John Mitchell: ‘I’ve changed’
Sixteen years on from his Rugby World Cup heartbreak with the All Blacks, a softer version of John Mitchell is trying to win the title for England.
It’s been a sometimes painful evolution for the controversial New Zealander who oversaw the All Blacks’ 2003 semifinal exit to the Wallabies and instantly lost his job.
Ironically that defeat came at the hands of Eddie Jones who he now plays assistant to in an England set-up that are among the strong contenders at Japan 2019.
Two hard-nosed coaches combine. Now, as The Times puts it, everyone wonders: How will bad cop, bad cop work?
But Mitchell insists he’s a coach with a new approach and much of that has to do with that gutting World Cup experience with the All Blacks. ‘‘I was pretty hard on myself for four years. It was tough, I didn’t want to lose a World Cup,’’ Mitchell, 55, told The Times. ‘‘We bombed out of the World Cup on an intercept pass. Even to this day, I look back and I go back over the training sessions that week and I probably should have spent a bit more time on the breakdown. We were a pretty confident team and Australia got us in the breakdown that evening. I have to take responsibility for that.’’
He has taken responsibility and slowly but surely brought about changes in his own game.
‘‘I am the first to acknowledge that I have always been a strong coach and I haven’t always got it right,’’ he said.
‘‘Back then, I was trying to prove something, I was trying to prove that I was a coach. I don’t feel like that now. I don’t think I need to prove anything to anyone. Now I care about my role and supporting people. Too often, younger coaches feel you have to have ‘coach’ on your hat.
‘‘I used to jump in a lot more. I am now far less at the athlete and more working with the athlete, challenging him to find out what he knows more than trying to tell him what to do. In my early coaching life, you are looking to solve it for the player because you think you have something special to offer,’’ he told The Times.
Mitchell is proving popular with his players in his second stint with England after previously being involved with Sir Clive Woodward as forwards coach from 1997-2000.
In charge of defence, he has helped Jones’ team rebound from their disappointing 2018 campaign to reinforce their credentials for this World Cup.
He believes he still has the ability to be a head coach but is more than content working with the perceptive Jones who he feels gives English fans reason for optimism over the coming weeks.
‘‘Eddie is so good at understanding where the game is at and where it is heading. He is phenomenal in that area.’’