The Grip Of The Suits Is Not Yet Waning

RUGBY'S evolution, from a game played, at adult level by over-grown school boys, who have actually never quite grown-up, to an all-year-round professional sport is continuing. But, it hasn't quite got there yet, as witness the fact, we are now in what passes for the “close season.”

 

The Scotland squad is now home from their Summer Tour, and while the fringe professional players – and some of the keener amateurs - may be back in-training for the new season, which kicks-off with the first pre-season warm-up games in a little over seven weeks, with the real action getting underway in nine-weeks' time, we are currently enjoying a break of sorts.

 

Of course, for some, the action never really ceases. The hustings for the vacant posts on the SRU Council and Board are continuing; the bigger clubs are busy recruiting for the new season; and, across the land, plans are being formulated.

 

 New SRU High Performance Coach Shaun Wane

One such plan, which came into the public domain this past week was the new appointment of former Wigan Warriors Honcho Shaun Wane as the SRU's new High Performance Coach. This was quickly followed by a raft of appointments to various Women's squads.

There has been an unofficial tie-in between Wigan and the SRU for some time. I can remember Warriors' assistant coach Kenny Murray telling me how impressed he was after Gregor Townsend sent him down to spend some days with Wigan. He was especially enamoured of the attention to detail which was such a platform in how the Lancashire Warriors did things.

If Wane can further impress that culture on those elite level players and coaches he comes across while up here – great. There is just one wee niggle for me, and that is: that old “street” definition of a “consultant” as: “Someone who steals your watch to tell you the time.”

Given the coaching expertise the SRU already has available to it, does the SRU really need another well-paid adviser at elite level? Can Shaun Wane bring anything to the party which the likes of Dave Rennie, Jason O'Halloran, Richard Cockerill, even, perish the thought our favourite “baddie” - the Lesser-Spotted Johnson cannot?

Let's do a comparison:

Shaun Wane: Played 157 top-flight club games for Wigan, Leeds and Warrington – two Great Britain Rugby League internationals.

As a coach: 3 years (2000-2003) Club Scout – Wigan Warriors; (2003-2009) Under-18 Academy coach at Wigan Warriors; (2009-2011) Assistant Coach – Wigan Warriors; (2011-2018) Hea Coach – Wigan Warriors.

Dave Rennie: Played 57 games for Wellington, 1 international for the Cook Islands, career ended at 27 by a bad shoulder injury.

After some years teaching and running his own pub, and coaching his amateur club Upper Hutt in New Zealand, in 1999 he was appointed Assistant Coach at Wellington; (2001-2002) Hurricanes Under-23 Coach; (2002-2003) Hurricanes Assistant Coach; (2003-2011) Coach at the New Zealand Rugby Union National Academy – during this time he also coached Manawatu (2005-2011) and he coached the Under-20 Junior All Blacks to successive World Under-20 titles (2008-2010); (2012-2017) Head Coach, Chiefs; (2017-now) Head Coach, Glasgow Warriors.

Richard Cockerill: (1991-2005)Played 300 games for Coventry, Leicester, Montferrand and the Barbarians; 27 caps for England (1997-1999).

In 2005, he retired to become Forwards Coach at Leicester (2005-2009); in 2009, having twice acted as interim Head Coach, he was given the job on a full-time basis (2011-2017); he then had a short spell as a consultant with Toulon, before being appointed as Edinburgh's Head Coach in late 2017.

Gregor Townsend: Played some 300 games across the late amateur era and the professional era for Gala, South of Scotland, Warringah in Australia, Northampton, Brive, Castres, Border Reivers, Montpellier, the Barbarians and Sharks; 82 Scotland caps, plus 2 British Lions caps in a career spanning (1990-2007).

After a short spell as a mentor to up-and-coming players, in 2008 he was appointed Assistant Coach to the Scotland A team (2008-2009); He then (2009-2012) Backs/Attack Coach for Scotland; (2012-2017) Head Coach Glasgow Warriors; (2017 – now) Scotland Head Coach.

Scott Johnson: Played for Parramatta, Eastwood, New South Wales Waratahs and Toulon during the 1980s and early 1990s; he also captained Australia Under-21s.

He began coaching at Penrith in Sydney club rugby, and was named Coach of the Year in 1999; (2001-2002) Assistant Coach, Australia A; (2003-2006) various coaching roles with the Welsh RFU, including a spell as Wales Coach; (2007-2008) Attack Coach with Australia; (2008-2009) USA Eagles Head Coach; (2009-2012) Ospreys Head Coach; (2012-now) various roles with the SRU (Assistant Coach, then Head Coach to the national team; Director of Rugby).

Can someone please tell me what Wane brings to the party that Townsend, Cockerill, Rennie, even the much-maligned Johnson does not already bring? Hell, even old Sean Lineen offers as much, if not more. We read Wane's remit will include emphasis on Defence, yet, in Matt Taylor, the SRU already employs one of the world's top defence coaches.

 In Matt Taylor, the SRU already has a more-than-competent Defence Coach

It seems to me, Wane is an example of a phenomenon we are increasingly seeing in professional sports coaching and administration – that of Empire Building. This is something which happens regularly in large organisations where the men at the top are not being held to account properly by those supposedly independent non-executive directors, charged with guarding the interests of shareholders.

Cushioned as they are from some sort of reality, executives seek to buld-up their personal fiefdoms – they need Personal Assistants, who then need under-secretaries; they need spin doctors to tell the world how well they are doing – all these apparatchicks need to be kept occupied, so, we eventually arrive at proof positive of Parkinson's Law: “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

Nothing against Wane; he might well be good for Scottish Rugby. However, do we really need another “consultant” on the “Performance” side of Scottish Rugby, taking valuable financial resources away from the game at a time when the heartbeat of the game, the club side, is facing additional stresses.

We have fewer teams playing, more games being unplayed because clubs cannot fill the necessary slots in terms of such things as experienced front row cover. We have a governing body, seemingly determined to cut the number of clubs, and thereby weakening the foundations of the game here.

No harm to Shaun Wane, but. Do we really need additional gilding on the ceilings, when the foundations are crumbling? Wane might have some drills which will help our younger Academy players and new professionals improve their basic skills - but, better perhaps if they honed these basic skills at an earlier age - with their original clubs.

How is Wane's "High Performance" remit going to help in the heartland of the game?