Tough times: Shaun Edwards
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with Shaun Edwards, Dan Carter, Scott Johnson and John Mitchell...
You can't deny it's been a particularly rough couple of months for Shaun Edwards. Overlooked for the Lions in favour of Andy Farrell, his Wales side tumbling to a dreadful November and now London Irish also falling to earth in the Premiership. Not even Sale have a worse defence.
Not all of that is Edwards' fault by any stretch of the imagination. But it's also tough to look at that all and say that Edwards is not approaching a seminal point in his career.
One of the most focussed and knowledgeable students of the game around, Edwards is a character whose intensity can be intimidating.
On the Lions tour of 2009, at a fun quiz night involving both coaching staff and journalists, Edwards spent much of his time giving one-word answers to most, palpably itching to get back to his room and continue his analysis of the opposition. Later in the evening he was seen examining bits of paper with the Gauteng side's line-out moves on them while all around were piling into the claret.
If you've seen the video of the 2009 Lions tour, you'll remember that his were the most impassioned reactions whenever fortune befell or favoured the tourists. The moment when the TMO confirmed Jaque Fourie's try in the second Test was pure theatre.
But he's also been fighting on many fronts for a while. Wales and Wasps, now Wales and London Irish... there are few other coaches who carry as heavy a workload as he. Yet after several years of success, it's suddenly not working on any of the fronts.
Defences and attacks go through cycles, defences tighten up, then attacks work them out, then defences tighten up again... it's the way the game works.
This time Edwards seems to have run out of answers. The London Irish defence is the worst in the Premiership and while Wales' is hardly catastrophic, nor is it the fine filter that leaked only three tries in the 2012 Six Nations.
The end of this season might be the time for Edwards to take some time off, freshen up and then revisit what he does. The mark of the very greatest players and coaches - think Brian O'Driscoll and Graham Henry - is the ability to re-invent oneself when circumstances demand it. This appears to be Edwards' next challenge.
Racing Metro or Toulon for a year... it's a tough life being Dan Carter. The 30-year-old has this unenviable choice as a result of the creativity of the NZRU, who opted to work with Carter's desire to coin a payday abroad rather than compete with it.
A splendid choice. But if you were he, where would you go? Take the once-off opportunity to become one of Toulon's galacticos or join a Racing Metro side boasting slightly fewer big names but slightly more of a home-grown and less thoroughly mercenary atmosphere?
Carter has made no secret of how much he enjoyed his time at Perpignan, nor have they made it any secret how much he was appreciated for his aptitude at slotting in and appreciating the local community.
Our money is on Racing to win this time...
Back to the subject of re-inventing coaches, Scott Johnson now has another stab at a national tam role, on the back of two short and bitter stabs with Wales and the USA, as well as a time at the Ospreys.
A colourful character renowned for his ability to get close to all players he comes across, Johnson's greatest critics have always pointed to his inability either to think well under pressure as a Head Coach, or to make the tough decisions and the harder calls on players known to be within his innermost circle. Even his time at the Ospreys left his detractors uncertain how able Johnson was to face the pressure as main man. 'Great skills coach, not much of a leader' has been the most common review of him.
At Scotland right now, the pressure never lets up. So we'll see if Johnson has been able to re-invent himself.
Moving onto a coach who's never been shy of adapting to circumstance and digging in, but will John Mitchell be able to steer the good ship Sale home this time?
He brought up the Force and turned around the Lions in Gauteng, but looking at Sale's desperate defeat to Wasps on Saturday, on the back of the drubbing they received at the hands of a shadow Toulon side, you have to ask whether even he is able to swing this one.
On March 30th, Edwards' Irish welcome Mitchell's Sale to the Madejski, when one of those two stories looks set to come to the end of a chapter. You won't find a shortage of passion in the dugouts that day...
But for now, let's hope they, as you and we, have some time off and enjoy the festive season! A very merry Christmas from all at PR HQ!
