'Appreciate the moment': Sheffield RUFC relishing climbing to highest ever position
Embrace and enjoy it, but don’t fear it - that’s the message from head coach Anthony Posa after his Sheffield RUFC team climbed to the top of National Two North on Saturday, the highest position the club has ever occupied.
Sheffield defeated previously unbeaten Lymm 24-5 in filthy conditions at Abbeydale to move level on 55 points with them and Leeds Tykes, who could only manage four points from a narrow 12-11 win over Sheffield’s city rivals, the Tigers.
But a superior points difference gives Sheffield the edge and it is they who sit top of the regionalised fourth tier, for the next few days at least.
Traditionally a head coach will say publicly that they don’t look at the tables, that they don’t matter at this stage of the season.
But refreshingly, Sheffield’s passionate Kiwi-born leader Posa takes an altogether different stance.
“I am trying to stick to the cliche of one game at a time, but it is a pinch yourself moment,” Posa admits to The Yorkshire Post.
“Two seasons ago when we re-entered the national leagues I was told that Sheffield had never survived this level before, they’d always gone up and gone straight back down, so that first season was survival and then last year we got to third.
“So to now be top of the league, albeit on points difference, is a pretty surreal moment.
“And I don’t think we should ignore it. If it lasts one week, one month or all the way to the end of the season, let’s just appreciate how far we’ve come - that’s how we’re looking at it.
“I think that’s a better way for us to do it than to fear it or get carried away with it, that’s not our style. So let’s appreciate the moment. It’s an impressive achievement and I’m proud of this group.”
They could have buckled under the weight of anticipation on Saturday, knowing what was at stake.
But even after losing their captain and Posa’s assistant coach Dom Parsons to a back injury in the warm-up, they were not knocked off course. If anything it galvanised them further.
“I always fancy my boys, we don’t go into a game to lose, that’s been the change in our mentality over these last two seasons,” he said.
“I was worried because Lymm are a quality team and they’re not unbeaten for nothing, but the one thing I’m super proud of with this group is they’ve had the ability to adapt to certain situations, whether that’s the opposition, the referee, yellow cards, discipline.
“On Saturday it was the weather and we adapted to it miles better than they did.”
The celebrations should have started at full-time, but Sheffield’s weather-beaten players had some warming up to do.
“We went to have a sing-song in the sheds but the boys were shaking, it was such a horrible day,” recalled Pose. “Guys trying to get the feeling back in their fingers, but it was 10 times easier to warm up after a win and a performance like that.
“By the time we got into the clubhouse there were lots of smiles on faces, not just the team, but the supporters, the wives, the girlfriends, the committee, the old guys - the people we do it for.
“When I say enjoy this moment, that’s why I say it; it’s about seeing how happy they were.”
The task now is to sustain a push in which only the league champions win promotion.
“Promotion? Mate, honestly, it’s just a game at a time,” said Posa. “We’ve changed the psyche where we look up, not down. We’ve got a different challenge now but we’re not going to change the way we are.
“It’s been working well so far, we’ve got a real couple of tough games before Christmas in Chester away who are good on their 4G pitch, and we’ve then got Sheffield Tigers under our new floodlights for a Friday night lights game.
“Our focus is on Chester away, next week it’s on Tigers, that’s all. We’re not good enough to do anything more than that.”
Even if right now, there’s no team better than Sheffield in National Two North.