“I think Leicester may have a difficult year ahead,” states
Healey. “Teams normally gun for them anyway but now they’re champions, people
will be gunning for them even more so. It’s going to be hard for them.
“I can’t look much further than Saracens to finish top. They
have a good home advantage and they’ve made good signings; Billy Vunipola is a
gainline player that they missed last season and because of the new laws, James
Johnston is going to make the scrum rock solid and absolutely destroy
opposition.
“[Northampton] Saints have made some amazing signings and
Bath or Gloucester will manage to force their way into the top four. At the
other end of the table, I expect Newcastle will go straight back down.”
Austin is also excited at the prospect of watching
Englishman battle each other for a place in Stuart Lancaster’s international
side. He knows that competition is fierce, especially for the openside flanker
spot.
“[Chris] Robshaw has to have a big season and he has to have
re-invented himself over the summer. There’s a lot of players who want that
seven shirt and I just can’t see him getting picked over Tom Croft, but Matt
Kvesic also has the potential to take it.
“I’m also really looking forward to watching Luke
Cowan-Dickie for Exeter. He looked amazing for the England under-20s, he’s a
pinball that’s impossible to stop!”
New signings are something that rugby fans love to watch to
see what impact they can make at their club, and Healey is no exception.
According to him, it’s been an amazing season for new players.
“Everyone talks about Alex Corbisiero and George North to
Saints but Kahn Fotuali’i is a great player. Kvesic to Gloucester is a huge signing
and if Andy Saull manages to stay fit all season, he and Mike Blair could keep
Newcastle up. Matt Garvey at Bath is another massive signing, literally, and
Bath have now got real attacking flair in that backline and they’ve got it in
quantity as well as quality, but is their tight-five strong enough? We’ll have
to wait and see.”
Since retiring from rugby, Healey has tried his hand on a
number of TV shows including Strictly
Come Dancing, Hole in the Wall
and presenting a game show called The
Fuse, but now new channel BT
Sport has come calling, and as their new rugby analyst, Healey is hoping to do
more than just present.
“If I have one achievement over the next few years, it would
be to help more people watch the game, understand it and appreciate it. I hate
sitting in a bar and hearing the conversation ‘I love watching football but I
just don’t understand rugby.’ I want to
change that.
“It’s a huge responsibility. Lots of people who have never
watched the sport will be, and my main job is to try and demystify issues
within the game and increase the novice watcher’s knowledge of rugby.”
BT Sport are introducing a whole new range of coach and
player interviews and new camera angles for this season’s coverage, and
speaking from past experience, Austin knows that it could turn into some
interesting viewing.
“You always try and compare it to when you were a player.
It’s going to be dependent on how the first half has gone. You’re going to see
raw emotion – either someone who’s in full control or someone who’s totally
wicked off and just wants to get back to the changing room to speak to the
coach.
“It’s going to be fascinating, especially when we speak to
someone who has just been subbed off. From a broadcaster’s view, we should get
some good stuff.”
And since he got to the quarter-finals of Strictly, Healey has some words of
advice for fellow player and friend Ben Cohen who takes part in the new series.
“He’s a quiet character and he’s going to have to come out
of his shell if he wants to do well. The secret to dancing is counting so he
needs to learn how to do that!”
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