Loose pass compiled by Richard Anderson
Comments
kybone says...
jaycee_111- Why is this a taster of what will ahppen if England and France 'get their way'? The Welsh clubs are in dire straights now, which would suggest that a change is needed. No change would surely mean that the plight of the Welsh regions will only deepen. In my opinion the WRU sold the soul of Welsh domestic rugby when they opted in to the Celtic League. I can't believe that a proposal for the Welsh Prem and the English Prem to join together wasn't considered. They would have kept all the famous old clubs able to stayat the top level and the fan base would most probably have expanded instead of dwindling like it has.
Posted 09:23 28th December 2012
philipjfry says...
Here's the Fourie try for those of you that missed it. No Springbok fly-half has passed the ball since. Sterkte vir die Nuwejaar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po2ZHxiy3gk
Posted 21:27 26th December 2012
melkdave says...
@jaycee_111
The problem with welsh and scottish rugby isnt the HC .Its the fact that fans just dont turnout for Pro12 games,they are the bread and butter earners,the HC is supposed to be the icing on the cake,even the ERC agree on this By saying the HC is for the elite clubs ..Make the Pro12 a competative meaningfull league and fans will start attending matches ,otherwise just what is the point of having a league with no consequences for players .All its doing is dragging the clubs deeper into debt ,and closer to closing.Also a lot of welsh fans dont actually identify with their region ,but more with their local club.Part of this comes from the regions being based on old clubs ie LLanali ,Cardiff ,Swansea,and Newport,the old club riviliries still run deep in Wales so Ponty,Porthcawl,,and supporters of other old clubs just dont support the regional club at all.
Posted 03:12 26th December 2012
jontheref says...
lawynd
England has the biggest player base in the world, so why shouldn't they sell out twickers every game? Biggest player base equates to biggest ex player base.
They also have a population nearly 20 times that of Wales, so to sell another 10,000 tickets is hardly stretching themselves!
yes, the tickets are more expensive, but so is the average salary. Also, pure economics means if there is ademand, price can rise.
Posted 10:43 25th December 2012
TVaddict says...
@Dafydd29
Toulon secrete strategy might be trying to buy every player under the sun just so they will become the best team by default, but dirty? What is that even based on?
Posted 21:47 24th December 2012
Waz4before says...
@jaycee - the Celtic proposals are far worse than the Anglo-French options. If the question is simply one of money then the negotiations should move to that instead of this nonsense that somehow actually qualifying on merit is wrong or somehow bad for the HEC. I am sympathetic to the Celtic nations financial needs (ie to remain competitive they must get an unfair share of Anglo-French revenues) but the current debate offered by the celts is simply bizarre, paranoid and somewhat racist in nature ...
Posted 17:06 24th December 2012
jmehrtens says...
@Dafydd29
Funny to judge a team while you say you never watch them.
Posted 15:41 24th December 2012
lawynd says...
The life is being, or has already been, depending on how pessimistic you are, sucked from Welsh and Scottish rugby at a regional level. Even at test level, there were still tickets available at knock-down prices during the autumn series for the Millenium in the days leading up to the games, whereas England have to have a ballot for ticket allocation at the higher capacity Twickenham, even though the tickets are far more expensive. I think that says a lot, and that's without changing anything. Leaving the HEC the same as it is now is just prolonging the misery for the Welsh regions and Scottish clubs; why not try to work WITH unions that have a successful club-level model instead, and look forward, rather than acting like so many mules whilst the tide keeps rising?
Posted 14:34 24th December 2012
Dafydd29 says...
Carter with Toulon? - never! He is far too good of a player and not even remotely dirty enough to mix himself up with that lot. I never watch Toulon play - and would not start even if Carter joins them. It has to be Racing.
Posted 14:15 24th December 2012
jaycee_111 says...
A taster of what will happen if the English and French get their way with regards the Heineken Cup. There is no money outside these two nations and they will suck the life from everybody else by restricting the money coming into the other nations by cutting their guaranteed income from having Heineken Cup games every year and stealing their best players with their higher income. I am at a loss as to how anybody in England and France, outside of the people who run the clubs, can think the current Anglo French proposals are for the good of European rugby.
Posted 08:14 24th December 2012