Oval Office May 2008

Flair oh flair, where for art thou?

By Grant Batty

The great players of past eras were those who possessed skills and flair unknown to the common player.

BJ Robertson

Players like the Welsh wing wizard [and now Lions Manager] Gerald Davies, the frightening flashy Frenchman Joe Masso, mid-field magician BJ Robertson of All Black fame, illusive and lighting quick Tim Horan proudly wearing the green and gold of Australia, the greyhound like Piet Greyling playing at number seven for the all powerful Springboks, the great Englishman Prince Alexander Obolensky, Andy Irvine of Scottish fullback fame, the list of course goes on and on.

But today’s game seems not about enhancing the natural skills of young players but is instead turning all players into over-programmed and over-game-structured automatons.

Big muscles have become more important that big skills! Shame that!
Had Masso, Horan and Robertson played in today’s teams I have the very strong suspicion that much of what made them so wonderful would have been systematically coached out of them!

Today’s coaches want orchestrated phases, predetermined actions and automatic responses to most situations. Forget the flair, forget taking a risk and just do as the coach demands. Or should I say, just do as the coaches say … Head coach, backs coach, forwards coach, skills coach, attacking coach, restarts coach, defensive coach, kicking coach, scrum coach, lineout coach, breakdown coach, tackling coach, video coach, rehabilitation coach, conditioning coach, mental coach, et al!

Next step will be the coach coach!

Besides the 40 seater coach to take players to the ground how many coaches do you really need? Each of these coaches busily protecting their backsides [read … protecting their lucrative contracts] and generally doing a great job of protecting it!

As a consequence of this plethora of coaches all having an “input” the individuality of the exceptional player is diminished.
If teams had fewer coaches then maybe there’d be less organisation which would then mean that flair was important again?
Maybe instead of a salary cap on players they should have a salary cap on the coaching staff, perhaps just enough money for three coaches at most!

*****
Having spoken to a good number of former All Blacks and general rugby supporters in New Zealand the message from down under is loud and clear … what could have possibly justified the retention of Graham Henry as the All Black coach.

Why was the review of the All Blacks World Cup performance not completed before the New Zealand Rugby Union decided on the coaching position for the next two years?
Ordinary decision gentlemen!

*****
The good news for Kiwis living in Australia is that they now have a legitimate reason for supporting the Wallabies, because new coach Robbie Deans is of course the coach of the sensationally successful New Zealand Canterbury Crusaders. He’s a smart man that John O’Neill [CEO of Australian Rugby Union] not only does he get a quality coach he also gets a whole lot more people to support Australia.

*****
I have been sceptical about a lot of promises of development of rugby in far-flung outposts from time to time. I guess that is because I have seen too much neglect of the wonderful heartlands of the Pacific Islands.

However, couldn’t be happier over the Asian Five Nations tournament, launched as a platform to develop and expand the sport across the region. My deadline precluded me knowing how Hong Kong and the Gulf side end up in their match in the emirate of Al Ain, but I do know I wish I was there.

This tournament is everything that’s good about rugby at its most pure. Blokes who love the game travelling far and wide, giving their all, having a yarn and going home worn out but satisfied to the core. Chequebooks don’t come into it.

Heavyweights Japan were to play South Korea in Incheon and of course Hong Kong went to Al Ain to play a Gulf side who made the event as the fifth-ranked side in the 22-member Asian Rugby Union.
Kazakhstan are in the tournament and we’re seeing Tests in a round-robin format over five consecutive weekends throughout April and May. Great stuff.

It’s obvious the standard of rugby in Asia is not up there with the likes of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England, but the International Rugby Board is keen to give it a push with the IRB’s Mark Egan saying it will be the flagship of the sport in the region.
Japan’s view is slightly different. The team is coached by All Black great John Kirwan and they want to make the jump to the next level, to make the rugby world sit up and take notice. I’ve coached in Japan and seen how seriously the sport is taken by administrators.

But for mine the best thing is that the Asian Five Nations provides a platform for rugby players in the East to aspire to and play in a tournament that will man the world to them.