Families need to stay away from big matches

ON the 2005 Lions tour Sir Clive Woodward was accompanied by his wife and their teenage son. My view after that tour of New Zealand – which ended in a 3-0 whitewash – was that it is a mistake for high profile coaches to have their families too close to the rough and tumble of their high pressure jobs.

With thousands of disappointed fans in the same environment they were bound to be exposed to varied opinions about the performance of the coach, let alone the constant airing of views in the local media, some of which will be painful to hear.

Also when the heat is on in the cauldron surrounding a huge match coaches – who are richly compensated for their sometime absence from home life – can do without the distraction of worrying about their families.

I was reminded of this again this week when Stuart Lancaster opened up in a newspaper interview, not least about the impact England’s 2015 World Cup failure had on his family.

In it he revealed that his wife, daughter and parents had all gone to the makeor-break match against Australia at Twickenham which resulted in England crashing out at the pool stage, and that afterwards when he rang them he heard his daughter crying.

Lancaster believed his side would win, but there was an even chance that they would not. It confirms me in the view that elite coaches in a pro sport should try to protect their families from the flack that is bound to be aimed in their direction when things go wrong – even if it means them not being there.