joined by all four of the remaining directors of rugby,

Bath, Johann Van Gran, Lester's Michael Checker, Alex Sanderson from Sale, and Pat Lamb from Bristol.

First of all, guys, thank you so much for being here.

I know it's tight with the big games just days away, so it's really, really appreciated.

I'll start with you, Michael, as somebody who's just come into the league and had your first season here just how you've enjoyed it your reflections

as we as we near the end well yes thanks for having me i i've enjoyed i haven't coached a club for a while

right so it was a bit of um yeah, I suppose apprehension.

Like, you know, whenever you go to something new, you've got to make sure you're up for it and you can manage it well.

But it's been pretty, I've really enjoyed the environment at Leicester.

I think it was a club that interested me always.

Obviously, I played against them in the European Cup final. I think it was a club that interested me always. Obviously, it played

against them in the European Cup final. I've had players come to the clubs I've coached from Lester and they've made a huge difference. So I was, I suppose I wanted to see what was under the bonnet, you know. some things have been exactly as I thought, some things have been the absolute opposite, but I've enjoyed, yeah, I've just enjoyed the ride, you know. I've lived in the country, which I've never done before. I'm a city guy. So I've had a great time, and I've enjoyed the league as well. I think there's varying styles here, which I totally didn't expect to see. There's, you know, some teams like, you know, Pat's teams across here from here, team like his that's running the ball way more than, you know, they talk about super rugby running the ball all the time. They're playing great footy in that way. There's all different styles, which I got to admit I was taken aback by, so I had to prepare a little bit different than I thought, because I hadn't seen a lot of the prem beforehand. So I've had a great time, and hopefully I can keep having a good time for another couple weeks. For sure. Yeah, that'd be nice. Because that's true, isn't it, Pat? You know, all four teams here have, you know, and you guys embody the identity of your team, but you'll do things differently, which makes a great setup. It's why the premiership, I believe, is one of the best in the world.

You know, you have exactly, as Michael said, different styles.

You have that freedom.

You know, normally, everything's governed down from, you know,

previously from Ireland or previously from the Obelix,

but certainly here we can drive what we want to drive as a group and then

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