Gatland heads the list to be Eddie’s successor
NIGEL Melville revealed this week that he wants to see another super coach appointed by England after the 2019 World Cup. However, the RFU’s acting chief executive, and incumbent performance director, added the important qualification that he is also keen to promote an Englishman from the Premiership ranks who has the potential to become a super coach.
Quizzed on the pecking order of selection criteria for the next England coach, Melville said: “I think they would be a super coach.”
However, after accepting that there was no English coach who currently fitted that description, he said. “I have been impressed with a lot of our coaches and how they have developed over the last few years. I can see potential in people, you have to have potential...you have to look at the next generation, it is not a one-year wonder.”
The biggest obstacle that Melville faces is that, despite his positive message, at the moment there are not many candidates with the trackrecords he is looking for.
Super-coaches in Rugby Union are a rare breed with only Eddie Jones (England), Warren Gatland (Wales) and Joe Schmidt (Ireland) fitting the description in the Northern Hemisphere, and Steve Hansen (New Zealand) out on his own in the Southern Hemisphere.
The only other international coach with “been there, done it” credentials is the South Africa 2007 World Cupwinning coach Jake White, but he has found it difficult to come down off that mountain and coach successfully in the club game.
Although Jones has the contractual leeway to become a mentor to the next Twickenham incumbent, it’s just as likely given his ‘have tracksuit will travel’ approach that after a spell on the beach in Barbados he will cross the Channel to become a consultant coach to France, the 2023 World Cup hosts. Schmidt is scheduled to take up the New Zealand mantle after his success with Ireland, and when Hansen stands down for Schmidt after the 2019 World Cup defence he would rather lose his stable of racehorses than give away All Black trade secrets to England – and there is no way that he would be allowed to by the NZRU.
That leaves Gatland as the only international super coach who might be available. Melville knows Gatland well having brought him to Wasps in 2005, but whether the Wales and Lions coach has got the inclination and ambition to take on an England role which involves even more heat than on the other side of the Severn is questionable.
There is also the likelihood that the first item on Gatland’s agenda after leaving Wales will be having a crack at the Springboks as the 2021 Lions head coach.
It’s not just super coaches who are hard to get. No sooner had Melville put his hand in the English club coaching waters earlier this week than they became muddied. The two leading coaches he name-checked, Mark McCall at Saracens and Exeter’s Rob Baxter, said publicly that they do not wish to be considered for the England coaching job after the 2019 World Cup.
Both men were reading from a similar script, saying they had stimulating, rewarding and happy working environments at the clubs sitting at the top of the table. They also talked about having just signed contract extensions, and having unfinished business in terms of their club ambitions.
The timing of the withdrawal by Baxter and McCall is significant given that Melville confirmed that he would be working to present a shortlist to the RFU board over the next nine months. He outlined that although as performance director he would appoint the coaching selection panel, that it would be the chief executive who would put the name forward for board approval.
Asked what the deadline is, Melville responded: “We would like to identify the person before the end of the World Cup obviously, and announce it after (the tournament). It may be before that.”
Where Melville was unequivocal was when I asked him if it mattered if the candidate was at the coal-face of the pro game coaching week-in weekout, or whether they could come from the RFU age-group international substructure.
Equipped with a background of being a coach and director of rugby at Wasps and Gloucester, Melville said that that he wanted any candidate to be a hands-on coach rather than a quasiadministrator. “I like them to be at the sharp end of coaching. We have a tendency to move people from head coaches to directors of rugby. The more admin they get the less coaching they do. I want a coach.
“Eddie (Jones) is a coach, an out-and-out coach, Gatland is a coach. All these super coaches, all they are interested in is coaching. We give them director of rugby jobs and they turn into administrators. New Zealand have had coaches, Australia have always had coaches. If they haven’t had admin experience that doesn’t bother me. The sharper they are the better, they have got to learn – Eddie has been through the mill just as any other coach.”
