Saints Q&A: Tom Vickers talks to new defence coach Jim Henry

It is a pitch that he will hope continues to yield plenty of points for Saints, but few for the opposition as he looks to help the black, green and gold back up last season’s Gallagher PREM glory.

Henry has been promoted to the role that had been held by Lee Radford during the past three seasons, with Saints winning two PREM titles and reaching an Investec Champions Cup final during that successful period.

Radford has now joined Scotland on a full-time basis, having enjoyed secondments with the national side at stages of last season, allowing Henry to step up in his absence.

Continuity has been key for Phil Dowson’s men in recent years, with players and coaches developing to the point where the club is able to challenge strongly on all fronts.

And Henry’s ascension is another sign of just how much the club values their own, recognising the work that goes in from the ground up.

He has done the hard yards working as part of the Bedford Blues coaching staff, while also doing his job at Saints.

And now the 44-year-old, who initially joined Saints as forwards transition coach ahead of the 2022/23 campaign, gets the chance to purely focus on black, green and gold matters.

On Tuesday afternoon, we sat down with him to discuss it all.

The full question and answer session is here...

Q: Congratulations, Jim. How different is this new role to the one you were doing before?

A: “Not too different, to be honest. I've obviously worked closely with Radders for the last few years anyway and when he was away with Scotland last year, I was essentially running the defence in the PRC (PREM Rugby Cup) so in that sense it's not been too different.

"There's been a chance to put my own mark on it a bit more rather than just holding the system Radders had in place - not that we've changed a great deal, to be honest with you.

"There haven't been any competitive games yet but it's business as usual really.”

Q: What kind of challenge is this for you because you're coming into it with the club and the team in a very good place?

A: “It's a great place to be, isn't it?

"They're obviously a top-quality bunch of players, a top-quality coaching team that is a great support for me personally.

"There's a challenge at every level but I'm lucky enough to be working with a good bunch of lads who are not only good lads but also very coachable so it's a good place to be.”

Q: What would you like to add to the role?

A: “There's scope to improve.

"We want to be difficult to play against and obviously the defence is about getting the ball back as well as stopping teams from scoring.

"We want to apply pressure to teams defensively and essentially get the ball back off them.”

Q: Is it a difficult job to take on, given when teams concede a lot of points the defence coach is the one who often gets the criticism?

A: “It's pretty clear, isn't it? You look at the scoresheet at the end of the game and if there's a big number against your name then you're going to get some heat, I suppose.

"But we've just got to stick to the process.

"I believe in what we're delivering and I'm sure, with the quality group of players we've got, we can get something out of them.”

Q: How do you reflect on the journey you've been on to get to this point in your career?

A: "It's been a different route to most of the coaches, that's for sure.

"The past three years at Bedford have been outstanding for me personally. I've loved my time there. Working alongside (Bedford boss) Mike Rayer has had a big impact on me because he's a great bloke with a great rugby mind, a lot of years of coaching experience.

"In that sense, Bedford has been the perfect place for me to develop as a coach and I've had the chance to coach the defence there for the past three years so that's been great.

"Before that, I had 12 years at Loughborough working with the age-group lads who were new to senior rugby so that was perfect for me in the transition role.

"I feel like although it's been a long road to this point and I've done a lot of coaching, that's put me in a good place for where I am now.”

Q: It's a very young coaching staff and playing group here so that must be nice?

A: "Yeah, I've known Sam (Vesty) for a long time and Dows - we're all a similar sort of age.

"There's Jaco (Pienaar), Radders was a bit older than us, Sharpey (Jake Sharp) is the youngest, I think, and then Tram (James Craig) as well so it is a young team.

"We have a good time.

"Everyone's passionate about coaching and development and obviously performance so it's a great place to be.”

Q: How much do you enjoy working with these players in terms of what they're like as people?

A: “They are receptive, they'll challenge you and that's exactly what you want. You don't want to be delivering to a room that's not giving you any sort of feedback.

"They're a great bunch of lads, we work hard and we get after the performance at the weekend.”

Q: What's pre-season been like?

A: “Short.

"With winning it (the PREM), you get two weeks less than most of the teams so that's a challenge.

"The trip to Sri Lanka was very different.

"It's been short but we got the internationals back in last week and they're building into things now.

"It's been hot and short - that probably sums it up.”

Q: What was Sri Lanka like?

A: "It was different and it was an experience, which is exactly what you want.

"It was an opportunity for us to spend time with each other as a group and build those bonds, create some memories and we certainly did that.”

Q: “How excited are you about the start of competitive action on Saturday?

A: "We definitely are excited.

"It's not been a long pre-season, it comes round pretty quickly but you do feel like the boys are ready for a game, five weeks into it.”

Q: How do you prepare for this fixture considering you won't really have an idea of what team Saracens will name until the end of the week?

A: "It's a great opportunity and typically how we go about our business is to focus on us anyway.

"It's about the way we want to play, with and without the ball, we'll go after those things and obviously you might look at some bits from the opposition, but 80 or 90 per cent of what we're doing is about us - and that's the way it should be, I think.”