Ireland remains my long-term coaching goal
Racing 92 put out a brief release on Wednesday confirming I had signed up for three more years at the club. It’s been in the works since the end of last year, but there was nothing too complicated in it, nor in my reasons for signing up until 2019.
I feel like I’m only really getting stuck in now. When you start something, you want to get a return from it, and there’s been no tangible return yet at Racing, in terms of success. Secondly, I don’t see another club with more potential to move on to or get as excited about.
Clearly the Irish question is a different issue down the road. And if I am doing a good job and an an even more exceptional opportunity arose at home, I think Racing would be open to talking to me. Contracts are pretty basic. It’s the agents that confuse and complicate things. Anyway, this was constructive dialogue throughout with owner, Jacky Lorenzetti and the other two coaches, Laurent Travers and Laurent Labit.
There’s no clause in my contract regarding get-outs but the club here would always know my goal, longer term, is to take a top team in Ireland, or get involved in the Irish international set up. They would be very understanding in that regard. I know they wouldn’t stand in my way.
A three-year contract is a statement. On both sides. But it also puts everything to bed so every December, you don’t have to start thinking where your next move is.
Jessica and the kids are fundamental to such a commitment. At a micro level, it gives the kids the opportunity to nail down the French language, which is important.
On a broader scale, if Jess wasn’t happy enough, we wouldn’t have signed. I’d be gone.
Also, I think we both sense that in three years, it’ll be time for a new challenge. At that stage, I’ll have six years’ coaching experience under my belt. We all start somewhere, as Martin Johnson reminded me, but in three years’ time, the breadth of rugby knowledge accumulated will have created a solid coaching foundation.
In this job, you want to be the best, or it’s not worth the effort. Being an also ran, someone happy to come sixth or seventh, has never interested me.
I don’t understand that mentality. If you strive to to be the best, it doesn’t mean you automatically finish first, but that has to be the intention.
The beauty of the Racing set up — and it was one of the key points in signing on for another three seasons — is that it’s a three-man coaching team that gives me one-third of the responsibility. I respect that the two Laurents, have10 years on me in coaching terms, but as long as you have a real input, and it’s valued, it’s good. There’s no lip service.
I have clear responsibilities as defence coach, but that would not stop me giving my opinion on any aspect of the game. That wouldn’t happen in a lot of set ups, that freedom to speak whenever you feel the need. When you understand the attack side of the game, it really helps in terms of your defence. There’s a big difference between being a good tackler and a good defender. One is technique, the other more technical. I have a good understanding with my background of how teams are trying to break down the defence, so it’s easier for me than it would be, say, for a tight head prop, analysing the opposition. When you are working every day with real professionals, it helps too. Dan Carter has this magnificent simplicity to his game. Doing the basics well, all the time. He touched on a hobby horse of mine this week, the introduction of a bonus points system into the Six Nations Championship.
Dan has come from a southern hemisphere competition structure where everything is incentivised with bonus points. It makes a lot of sense for the Six Nations. The difference between a competition with a maximum of 10 points versus one with a maximum of 25 points speaks for itself. There would be more than one way to get to 20 points. And on the penultimate weekend of the Six Nations, you wouldn’t have a situation where two of the three games mean little in championship terms.
The trends at last year’s World Cup, and progress of the four southern hemisphere nations to the semi-finals, underlined the benefits of playing with that approach all the time. It’s a natural progression surely for the northern hemisphere. If your rugby brain is calibrated for a bonus point approach, it adds a lot to the positive mindset.
I’m less concerned with the tradition argument or the counter-point about the necessity for more tries and more concerned with Ireland making a bigger impact when World Cup 2019 comes around.
Consider the benefits of bonus points in the Six Nations for the next three years. It would radically alter the coaching mindset. Each country would have 15 games of bonus-point rugby. Imagine the difference that would make against an Argentina or Australia, nations that play so comfortably with ball in hand in the rarefied atmosphere of the Rugby Championship.
If the Rugby World Cup, the most prestigious rugby event in the world, has embraced the bonus-point system and shown that it works, then why isn’t the Six Nations following suit? Of course, there are idiosyncrasies, not least the conditions. If you are trying to chase four tries at the start of February, it’s a very different proposition to say, playing for the hard, fast surface in Rome at the end of March. But is it not worth a one-year trial at least?
Ireland would certainly be chasing a bonus point against Italy in other circumstances. Italy’s a tough beat for Jacques Brunel and whoever succeeds him. They live in a world where a good season equates to winning one game. My head is in a place where I can barely take two losses in a row. Too much of a head melt for me. If Conor O’Shea does end up there, I understand his thinking in terms of career progression. He’s done his stint with club rugby. With his know-how, he’s looking at a director of rugby job in one of the top tier nations after Italy.
Ireland-Italy is the third-ranked game of the weekend. Even in Ireland, there’s as much interest in the England-Wales game. The Twickenham clash presents a fascinating psychological scenario. England’s confidence is on the up, and I think they’ll win, but if they don’t sort Wales this time, it will sunder whatever momentum Eddie Jones has built up since the World Cup.
Manu Tuilagi is on the bench, but the difference he will make will be phenomenal. A massive addition in every sense. But he has great feet too. Watch a lot of his moments, he has exceptional footwork. Contrast Ford passing to Farrell with Farrell passing to Tuilagi. The Leicester Tiger could be the key ingredient this weekend.
