Marler sure squad know how to cope with pressure now
RUGBY CORRESPONDENT in Oita they were to lose on Saturday, it would be yet another World Cup failure, the third campaign in succession at which hopes have turned to dust. The flip side of going on and lifting the Webb Ellis Cup would, according to Marler, be life-changing.
Marler revealed that players each had their own way of coping with the win-or-go-home scenario. “Jonny Wilkinson used to say the thing that drove him most was the fear of failure, the fear of losing, and that worked brilliantly for him,” Marler said. “Then Jamie George, for example, is Mr Positive, Mr Energy all the time. He doesn’t focus on any of that [fear] because it brings him down, he has negative thoughts with it. He constantly thinks about enjoying the moment.
“As a group we focus less on the fear factor, more on the opportunity and the challenge. I don’t even know really what pressure is. You create it in your head if you’re listening to different voices. You should be listening to the coach. If you expend energy on stuff you can’t control, you’ll be knackered. I am better than that now [compared to four years ago] in terms of my mindset. “
Marler has made considerable sacrifices to get to this point, coming out of international retirement and striving hard to get back into contention. “I have worked my buns off to try and get back into an emotional and mental state capable of contributing to the squad the best I can,” said Marler, who has shaken off a minor back strain and is expected to start at loosehead on Saturday.
“The physical side of it has been even harder. You come out of it for a year and you forget how quickly they do everything. I want to be part of a squad that wins a World Cup. That was part of the reason I came out of retirement. I could see the potential in this group and that’s what’s driving me on.”
There was a time when a match against Australia would be centred on England’s dominance in the scrum. In 2015, Bob Dwyer, the former Wallaby coach, targeted Marler, claiming he scrummaged illegally. Dwyer took the same stance a year later against Dan Cole, prompting Marler to call him a w----- on Twitter, for which he was fined.
The script has changed. “Mario Ledesma [the Argentina coach who used to coach the Australian forwards] transformed them in 2015 and they are a big unit with a front row that is going well,” said Marler. “That [old] narrative is no longer the case.”