IF YOU thought Gloucester's pace-aces were quick last season, wait until you see what they've got in store for next term.
Olympic champion Marlon Devonish has been appointed the new speed coach at Gloucester Rugby, and is working with the backs to ensure they have the cutting-edge speed necessary to out-pace any Premiership rivals.
Strength and conditioning coach Paddy Anson called upon the sprinter, who won Olympic gold in the 4x100m relay in 2004, as he was suitably impressed with his natural flair for coaching and elite technique.
Devonish, who has now retired from athletics, vows he can make the Gloucester backs faster.
The 37-year-old said: "I'm going to teach them how to run quickly.
"They are a great bunch of guys, really coherent and willing to learn. It's really exciting to work with them and I am expecting them to get a lot quicker.
"You'll see it on the pitch. These guys will be shining. There is talent there. They will all be running quicker."
While speed demons Jonny May and Charlie Sharples demonstrate natural pace that can rip through any defence, Devonish explained that he can add an extra 20 percent to their game, simply by fine-tuning their sprinting technique.
He said: "That's the whole reason I'm here – to go to the elite side of sprinting and educate them technically where they are going wrong.
"First of all I want to get them to feel it, and see it, and understand why they are doing it wrong, so they can do it right.
"An example would be ankle stiffness. Ankle stiffness is very important to a sprinter, so we are able to apply force to the track, and it doesn't change on the pitch.
"It's about understanding that, and letting the players implement it."
Devonish said he saw coaching as his way of 'giving something back' after an international career that spanned from 1996 to 2013 and resulted in him becoming the most decorated British sprinter of all time.
It was this experience in a world-class environment that most impressed Anson.
Anson watched Devonish train and was instantly struck by his natural coaching style, his 'outstanding' weightlifting technique and his superior knowledge of speed, plyometrics, and the conditioning required to be lightning quick.
He said: "The bottom line is Marlon is an expert in speed, he's done it all his life.
"He's worked with some of the top athletes in the world and he's seen how the top coaches are working as well, so he's picked up a lot of ideas along the way.
"You look at the work he puts in to his sessions, the details, and the elements he's able to bring out, like the biomechanics, the leg drive, the hip drive, the focus on the arms and shoulders and the alignment of the body.
"These rugby players are athletes now, they aren't just rugby players. They're conditioned very highly, so we need world-class experts to deal with the coaching elements."
"We've got a very quick back line, we've got potentially a lot of England players in that back line, so we have to give them the best coaching we can. I'm certain Marlon will be the person to do that."