Melville spelled out the criteria required: “We want a heavyweight international coach, or a potential international
“McCall has played a key role in selecting, coaching, and managing an all-international club squad”
hevyweight coach who is going into an international coach. nderstands culture, and the ce of culture. We have seen ches come in, (some from) ern Hemisphere going into clubs where they bring a Hemisphere culture with it doesn’t fit our culture – am don’t perform.” on Gatland’s credentials ommented: “He has been r quite a long time and he has nternational rugby for a long had just finished with Ireen I brought him over to is a very good coach – I im in as assistant, but he was was probably more director was away from coaching for ng time.” gestion that the England h should come with a direcby riding shotgun got short m Melville. “No. The head to be in charge, they want to ge. The top coaches in the nt to report to the CEO and to be in charge, that is the hey are. If you took any of super coaches you have mend, they want to be in charge.” Melville noted that the rmer All Blacks coach, John itchell, who was appointed ecently as England defence oach – and who he appointed Eagles coach in his previous e as chief executive of USA Rugby – is from a similar mould to Gatland: “John Mitchell is probably one of those, and those are the guys you want coaching the national team.”
He added: “Rob Baxter would be one of those. Every time you see a game he is there, and he is the coach. Mark McCall is similar at Saracens. The top teams in England have got very good coaches – he has good coaches under him and a good culture.”
Casting his net wider for English coaches Melville gave incumbent Red Rose forwards coach Steve Borthwick his seal of approval, and the same for Joe Worsley and Richard Cockerill, who are plying their trade outside the Premiership.
“Steve Borthwick did some great work going down to various countries, obviously working with Japan. I’m sure Steve would be interested in the head coach job. He’s a good developing coach and he knows international rugby pretty well now. There are these young guys around that you sometimes don’t think about – Joe Worsley has done a great job in Bordeaux, he’s head coach now, and it’ll be interesting to see how that develops. Cockerill has done an amazing job in Edinburgh. I questioned whether he would, but actually he’s done a really good job.”
Other up-and-comers to get an endorsement were Newcastle head coach Dave Walder and his Exeter counterpart Ali Hepher.
“Dave Walder is doing a terrific job from what I can see of Newcastle. When they started playing this year I was thinking ‘who is coaching them’, because very evidently it was not the old Dean Richards/John Wells way. Something had changed and he had changed it. Ali Hepher is another one, a talented coach who did some work with the Saxons.”
The reality check is that while most of the English names Melville mentioned are coaches who are making good headway, and could be part of the matrix around a head coach, there are few contenders for the top job.
Having coached the Lions to a winning series in Australia and a drawn series in New Zealand, as well as Wales to two Grand Slams, Gatland’s credentials are granite solid. So, in terms of track-record – which is the all important selection yardstick for any international coaching appointment – super coach Gatland is out on his own.
His fellow Kiwi, Mitchell, has the coaching expertise, and has the advantage of providing continuity as part of Jones’ existing staff. He also has an allimportant background in the English game at club and international level, but his frequent issues with man-management weaken his hand.
Borthwick is another England insider with an impressive CV, but he has never been a head coach. While he is in his element coaching forwards there are also doubts about whether he would be comfortable being constantly in the communications spotlight.
Baxter is an excellent communicator and a talented coach who has done a remarkable job in taking Exeter from the Championship in 2010 to Premiership champions seven years later, as well as being losing finalists twice more.
However, even with a track-record that good Baxter is well adrift of what Mark McCall has achieved at Saracens. During the Northern Irishman’s tenure Saracens have won the European Cup twice – a prize that has eluded Exeter so far – and the Premiership title four times. Even allowing for the club’s financial clout, it is a stellar record.
McCall does not have international coaching experience, but he has played a key role in selecting, coaching, and managing an all-international club squad.
That is why Gatland and McCall – notwithstanding his desire to stay at Saracens – should be the first two names on Melville’s wish list.