The tingle of expectation that Neil Back feels on the eve of a season is the one that drove him as one of the most ferociously committed players of his generation. “I wake up every morning with a massive smile on my face, because I’m doing something I absolutely love,” the Leeds Carnegie head coach said.
Some of his squad were gathered behind him as he uttered those words. “As a player, it was all about me,” Back, who never spilt false blood, said. “Now it’s about these 35 guys and maximising their potential as individuals, but also getting them to perform as a team. Last year we were clear favourites every week. This season we’re meant to be whipping boys. We’ll see.”
It is Back’s second season at Leeds, the Guinness Premiership’s yo-yo club, who achieved promotion for a third time under the joint direction of the England 2003 World Cup-winner and his old Leicester mate, Andy Key, the director of rugby. The pair shared a house together for eight months “until the conversation ran out”. If the house chores were often neglected, the rugby was not and they remain a formidable working partnership.
The pair have been instrumental in selling Leeds as an ambitious club to sometimes sceptical players and agents. If their recruitment has been unspectacular, it has been undeniably solid, with Andy Gomarsall, the former England scrum half, and Marco Wentzel, the South Africa lock, the most notable additions to a squad still largely based around last year’s National League One side, including Henry Paul, the England and New Zealand dual-code veteran.
“Leeds have spent six of the last eight years in the Premiership and two outside it, and that’s an obstacle that we’ve tried to overcome,” Back said. “When I first came here, I had a perception of Leeds, which quickly changed.
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“Looking at the 22,500-capacity stadium, excellent training facilities and unique relationship with Leeds Metropolitan University and access to sports science there, I realised this was a sleeping giant.
“So when we’re recruiting, it’s about changing people’s preconceptions. When we talk through our three-year plan, the players buy into that vision. Last year the objective was non-negotiable in getting promotion.
“This season is about consolidation in the Premiership, then recruitment will be easier and more finance will come in, because we’ll have the full share of the Premiership pot. Budgetary restraints do make it hard.
“I’m happy for pundits to put us bottom. We’ll just quietly get on with our job, with huge belief. We do want to make it difficult for teams to play against us and show we can play an expansive and exciting game.”
Back would be happy to scrape any sort of win at home to Newcastle Falcons tomorrow, with particular emphasis having been placed on toughening up Leeds at the contact area. “I believe we’ve prepared sufficiently to take that step up in intensity,” Back said.
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Leeds Met no longer owns the club, who reverted this year to control by the umbrella Leeds Rugby organisation, in harness with Leeds Rhinos.