It’s about the players: Coaches get too much credit
OPINION: Many have been caught off guard by Sean O’Brien airing his frustrations with the outcome of British and Irish Lions tour but I cannot say I’m surprised.
Lions tours can really get under your skin. It can bug you, especially if you haven’t won.
O’Brien has pointed the finger at two areas where he feels the Lions coaching staff came up short, the first being that the squad’s ‘‘triple-session days’’ in the weeks leading up to the first and third tests left the players feeling ‘‘heavy’’, and no wonder.
Having those days before the test is ridiculous. There is no need to overuse the body that close to the weekend.
Lions tours are some of the hardest I have ever been on. After 1997, I landed back in the UK and went off on holiday. The first day I slept for 16 hours. You are exceptionally fatigued while on the tour and then at the end of it.
O’Brien’s main point of contention, however, comes down to the coaching staff, singling out Rob Howley for letting Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton essentially take charge of the attack, which I feel is harsh on Howley.
A good coach lets the players empower themselves. You get a bit of a framework and then take control. The Lions looked too regimented in the first test. They were not getting any fluidity in their phase play and the only way you can solve that is with the players playing their game, learning from the first test.
Inadvertently those comments about Howley highlight a bigger issue with Lions tours - the naive suggestion that players become better from spending time with certain coaches over a six-week period.
Are you trying to tell me that Warren Gatland on a six-week tour can make an England player better than being coached by Eddie Jones? It’s not possible.
What can happen is that you make yourself better by learning off other players, but you certainly don’t learn off the coaches.
Sir Ian McGeechan in 1997 was a good coach, but did I learn a huge amount off him? No, not really. Jim Telfer? A little bit, not much.
I wouldn’t say I was a better player for the coaches’ input on either of my Lions tours, certainly not in 2001. All the coaches did then was p... us off.
What I learned from Graham Henry was that I don’t like Graham Henry.
The forwards coach may well help sort out set-pieces, although they are pretty much closed skills.
If Howley was overpowered by Farrell and Sexton then he was overpowered by two strong personalities, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Honestly, you could pick me as the coach and I would probably do as good a job, if not better, than all of those coaches, provided you have the right squad.
Lions tours are about the players, the squad, and a lot of time about the manager. Fran Cotton did about as much as team manager in 1997 to help win the series as the coaching staff, acting as someone to talk to every now and then. People have to stop proportioning such a large percentage of winning or losing a Lions tour to the coaching group.
Pick the right players, give them time to gel, don’t overstress them physically. Keep them fit and let them enjoy themselves. Have someone good to coordinate their fitness, which we had in 1997, plus a manager that the squad respects.
You have about three lineout experts there in the second row, as well as two or three world-class game controllers in the back line. Plus a handful of senior players who have potentially captained their countries or clubs who have seen all different coaching techniques.
Coaches who read this might believe that idea is a load of rubbish, but it’s not.
In four years I am putting myself forward.
I’ll look after the guys and make sure they have a good time, bring along a forwards coach, and then we can pretty much design training sessions with the senior players.
I won’t be taking 37 backroom staff, instead I would give that funding to grass-roots rugby.
I would take the Lions back to what they should be; old-school tours full of fun that are run by the players, who manage themselves.
Austin Healy is a former England and Lions international rugby player.