WHILE some sportsmen may publicly complain at having a Saturday off, claiming it destroys the momentum their team has built up, you can be sure there will be far more looking forward to a free day, even if it is in secret.

Sedgley Park assistant coach Andy Northey is one of them, but he doesn't mind who knows about it.

"As a player I always enjoyed these breaks. I would have a lie-in and then do something enjoyable," he said.

"When you play professional or semi-professional sport, there is not a lot of enjoyment in the actual game itself, that usually comes after it, because games are pressure situations.

"As a coach you are constantly asking players to perform in a very stressful situation.

"So Saturdays off during the season are valuable, they give them the chance to recharge their mental and physical batteries."

The break will also give Northey, along with player-coach Tim Fourie, the opportunity to go over last Saturday's 47-10 drubbing away to Exeter Chiefs and come up with ways of rectifying the mistakes that led to such a heavy defeat.

They can then start to plan how they are going to get back to winning ways against Plymouth Albion, who currently lie fourth in National Division One.

The game is scheduled for Saturday, December 3, kick-off 2.30pm.

Park have a free date due to being knocked out of the Powergen Trophy.

"We simply made some bad decisions out on the pitch," said Northey.

"There are always decisions to make in rugby, especially in defence. Sometimes it is whether to step in and tackle or stay out and drift the opposition to the touchline.

"Exeter were quick and executed their moves well. Combine that with poor decision-making in defence by us, and it is good night.

"Most of the time it was not a case of mistackling, rather not being in the right position to make the tackle in the first place. So all we can do is hold our hands up, accept it, learn from it and move on.

"The initial job this week in training has been to get the players' heads up, but to be honest they weren't that far down, they are a pretty resilient bunch.

"So we've done some hard work to get ourselves back in the swing and smiling again and we'll start to focus on Plymouth at home a week on Saturday next week.

"Against Exeter our execution was not brilliant from one to fifteen, the quality of our set-piece ball was not great and so the opportunities we created, particularly early on, were not capitalised on, while any chances Exeter had, they took.

"Tim and I are obviously concerned at the way we played but we would be more concerned If we were not creating opportunities, but we are, so now it is a matter of working on turning those opportunities into points, it is in our own hands.

One of the pluses to come out of the loss was the way the forwards played.

"We were physical up front, which is the easy bit, but having a little bit of composure and tempering your enthusiasm, completing and executing things is the hard part. We have to find the right balance between enthusiasm, commitment and composure," he said.

Looking forward to the visit of Plymouth Albion on Saturday, December 3, he added: "They have been renowned in recent years for having a big, rumbling pack who stick the ball up their jumpers and roll forward.

"You can deal with that approach in one of two ways: either try and meet it head on, or move the ball around, but however you play at some stage you have to match their forwards in the set piece.

"This season particularly, clubs like Plymouth have played much more expansively than they have in the past, and while they are not as dominant up front they do tend to be more balanced as a team.

"We have to be inward looking a little bit. Yes, by all means take advantage of their weaknesses, but we also have to execute what we want to do, that is half the battle. We will have some things specifically we will want to implement against Plymouth.

"We don't have the biggest pack in the world when it comes to certain positions, but it is aggressive and mobile and it has to guarantee us set-piece ball to push around. I would like to think that our back row can compete with any team if the game is moving and not static.

"Prop Huw Thomas will be forcing himself into the equation for Plymouth. He has been chomping at the bit from pre-season training onwards.

"Unfortunately he had to overcome an injury, then he got suspended and only now is he ready.

"He's the type of player every team needs. He is a strong character and competitor and makes things happen.

"Also back in contention will be scrum-half Dave McCormack and fullback/wing Jon Feeley, who will both have recovered from varying degrees of concussion."