Salvi relishing new role with Georgia

As a player, the Australian was fiercely competitive, forging a career that started out initially with the Brumbies and took him to the Premiership, where he featured for Bath, Leicester Tigers and, finally, Exeter Chiefs.

Known for his fierce tackling, intelligent play at the breakdown and leadership on the field, Salvi earned a reputation as one of the most effective defensive players of his generation.

A stellar career finally came to a close in 2018, after which he moved from one side of the corridor at Sandy Park to the other, taking on the role of defence coach of the Chiefs.

“I’m not going to lie, initially it was tough,” he said. “I was 32 years of age and still in that mindset that I could still play and do a job. It was definitely a tough crossover, but then with time and I think Covid was one of those things that sort of fully twisted my mind in terms of, you know, no more playing, I knew then it was all about coaching.

“That then led to successful times and trophies with the Chiefs, which was great, but then the journey ended after four years or so and an opportunity to go across to Benetton opened up and I got to experience the challenge of a different club, and being away from the family in a different environment.”

Again, Salvi soon settled to his new life in Italy, helping his new club to a first-ever top eight finish in the URC, as well as a semi-final in the European Challenge Cup.

“I went there as a contact and breakdown specialist, but I got to work with some really important people. Calum MacRae, who was previously the defence coach at Edinburgh, was quite influential just in terms of learning and seeing how another defence coach thinks and acts,” said Salvi.

“Individually, you’re picking up bits and pieces and challenging yourself in different ways, whilst at the same time helping develop the careers of a number of players. We had something like 20 players in the international set-up at Benetton, so you could see them transform what they were doing at club level onto the international stage,.”

Salvi’s effort, though, were not going unnoticed and it was one of his former coaches, Richard Cockerill, now head coach of the Georgian national team, who was set to offer him his latest challenge.

“I was at the back end of my second year at Benetton and about to extend, when I got a phone call from Cockers,” added Salvi. “He asked if I would be interested in transferring across from Benetton into the international stage - and it sort of just went from there. One conversation led to another and here we are now.”

Indeed, Salvi has not long returned from his first international block in which Georgia faced Fiji, Japan and then Australia in a four-week block.

And it’s this latest challenge that Salvi is relishing as he looks to move onwards and upwards in his career.

“I had the privilege of working with Cockers a long time as a player and now I’m back alongside him as a coach,” said Salvi. “It’s good being alongside, seeing his ideas and the vision he has for the team. I’m enjoying being back under his tutelage and working with him and the players.”

Not that it can always be easy to translate the coaches philosophy to that of a group of Georgians, whose rugby know-how is still somewhat raw in places.

“I kind of experienced the language barrier a bit during my time in Italy, but we’re lucky we’ve got a few players in the squad who can speak English,” explained Salvi. “They help you get your message across, although sometimes your message gets a bit lost in translation.

“The biggest thing I guess is the rugby intellect and that game understanding, which is part of my role. I’ve been brought in to help add that layer of detail and understanding to their game, because they don’t lack the physicality and their passion for the sport.

“It’s just those finer details, when you have those moments of drawing breath, that you can reduce doing those back-to-back errors that can ultimately hurt you.”

Moving forward, Salvi will be part of the Blacks Lions coaching set-up for an upcoming competition which sees them tackle teams from across Europe, as well as featuring in the European Challenge Cup later in the year.

After which, it will be back onto the Test stage in November where Georgia face tests against the New Zealand Maoris in France, Italy in Genoa, before rounding off with Tonga in Tbilisi.

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