Kevin Roberts
has pinpointed where England are going wrong and it may have everything to do with uninspiring leadership.
FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS I have been focusing on the difference leadership brings to business, politics, sport and prosperity.
If management is all about doing things right, then leadership can be summed up as doing the right things.
Leadership dominated the conversation around the Six Nations this year.
England were the clear early favourites, with Eddie Jones having delivered a huge turnaround in results since taking over after England’s 2015 Rugby World Cup debacle.
But we saw a spectacular implosion [again] with England losing to Scotland and France – and scraping a fortunate win versus Wales.
So what happened to the selfproclaimed English juggernaut with the loudly expressed plan to become number one in the world, to overtake the All Blacks and to win the World Cup in 2019?
All kinds of reasons have been mooted. From Eddie Jones’ “we were only two per cent to three per cent off”, “the game doesn’t love us”, “if the game loves us today we might win”, to more detailed explanations from the team: “it was a bit of a brick wall we were running into, but we believed in our systems and that we would tire them out.”
That sums up the extent of England’s creative ambition: keep banging away and hope the other guys cave in.
There’s also lots of technical analysis in England’s lack of nous at the breakdown, no clear attack strategies, injuries etc – but I believe there’s something much more important lacking in today’s England team.
That is the lack of on-the-field leadership. In my book 64 Shots; Leadership in a
Crazy World, I argue that today’s leaders have three key responsibilities: 1. To inspire everyone they touch to be the best they can be in pursuit of victory. 2. To create other leaders. 3. To move from getting things done,
to making things happen. Evaluating Dylan Hartley and Owen Farrell against these three criteria doesn’t make for pleasant reading.
Both are fierce warriors, great competitors, good players, neither has delivered against any of the three key criteria of great leaders.
Neither leads from the front. Hartley is hooked [ pardon the pun] after 55 minutes or so and it’s not easy to inspire your mates from the bench, and Farrell had to focus 100 per cent on his own game moving from 12 to 10 in the second half versus France.
There are no other leaders on the field. Maro Itoje is suffering from second season syndrome; Chris Robshaw is covering two positions and has no time to draw breath, and the whole team looks over-coached and over-structured to me.
As for making things happen, both leaders are managers. They run the same systems, the same moves, the same playbook and the same lines throughout the game.
There is no experimentation, no plan B, no imagination. They provide honest effort and are good players, good captains, but there is no sign of great leadership.
Contrast this with England in 2003, where Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Mat Dawson, Will Greenwood and Jonny Wilkinson and co ran the show, steered the ship, made the calls and shifted gameplans with confidence and authority.
England have a tough tour of South Africa next up, and then the much ballyhooed ‘blockbuster’ versus the All Blacks in November [where the RFU were planning for record seat prices of £195!!] as well as the more prosaic fixes to make [a scavenger seven, a new approach to the breakdown, more discipline – 15 penalties versus France, an attackminded midfield].
I believe the most vital upgrade must be on upskilling the leaders to lead – just as the All Blacks have been doing for the last eight years.
PS – And they should play Danny Cipriani at 10.
Neither leads from the front. Hartley is hooked [pardon the pun] after 55 minutes or so and it’s not easy to inspire your mates from the bench, and Farrell had to focus 100 per cent on his own game moving from 12 to 10 in the second half versus France.’