Jan 2013 Articles

Chris Pennell – A lesson in resilience

Chris Pennell, the Warrior Full Back, plagued with injury and seemingly under rated by most at the club and all outside the club.  Lucky for him, and us, his biggest fan is our head coach – Richard Hill, who has stuck with him through thick and thin and which might have secured us one of the most consistent full backs in the premiership.

Having played U19 England Rugby, Chris broke his leg shortly after and by the time he had recovered, the IRB had changed the age groups from U19 and U21 to U18 and U20 and he was then too old to be selected for U20, he has been unable to catch the eye of the England coaches since and has committed 100% of his time to Worcester Warriors all whilst managing type 1 diabetes.

6 seasons at Worcester and Chris has signed on for even longer. That is a clear sign of the club commitment Richard Hill has mentioned many times in the past when talking about Chris. It is clear that if you cut him in half it would say Worcester Warriors on the inside. Though, those 6 seasons have been varied in both performance and outcome for many different reasons.

In his first season Chris made his premiership debut against Bath in September 2007. 20 games later, 3 tries and 1 yellow card to his name, Chris played an average of 36 minutes per game including 5 full games. This could be considered a fantastic start for the then 20 year old and instantly got many around the club excited about his potential future.

The 2008 – 2009 season ended in January 2009 for Chris. After starting and finishing the previous 10 games he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the European Challenge Cup game against Bucuresti. This had started out as another potentially great season for Pennell having already scored 1 try and 4 penalties.

It was December 2009 before Chris next played 80 minutes of rugby, having been reintroduced slowly against Madrid and Connacht. A further 14 games, starting all except 1 saw Chris rack up 1120 competitive minutes, by far his longest season to this point in his career.

In August 2010, now captain, Pennell playing in the preseason friendly against Newport Gwent Dragons, fractured his ankle and underwent immediate surgery. At the time the official club website speculated at a 6 month layoff before he would return. Now in the Championship, Chris made his competitive return against Birmingham – Solihull, playing 52 minutes in February 2011, almost exactly 6 months after his injury. By the end of the season Pennell was back in his beloved 15 shirt and played the full 160 minutes of the double header final against Cornish Pirates.

By the start of the 2011 / 2012 season Pennell had racked up 3217 minutes of competitive rugby for Worcester, in 4 seasons. In the one and a half seasons since he has almost equaled that and is set to beat that by the end of this season.

October 2011 and Pennell’s most successful season yet commences against London Wasps. Warriors back in the premiership and intending to stay there, Chris certainly does his bit. 22 games 18 of which are full 80 minute performances and 4 tries define a man showing that the potential he has always promised is starting to come to fruition.

During the summer, prior to the start of the 2012 / 2013 season Worcester Warriors announced the signing of Dean Schofield, instantly starting the speculation that Chris would be dropped as team captain. Sure enough on the 7th August 2012 the BBC reported:

“Worcester coach Richard Hill has opted for a change of captain at Sixways by asking new signing Dean Schofield to lead the team out next season. 
The 33-year-old former England forward, who joined the Warriors from French giants Toulon this summer, replaces full-back Chris Pennell.
"I spoke to Chris over the summer about the captaincy," said Hill. 
"I asked him if he felt he should concentrate on his own game and making sure he hits top form," he added. 
"Whilst he has always been proud to be captain and could have continued in this role, he acknowledged the time was right to look at his own form. "He made that decision himself and he deserves huge credit for that."

So with no captaincy to worry about and having secured his 15 shirt back from Errie Claassens what would Pennell do? To me, in most facets of his game, he is having the best season of his career. He has openly acknowledged that the repair job, performed after his injury against Dragons, was not 100% successful and that at times he was trying to play through so much pain that it became the only thing he could think about. Now having had that rectified he is running and kicking freely again.

17 games played so far. 13 Premiership appearances. 1307 of a possible 1360 minutes played. Assuming we are just past the mid point of his season he has the potential to play another 10 games or 800 minutes which would not be far behind his total playing time between 2008 and the end of the 2011 season COMBINED!

This season he is playing 15 week in week out in the premiership so lets look at how he compares to other premiership full backs:

Head 2 Head performance vs Mike Brown, Nick Abendanon and Tom Arscott, considered peers from the top, middle and bottom of the 2013 Aviva Premiership.

Now looking at those statistics it does not look like he is having that great a season, in the premiership, this goes to show how statistics do not always tell the full story. A lot of this can be put down to the style of game he is being asked to play. Some down to the style of game his peers teams choose to play.

Based on previous seasons, Chris is:

Playing more minutes per game
Playing more games this season
Playing without injury
Consistently playing his A game
Getting more yellow cards
Kicking less from hand
Not kicking penalties
Scoring less tries

A mix of positives and negatives. For me the key is that the team has stability. They have confidence that Chris is there, assured that when he calls for a ball he will catch it, when he makes a run, though maybe conservative in comparison to Errie, he will gain metres, when he goes in for a tackle he will give it 100%. All players can and do make mistakes and those of the full back tend to be easily pointed out, but if Chris can get his try scoring back underway and stay injury free, then I think this will be his perfect season and will be very hard for him to improve on next season.

