Dorian Jones: I think it starts during the week. Prepare for the intense moments, work together, and have a plan ready in your head. Also, your relationships with your teammates are important.
Dorian Jones: It’s something we previewed during the week. They like to kick the ball, and they do it well. I relished it because it’s something I believe I do quite well. Personally, I was looking forward to the battle. Over the years, I’ve gained confidence from the techniques and experience I’ve developed. This wasn’t my first kicking battle, so I trusted myself, went in confidently, and was ready for it.
Dorian Jones: I believe our mistakes gave them confidence. We had a lot of unforced errors. We let them off the hook, and they took advantage of their opportunities. The weather conditions also played a role; it was a bit windy. There was likely a 10 to 15-point wind advantage that we should have benefited from in the first half, but we didn’t score those points. We understood that the second half was going to be challenging, and since it was so close at halftime, we realized it would be a big battle in the second half, and they ultimately won it.
Dorian Jones: It’s something that we’re continuously working on. We want to be around 8 penalties a match. We gave away ten on the weekend, so it actually wasn’t too bad. However, combining those 10 penalties with another 18 turnovers gives them 28 opportunities to attack us. We review the video footage, and we also preview the referees. What they’re hot on, what they’re going to ping us for, and we prepare that in the week. It’s just trying to keep a cool head and not overstep the line.
Dorian Jones: I think we have to really look forward to the challenge. Utah is looking good this season, and it’s a real test for us. We’ve got to look forward to fixing what went wrong last week against Miami. We need to believe in ourselves that if we get those things right, we can move forward. It should be a test, and hopefully, we will get the desired win result.
Dorian Jones: The connection between the TMO and the referee is quite frustrating for the players and fans on the field since there’s no screen showing what’s happening and being discussed. If we got screens, I believe that would help the referees, players, and fans be on the same page, understand the situation better, and reduce the stress levels for both players and refs since they can clearly justify what’s being explained by watching the television.
Q: You spoke about promoting rugby at the grassroots level. What do you think are the most effective ways to make rugby more accessible to young players in areas where it isn’t as popular?
Dorian Jones: This season has seen a great increase in participation in New Orleans. The work of Ryan Fitzgerald, all the community staff here, and the players is quite brilliant. In terms of the question to get the numbers up, I think the more people we can get in schools and the earlier we can get them involved in rugby, the better. When we start losing young athletes to different sports, getting them from those sports into rugby is hard.
Q: Going from playing in Wales to playing in France must have been a huge step. Now, you’ve left Europe entirely. How did you adapt to the cultural differences and the style of rugby here?
Dorian Jones: The game, I feel, is a little bit slower here because of the 20-minute water breaks, advertisement breaks, and the anthem before the game. But that’s something I now feel I’ve adapted to, and it gives you the opportunity to really go hard in those 20 minutes, and you know you’re going to have that little break. In terms of adapting off the field, wherever I’ve played, I’ve tried to embrace the culture, and I feel that’s really helped me. I’ve really embraced it here and look forward to Mardi Gras.
Q: What role does MLR’s growth play in the broader global rugby landscape, especially with the USA hosting the 2031 Rugby World Cup?
Dorian Jones: I think MLR rugby is getting stronger each year, and the college draft is getting stronger. Also, the young international players coming here to play are potentially qualified to play for the USA in 2031. So the stronger the league gets, the more attractive it becomes to those good young players who are not currently in the States, so that’s only going to help.
Q: Given the overall performance, a win in week one and a loss in week two, what can NOLA Gold learn from these games?
Dorian Jones: Our main point is focusing on ourselves and getting our jobs right. We got our jobs right against Anthem in the first half and were good, and then when we went off-script, they came back. In Miami, we were in the right place to execute what we’d worked on, but we didn’t execute that. So it’s just about believing in ourselves. We’re still quite a new team, a new staff. We’ve got to build our relationships and build on the game plan we’ve installed for this season, and we should only improve.
