How coaches launch verbal grenades to gain a winning edge
Nothing that Jones or Gatland says this week will be by accident as both seek the advantage
Eddie Jones wasted little time in unpinning a few grenades to lob towards the Wales camp soon after his side’s thumping 44-8 win over France. At various points, the England head coach claimed that the Principality Stadium was “not a fortress”, that the gap between the sides was “massive” in Wales’ favour and most jarringly of all that this was the “greatest Welsh side ever”.
Were these just honest answers or an example of mind games designed to destabilise Wales’s preparations before the teams’ momentous meeting on Saturday? When they face the press today, both Jones and Warren Gatland, the Wales head coach, are likely to stir an already bubbling pot still further but would deny that their comments are all part of some grand Machiavellian plot.
Both men are incredibly sharpwitted but neither says anything by accident. Stuart Lancaster, the former England head coach, estimated that he spent up to 40 per cent of a Test week planning his media messaging, and he was always at pains to avoid giving offence, unlike Jones or Gatland.
Every word, however innocuous, is selected for a purpose, as New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen inadvertently revealed. Only a handful of people would have noticed New Zealand’s coaches and players referring to Michael Cheika as the “Australian coach” rather than his name in the build-up to last year’s Bledisloe Cup matches. Those that did might have thought it odd. Instead, it was part of a coordinated strategy to get under Cheika’s skin – apparently with some degree of success – according to recent leaked comments by Hansen.
“He went on a tirade about not respecting him,” Hansen said at a private fundraising event. “I guess what we’re trying to do there is take his mind off the job. I think he’s got a good side, he does a good job of the coaching; but sometimes he just lets himself down there.”
Though mind games are a slightly fluid concept, sports psychologist Paul Mccarthy offers a succinct definition: “At a basic level it is manipulating the media towards a certain subject. That could be to relieve tension or support tension, to draw attention or deflect attention.” In this respect, coaches are little different to politicians looking to fire up their base or undermine their opposition through carefully selected messages.
Let us take Jones’s assertion that this is the “greatest Welsh side ever”. As Wales are on a recordequalling 11-game winning run, there is a degree of truth, but it certainly was not a claim anyone was making after middling victories over France and Italy.
So what was the purpose behind his comments? According to former England cricketer turned sports psychologist Jeremy Snape, who worked under Jones at the start of his tenure, it was designed to disrupt Welsh preparations. “All that really can do is create debate and confusion about are they the best team ever?” Snape, the director of performance consultants Sporting Edge, told Telegraph Sport. “As soon as the team, coaches and fans start to consider that question then they are already taking their eye off their own preparation. As soon as that message gets mentioned within the opposition camp and they start to talk about it then maybe you have won the battle.
“Praise can be as debilitating as criticism. If some media outlets are saying this is the best team ever then a lot of coaches would be frustrated because it actually affects the motivation of the team. It is like you are blowing up a balloon and trying to keep the pressure and focus on the inside of the team environment and not letting the pressure from the outside squash the balloon down.”
In the build-up to England’s opening match in Dublin, Jones repeated the message that Ireland were “well coached and well drilled”. At face value, this might seem to be compliment, but it is also a subtle way of saying: “You’re great, keep doing what you’re doing”. By keeping to their drills, Ireland became more predictable.
Yet more often coaches’ public messages are intended for their own team. Both Jones and Gatland were quick to label each other favourites, and for good reason, says Snape. “The competition for the underdog tag is as ferocious as for the No1 slot because that is the best psychological position to be in leading into tournaments,” Snape said. “It keeps everyone honest, it reduces expectation and gives the players something to strive for rather than something to lose, which they have as favourites.”
Another staple Jones tactic – and one shared with former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho – is to make a provocative statement to draw attention away from his own team’s poor performance. Two years ago, Jones threatened to retire if Italy repeated their no-ruck tactic that so bamboozled his own team.
The other party whom coaches attempt to influence is the referee. Expect Jaco Peyper, the South African official, to be mentioned today. “If you can put the match official under pressure by saying that the last time they refereed at stadium X they made a mistake, they are probably more likely to be tolerant and to level things up,” Snape said. “Everyone is human.”
Yet to what extent do they have an effect? Opinion is split. Andy Robinson, the former England and Scotland coach, confirms that messages from the opposition camp do filter through. “It does have an impact,” Robinson said. “Even if it does not affect the players directly, it might affect their families, who will then have a conversation with them about it.” Snape believes they are a key tool. “These tactics clearly work,” he said. “It is one thread in the rope of what you are trying to achieve.”
In contrast, Mccarthy says there is a large degree of hindsight bias. So whoever wins on Saturday will be declared to have won the “mind games battle”. Even the acclaimed high priest of mind games, former Australia coach Bob Dwyer, denies goading England into changing their tactics before the 1991 World Cup final. “I didn’t have anything to do with it,” Dwyer said. “I don’t like that sort of stuff. I think it is quite cheap.” That may cause a few England players of a certain vintage to spit out their cornflakes.
Either way, the verbal sparring tends to be great fun. Jones has lit the fuse ahead of Cardiff. Let us sit back and enjoy the show.