Chris has brought determination, skill and at times literally put his body on the line for our club. He is clearly a fans favorite and Richard Hill has once again declared his commitment to him by extending his contract.

As for the future, Chris has signed an assumed 2 or 3 year deal. At the moment he is fighting hard and fighting well to keep Errie out of the 15 shirt, but he has a new threat on the horizon. Ben Howard, the 6’ 5” England U20 full back. Although against arguably weak opposition he has already scored 5 tries in his 7 senior appearances and performed exceptionally well in preseason, most notably once put into his preferred position of full back rather than on the wing.

-First published on COYW January 2013

Who is Josh Drauniniu?

Josh Drauniniu is the man that the club have announced has put pen to paper on a new contract.  I figured it was worth finding out a little bit more about this very charismatic winger’s rugby and personal history.

The Warriors own website describes the initial signing of Josh as “the signing of try machine Josh Drauniniu from London Welsh”  Which based on his London Welsh statistics seemed a fair description.

Whilst at Worcester Josh has played 15 + 3 and scored 60 points with 12 tries.  8 tries in the 2011/12 season: Bath, Crociati (2), Bucharest (2), Ospreys and Saints.  In fact he scored tries in 7 of the 11 games he played and 4 tries so far this season against Saints and Rovigo (3).

The winger arrived from London Welsh having scored 16 tries in 22 starts. In his last season with Welsh he was voted the leagues top 11 for the season, by the now defunct Rugby Times, at the expense of Worcester’s very own Marcel Garvey.

Josh spent 2009 – 2010 at Harlequins, which may not be considered the highlight of his club career playing 8 games and scoring 2 tries, but he was a presence within the England 7’s team at the same time.

Exeter was his club home 2007 – 2009 whilst still in the Navy and his 3 year career within England 7’s began in 2008.  It is funny how rugby is such a small community, as whilst at Exeter Josh played and scored against teams such as Launceston with current Worcester fly half Danny Gray.  He also picked up compliments in the national press from former Warrior and then team mate Chris Cracknell “As we all know, he's a fantastic player — a pretty rare talent — and it's great to have him involved.” Speaking of Josh’s inclusion in the England 7’s squad.

From 2003 to 2007 his rugby career is documented as being with the Royal Navy.  Born in Suva, Fiji Josh joined his now adopted countries senior armed service at the age of 17 where he served until 2012.  He saw active service in the Gulf in 2005.  His Navy and Twickenham debut came against the British Army in 2004, having only played football and rugby league at school, Josh’s rise in rugby union was pretty accelerated by anybody’s standard.

As a Navy / Exeter player, as recorded on the RFU website Josh made his debut for England at the Dubai 7’s in 2008, scoring a try against Portugal.  He was an ever present during the following games.  In 2010 Ben Ryan selected him for the Adelaide and Hong Kong 7’s weekends along with, now Worcester teammate Jake Abbott.

In 2011 when it was announced that Josh Drauniniu was signing for Worcester Warriors, head coach Richard Hill said “I first saw Josh playing for the Royal Navy three or four years ago, while he was at Exeter, and he was the standout performer. He was a raw talent and a real try-scoring machine who I have tracked ever since.”  I would say that this new contract reaffirms Hill’s belief in the flying winger, even if he is not selected for that many premiership games.

To find out more about Josh the person I asked his friend and former team mate Matt Rhodes a few questions:

How do you know Josh and when did you first meet?

“I first met josh on board HMs Albion... 2006ish?? As a navy chef he was in charge of feeding embarked forces, as a Royal Marine I looked to josh for top quality 'scran!'. I am not blaming josh, at all, for the quality of food on board!!! Haha.”

Having heard that Josh has signed a new contract at Worcester Warriors, what are your thoughts?

“I am delighted to hear that josh has resigned, it really couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Lets hope he gets more prem game time to show the league what I know he is capable of!!”

You played together in the Navy, what is he like to play with and did you ever play against him?

“He was a nightmare to play with!!! So unpredictable, but I think it was this unpredictability coupled with natural speed and a beautifully balanced running technique that has made him so devastating to defences. I never have played against josh. Even when he was at welsh.”

On the pitch, how would you describe Josh?

“On the pitch I would compare josh to and Afghan IED. Whilst on patrol, you know it's there, you fear it, knowing that more likely than not it is going to explode and when it does so it has devastating consequences. Pretty much like waiting for josh to score one of his trademark intercept tries!!”

What is he like off the pitch?

“Off the pitch he is a great lad and an honourable gentlemen.”

Final question, please set the record straight; how do YOU pronounce his surname?

“Haha. And having known josh for so long, I am ashamed to admit I still cannot pronounce his name. My guess - Dra-nu-ee.”

A big thank you to Matt, former England 7’s, Navy and Rotherham scrum half, for taking the time to chat about Josh.

Josh has had his fair share of injuries during his time with us, but now as a dedicated, full time professional he has the opportunity and desire to condition his body, improve his skills and pull on the Warriors shirt many more times over the coming 2 or 3 years. 

At 27 it would appear Josh is about to come into his prime in the blue and gold of Worcester Warriors.

-First published on COYW January 2013