Carling’s conviction can give England timely lift

Former captain will help side think on their feet in tough spells, writes Mick Cleary in Vilamoura

Eddie Jones will hope that his England squad do not do as some of Will Carling’s players did at team meetings in the early Nineties when they pretended to fall asleep during his team talks. Carling is to address Jones’s team next week for the first time in his part-time role as “leadership mentor”, an attempt by the head coach to use the skills of one of England’s youngest and most successful captains as well as to connect this generation with Carling’s high-achieving team, who won three Grand Slams in five seasons and reached the 1991 World Cup final.

The fact that grizzled sluggers such as Peter Winterbottom, Wade Dooley and Mike Teague would sometimes fake a lack of interest while a youthful Carling did the Friday pep talk indicates the strength of characters that existed in that era.

“It used to bug Will occasionally until I told him to try going into the hotel room where the forwards would gather on a Saturday morning before the match, usually Brian Moore’s, and appreciate that every one of them would rip your arm off if it helped bring about an England win,” said Dick Best, the England coach of that era and a man who had his fallouts with Carling.

“We did have serious differences at Harlequins, but I will say that there is a winning side to Will. He always knew what he wanted and made sure he got it. Eddie recognises that. Will was a professional in his approach long before professionalism arrived [in 1995]. Will has been doing leadership seminars as a business for 20 years and no one seems to have sued him, so he must be all right.

“I’ve seen another side to him of late, more mature and giving, and bygones should be bygones. He was earnest, deadly serious in those early days but he has matured, can take the mickey out of himself and all that will project well with Eddie’s squad. They’ll recognise him as a winner, too. Eddie is looking for an edge, any edge, and if 10 per cent of what Carling achieved rubs off on them, it will have been worth the punt.”

One of those former England and Harlequins team-mates, Winterbottom, worries Carling’s appointment shows up a lack of leadership in the current ranks.

“Test rugby is about making decisions and taking responsibility,” said Winterbottom. “True, Will used to listen to us old heads and then go out and tell the rest of the team what we’d just told him as if it were his idea. But at least he showed good judgment as the fresh-faced captain in coming to us in the first place.

“England have not been good at thinking on their feet, the way the All Blacks do, being in the s--- in a match but having the nous and togetherness to work their way out of it. I imagine Eddie can be quite imposing and recognises that his players need to work things out more for themselves. Will knows how to make things happen. His career certainly wasn’t all rosy. The Lions tour to New Zealand was a debacle for him when he failed to step up to the plate, but he learnt.

“He was an exceptional player, too. He wasn’t the easiest to manage when I was his Harlequins captain because, in his eyes, England was his club, not Quins. But he’s got lots of credibility and is smart. The players will respond.”

Carling carries with him an air of conviction, some might call it arrogance, a trait that Moore believes stems from his public school upbringing at Sedbergh and his family’s military background.

“We didn’t get on that well back then, maybe because of my

jealousy that he was England captain when I would have loved to have been,” said Moore. “His leadership style was collaborative, albeit it didn’t include me.

“What I will say is that what Will represents as part of a successful England past does matter. That history, that legacy does matter to the All Blacks and it should to England. If this generation do not recognise what Will stands for, then they have horribly closed minds. Carling got too much praise for success and too much stick when it went wrong. But he knows what it takes.”

Damian Hopley came into the England squad towards the end of Carling’s era, looking to try to displace him as a centre. In his role these days as chief executive of the Rugby Players’ Association, he is aware that this generation want to be connected to England’s past.

“[Former England coach] Stuart Lancaster did a lot of that and this is a good step towards rekindling those links,” said Hopley. “Will has plenty to offer in that regard.”