Which team-mate would you eat first?
The bizarre approach of ‘genius’ behind England’s new attacking brilliance
HE is the laid-back Aussie surfer who has put England’s attacking game on the crest of a wave.
Ireland outsmarted, France obliterated and 10 tries scored in the opening two rounds. You have to go back to the end of the Clive Wood-warder a in 2004 to find a better start to the Championship.
And at the heart of that expansion is attack consultant Scott Wisemantel, the 48-year-old drafted in by Eddie Jones last summer.
This season Wisemantel has been challenging defenders with swimming noodles under the high ball. His charges in Montpellier remember being made to train wearing boxing gloves to sharpen up technique, and he once caused consternation by inviting Australia players to nominate which team-mate they would eat in an emergency.
He’s clearly a survivor. England head coach Jones has burned his way through a dozen back-room staff in his tenure but there’s a deep respect between these two men going back more than 15 years.
The players’ verdict is equally overwhelming. They say Wisemantel is ‘a genius’ who they want to work hard for and who expects them to fire every shot on the field.
Then when it’s all over he’ll revert to type and become a ‘Coastie’, a beach-loving inhabitant of Northern New South Wales from the surfing hotspot of Lennox Head.
‘If he spent any more time surfing when he’s back here, he’d have gills,’ said Justin Harrison, the former Australia lock who has coached alongside him. ‘He’ll have a can of beer in a stubby holder beside a barbecue with his kids, holding a surfboard having just got out. That’s Wisey when he’s not on the sideline telling blokes what to do.
‘He’s one of the quiet achievers in world rugby. He doesn’t seek to place himself in the middle of anything. He’s the quintessential coach who’s there to get the best out of those around him.’
Wisemantel was a rugby league star. Since 1999, his coaching odyssey has taken him to clubs in Japan and France via the Waratahs in Australia, spells as the Wallabies’ skills coach and to Japan’s national team for another two spells with Jones, notably at the 2015 World Cup that saw South Africa beaten.
‘He was a big influence on guys like Quade Cooper, Kurtley Beale and James O’Connor,’ said Luke Morahan, the Australia wing playing for Bristol.
‘He’ s great at breaking down a skill, the explanation of how and why you do something and the effect it has on the game. He can expand your kicking game and that showed particularly against France.’ That part of the England operation has become razor sharp since his arrival. Seven of the 10 tries were created by putting boot to ball. ‘I learned a lot from him about positional play and the manipulation of opposition No9s and 10s,’ added Morahan. ‘ You’re showing a picture to the opposition and then moving very late, playing mind games. It’s the detail and the little ins and outs where he’s so good.’
Exeter Chiefs scrum- half Nic White enjoyed his mix of detail and devilment at Montpellier.
‘I knew my game would be in good hands — he does stand out from the crowd and you really want to work hard for him,’ said White.
‘If the opportunity comes up to use your skills he’d rather you did that and back yourself than come off having not fired every shot.
‘I remember some of the drills. Come the end of a session we’d be tackling and then he pulled out the boxing gloves. We all thought he was going to make us fight each other but instead he said, “You’re going to train today with boxing gloves on. Rather than grab people, you’ve got to use your shoulders properly”. Things like that are fun but everything he does has a purpose. He’s a genius in that way.’
Only once has Wisemantel been caught up in controversy, following a player questionnaire created when he was a Wallabies coach in 2005.
‘He’s a funny bloke, I think he was just trying to spice things up,’ said former Australia wing Lote Tuqiri.
‘After our last session he gives us a piece of paper and said, “Fill this out”. It was, “If you had to eat someone in the team, who would you eat first?” We had a couple of plump front-rowers and 90 per cent of the blokes went with Matt Dunning. Unfortunately we left a questionnaire behind and it was in the South African press the next day.’
It was a minor slip. Fourteen years on, he’s doing what he’s always done and England’s players are riding the Wisemantel wave in the belief it could take them somewhere very special.