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Scott Mathie on Keeping New England ‘Fresh’ Heading Into Final Stretch

Written by Joe Harvey | Photo by the New England Free Jacks
For the New England Free Jacks, seven games now stand between them and the playoffs. In their third season competing in Major League Rugby and coming out of their second bye week, the team sit at the head of the East Conference and will be coming up against Rugby New York in an in-conference clash. New England’s Head Coach, Scott Mathie, picks up the phone not long after a third full day of training has been completed, his players well rested both mentally and physically after having been given a week to explore the region, Mathie himself spending some time in Vermont. It is his first season as the team’s leading man, arriving from South Africa and the Griquas some nine years since his retirement. His playing career saw him represent multiple teams in his home country, but also tried his hand in England, representing English Premiership sides Leeds Carnegie and Sale Sharks. Retiring in 2013, the 39-year-old firstly coached at a high school level before being given an opportunity at the Griquas. Firstly serving as an assistant coach under Brent Ranse van Rensburg, he took charge of the team for their 2020/21 campaign. In the Northern Cape Province, MLR Forward of the Year for 2021, Johan Momsen, was Mathie’s vice-captain, the lock forward carrying his form from North America back to South Africa with a relative ease. Nearly five months into his time with the Free Jacks, his side lead their division and it is all to play for between now and early summer.
DEVELOPING UNDERSTANDING
Nine games into his time as an MLR Head Coach, Mathie’s New England have won eight of those games. Their sole loss came at the hands of current league champions, the LA Giltinis. Of their final seven regular season games left to play in 2022, five of those games will come at Veterans Memorial Stadium, this weekend’s encounter with New York and a late-May game with Toronto at York Lions Stadium their final trip of the season. But although his group of players are in pole position right now, Mathie believes that the race to make the playoffs is by no means complete and that their second bye week couldn’t have come at a better time. “I don’t think we can get too carried away,” Mathie said. “Atlanta and New York also had bye weeks, but it nice for the guys to have a bit of a mental and physical break after a really successful start to the season. “It came at a good time for us, and we are reenergized and have come back in a position where it is ultimately on our hands. That is probably the best thing about it, that it is in our hands, so it is up to up in terms of how hard we work from here on out.” What makes New England’s rise to the top of the East all the more impressive is how the players have taken to Mathie, and assistant coach, Mike Rogers. The pair’s impact has seen Baudein Waaka become a frontrunner for MLR Player of the Season, while domestic and international players have shone in red, white and blue.
 
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Even finding ways to win games when the odds are stacked against them, the 39-year-old says that between now and the end of the regular season, his focus will be on keeping the environment fresh to promote the best possible performances. “Whenever there is a new coaching team, and a bit turnover of players, if you do things right and look after the environment, I think that you are going to get that growth and I think we have seen that from game to game,” Mathie said. “There is an understanding of our game model from each player, and the buy-in from each player have been really good. We are seeing growth, so I guess the point now is to continue to grow and continue to evolve. “That is where we are at; finding ways to continue to grow, to continue to evolve and that is the important part, as well as staying true to what we are and not losing that.”
NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
A New England-Boston rivalry will dredge up plenty of memories, as well as being warranted of a national broadcast slot.  Whether it be the Patriots and Giants, Red Sox and Yankees, Bruins and Rangers, there is a certain malice in which a sport is played when the two cities go toe-to-toe. Rugby is the latest addition to these sporting landscapes, the teams playing out a 38-29 thriller at JFK Stadium in March, the Free Jacks winning the first of their three encounters with their noisiest of neighbors in 2022. The importance of the game is not by any means lost on Mathie or any of those to have made their way to Quincy from further afield from the region, who have been told in no uncertain terms about what a game like this means to those who follow the club. “We learned that from the first game, just from the environment here,” Mathie said. “Mike Rogers was walking to work, and guys in the street were saying ‘go get them this weekend’. It really means a lot. “When you see Cam Davidowicz and his family come down in a massive van, called the ‘Davidowicz Van’, with 20 or 25 people in it and they are going crazy at games and the amount of passion he plays with, it is unreal. “Kyle Ciquera is the same story, he put in a heartfelt performance against New York last time and you see it in every home game. It is not hard to see the passion or rivalry that comes out in these players when they play.” On their bye week, New York welcomed World Cup winner, Waisake Naholo to the team, the All Black joining following a spell back in New Zealand with Canterbury. Marty Veale’s team have their own playoff ambitions, the team currently in fourth in their conference, pushed out of the top three by Toronto last weekend. Seven points adrift of their visitors, a win for New York could put them back into hot contention, while Mathie and his team will be looking to keep Rugby ATL at bay, the team from Georgia playing the San Diego Legion in California. However, what other teams are doing isn’t on the mind of the man charged with taking the Free Jacks to the postseason for the first time, his only port of call being what he can control, progress as a group the key. “As seasons go on, you get more injuries, mental fatigue sets in, so it is important that you ensure that you are keeping it fresh a lot of the time,” Mathie explained. “You want to create an excitable environment, look after these guys and change things up a bit. Performance wise, you want to see that growth in the areas that we target and want to be good at. “If we see that in our game model, and we see that the environment is creating refreshment and a buzz, we know we are on the right track, regardless of the result.”