Matchday programme: Bristol Bears vs Bath Rugby

Omar
Mouneimne
14
You would be hard pressed to find anyone who
speaks more passionately about rugby union
defence than Omar Mouneimne.
The South African arrived at the Bears as Defence and Collision
Coach in the summer of 2020, making the switch from Gallagher
Premiership rivals Worcester Warriors – and to good effect, as
last weekend’s bruising victory at Sandy Park so impressively
demonstrated.
In his mind, it’s a win topped only by October’s Challenge Cup
final, which saw the Bears withstand a 10-minute second-half
siege on their own line to lift the club’s first major European
silverware.
The well-travelled Mouneimne, who lists spells with the Sharks,
the Stormers, Italy, Stade Francais, Lyon and Edinburgh on his
CV, is thriving in the Bears environment under the leadership of
Director of Rugby, Pat Lam and keen to build on the success of
2020.
‘It’s been fantastic’
“I’m absolutely loving it at the Bears,” he said. “It’s a fantastic
environment, not only are the facilities world class, but being
involved with Pat and his approach to ball-in-hand rugby, being
fearless and having this approach where we want to play an
exciting brand of rugby and we’re not scared to take guys on, it’s
been fantastic.
“Especially coming from a South African kicking game and
defence perspective, it’s been great to have that exposure of
how you get that team on a page to play this exciting rugby and
be fearless.
“We’ve also got a great bunch of players here - they are really
studious, really focused and have a great work ethic. They really
are a pleasure to work with.
“The highlight, obviously, was winning the Challenge Cup and
that journey, beating Bordeaux and Toulon along the way. It
was a fantastic effort to get us there, and then also reaching a
Premiership semi-final, although it didn’t go our way. Those are
the two massive highlights.
“I was very proud of the defensive effort against Exeter. Of
course, though, that can’t be a one-off thing – I think consistency
and being able to deliver that week-on-week is key. But as
always, there are still things we can definitely improve on.
“But the key features of the performance, for me, were
managing their big ball carriers and their shape. So, I was proud
of the boys for recognising the shape in real-time and managing
the gain line, where they didn’t get run over and we dominated
that gain line, battered and stuck to the plan.”
Mouneimne’s belief that ‘defence is the yardstick by which
attack measures itself and evolves’ drives his whole coaching
philosophy and that, combined with a rich background in mixed
martial arts, completes a defence coach focused on ‘PIE’.
He explains: “P is for physical – are we functionally conditioned
for collisions, how is our tackle technique on single hits, double
hits, our defensive breakdown, ability to jackal, counter ruck and
so on.
“I is for intellectual, so all of the system-based stuff. Set-piece
defence rules, general defence rules, how we face all of the
default shapes, how we handle turnover attack, counterattack
and so on.
“E is for emotional. We spend a lot of time one-on-one with
players, aligning their goals and the reason they play with the
Bears goals and making sure they are always defending with
purpose and with focus.
“If we are not coming up with new ways to stress the attack, cut
off options, read plays in real time and take risks on defence,
then we’re not going anywhere. In the same way that the attack
looks for opportunities in defence and chinks in the armour.
BRISTOL BEARS VS BATH RUGBY | 2020/21