WHAT IT’S LIKE TO… GO FROM REFEREE TO TEST COACH
Now coaching Fiji, former player and ref Glen Jackson has a unique perspective
HE MIND was willing but the body, unfortunately, was not. Not every player gets to pick the perfect time to bow out of the game, but have you ever considered what happens when an elite referee struggles to go on? Glen Jackson hung up his whistle earlier than expected.
“I was very keen to do one more year after the Rugby World Cup and I’d signed with New Zealand, who were
Tgreat around that,” says Jackson, 45. “Then the body sort of gave way. “I recently had a hip replacement. That was sort of catching up with me in terms of everything on the field. So instead of trying to do one more year of reffing and running, I decided it was a good time to sort the body out and a chance to look into something else in rugby. And it was the coaching side of things.”
Rugby can present interesting twists for those willing to embrace a life of changes. RWC 2019 would have been an incredible motivator for the Kiwi, but he was not selected by World Rugby for the showcase in Japan.
Post-op and post-retirement, though, Jackson is thankful for going under the knife when he did, adding: “It has been a blessing getting it done because I can sleep well and there’s certainly no more grinding bone on bone!”
If you know the story of Jackson’s first rugby life, as a goalkicking fly-half who
represented Bay of Plenty, the Chiefs in Super Rugby, New Zealand Maori and, notably, Saracens, then you may wonder if nudging kick after kick after kick played a part in his hip deteriorating. Jackson acknowledges that aspect but he’s on to the next thing.
His second rugby life was in the middle of the park with a whistle, where Jackson was seen as something of a trailblazer Down Under: a first-class player stepping into officialdom. At the pinnacle, he was refereeing in the Six Nations and in Rugby Championship clashes. He tells RugbyWorld that he enjoyed the pressure, taking on a job that was all about one person making the right call at the right time.
But when it came to sliding into the next iteration of his rugby life, his third, happenstance played a huge part. Sure he had always coached junior teams and goalkickers in the area where he lived, but who knew he would go into top-end Test coaching so early.
“I’m very lucky,” Jackson starts to explain of his next major twist. “Vern Cotter had coached me at Bay of Plenty, many, many years ago. Vern moved back to Bay of Plenty, where I live, and I came across him and realised he was taking on the Fiji job.
“I caught up with him one morning and we had a bit of a chat around what I wanted to do later in life, with coaching. He seemed to appreciate it and now we’re involved with Fiji, with what I see as a very well-balanced and experienced coaching staff that I’m lucky to be a part of.”
The coaching set-up that head coach Cotter has pulled together for Fiji is certainly intriguing. Former All Black and ex-Waratahs boss Daryl Gibson looks after the backs, Jason Ryan, the Crusaders assistant forwards coach, comes in and offers particular expertise at scrum time, while Scotsman Richie Gray is renowned for his work at the collision and breakdown. As for Jackson, he will focus on skills and ensuring the group hear the referee’s whistle less often.
The former Test referee says of his new coaching role: “I will obviously have a better understanding of discipline.
And also with my background as a ten and with kicking, hopefully I’ll help the kickers with the way that they kick around the field. So I will be a nice little place to help (better understand) refereeing and also kicking.
“I think a lot of guys finish rugby and go straight into coaching. I have been lucky enough to see a different side of rugby. I’ve had ten years where you learn something different but I’ve kept my foot in, especially with the kicking stuff. Because it’s a bit like refereeing – it’s a very individual aspect of the game, you’re the man in the middle, or kicking over the goalposts.
“I was very lucky when I was playing at Saracens to work with some wonderful kicking coaches through that time who have really helped. And those guys have gone on to great things. With Dave Alred, Mick Byrne, who was the All Blacks kicking coach for a long time, and then a guy called Daryl Halligan. Which is pretty lucky for a New Zealander because we don’t have a lot of kicking coaches.
“Working with those three was great for my experience and now with me trying to help the Fijian boys.”
When asked how tough it has been planning the best way to get Fijian talents together and away from clubs all over the globe, at a time of global crisis, Jackson sees the funny side. As he remarks: “Logistically it’s been a nightmare, but it’s probably no different from any normal autumn with Fijian players based all over the world.” Chaos, it seems, is nothing new.
Jackson also got to work alongside Cotter with the Barbarians, where some talented young Fijians got the chance to join up with the invitational side. Then it’s the Autumn Nations Cup where they face France, Italy and Scotland – Cotter’s old team – and a final deciding match somewhere yet to be decided by the results. A life of twists indeed.
After all this Jackson will still have the run of Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty for the foreseeable, jetting off to help Fiji when he can. The step into coaching is exciting. The only thing left after all this, surely, is to become an administrator!
“Logistically it’s been a nightmare
but it’s probably no different from any normal autumn for Fiji”
deal with NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes, Japan.
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