HARRY HOCKINGS "We have a lot of confident"

Hockings, he is one of the leaders group Hibiki, asked him his state of mind after first loss, and towards the next match.

◆Need to keep learning

――How was the first game of the season?

Yea, definitely disappointing. We prepared really hard for this game but Panasonic out played us. So we have to learn from that and improve. I think we have some good moments in Attack, but it matters playing right plays in right area of the field. Panasonic is a strong team and good defense and capitalize some of our errors as well.

――What do you mean by wasn't able to play right plays in right area of the field?

Obviously both teams trying to do the same thing, get the other team onto the end of the field. Panasonic was strong throughout the sort of mid/halfway area, they managed to get a few penalties, turn overs and attacked into our half of the field. So winning those little battles is something we can learn from

――Within that your try scene was after connecting few passes leading up to a team try.

Sean Mchahon made a decision to run blind and from strong carry, I think was Naggy(Yutaka Nagare) and Kie(Kienori Go) using really good skill, I was lucky enough to be ion the right position and score a try. I think the other guys did really good job to set that up.

――You got into that position because you were moving well?

It wasn't like a set play or anything, it was intuition, just saw the space and went for it.

◆Executing Suntory Rugby

――Your maul worked well, what do you think?

We would liked more result out of our maul. We had some really good set up. Obviously disappointed about the one that disallowed. But three are little things that we need to fix, once we get those things right, we will be more effective in our mauls.

――What are the specific areas that you need to fix?

Specific things like lifters winning the battle against the guys try to hit, and when we start going forward, make sure we are staying together, and simple thing is once we get to the try line, make sure we get over the try line. We probably had 2 or 3 times we got to the try line but couldn't really finish. So yea that's probably it

――After the first round, What are the work on?

I think a lot of stuffs we are doing is good, coaches found a few key things. We don't want to over think and crowd ourselves. Just making sure do what we do well and nail our part. And just play Suntory Rugby

――When you say key part, do you mean by good Sungoliath style?

Yea, I think it is. Things like accuracy at break down which leads us to play high tempo Rugby.

◆Confident to put good performance

――How was your individual tackling and ball carry?

Definitely still room for improvement, had a few good examples, and few examples that improve on.

――How was the line out?

Historically Panasonic have strong defensive line out. But I think we played well against them. I think we took our most of our line outs, so we can take positive out of it.

――Towards this season, have you talked to the coached about your work on before the pre season?

Tackling , Ball carrying, and physical part of the game. Trying to be more dominant

――How do you think you are going with your work ons?

I guess I have to work hard, stuff we do with S&C in the gym, knowledge in the game, but I am confident to improve them.

――You are one of the leaders in the team, how do you describe current team atmosphere?

The whole group was disappointed with the result, but we are not dwelling on it. We are confident in our ability and we are already moved onto next job next game which is Ricoh. We are confident enough to bounce back and put a good performance.

――So fans can expect a good result?

Yes. Only 1 game, definitely we are not looking down.

◆Want to work hard for the team

――What is your target for this season including the next game?

Just want to perform my best. For the team in each game. Ultimate goal to win the championship, we just going to take it game by game

――How confident are you to win the championship?

Wes till have a lot of confident in our team. We have good players, good staffs, building great culture within our team. I think we have a lot of confident to win the championship.

――You will be eligible to play for Japan National Team?

I am not really thinking about it too much. I just want to perform my best for Suntory and I guess if I perform well enough and hopefully Japanese coaches will notice me.

――What do you want people to see in the next game?

Personally, I don't particularly search for the plays that people wants to watch., I just try to do hard work For the team. So players like wingers or backs can score some tries for the team.

(Interview & Structure: Kazuyoshi Hariya /Translator: Daiyu Ishimori)
[Photo: Aki Nagao]