Stuart Lancaster reveals unorthodox coaching tactic he used at Racing 92 to deal with ‘coasting’ players
Lancaster reveals unorthodox respect rankings to motivate underperforming stars
Stuart Lancaster has revealed a rather unconventional motivational technique that he applied at Racing 92 to help deal with players who had lost the desire to improve.
Speaking to former London-based rugby player Ross Neal, Lancaster explained how he used peer reviews to help make his case when his team were coasting through the season.
Racing 92 players were stuck in a rut
“There were a group of players on good money turning up, checking in, checking out, happy if they’re playing, happy if they’re not playing, Lancaster said.
“They weren’t disruptive, and they weren’t bad people. They just didn’t have that desire to want to be the best they can be. I got so frustrated.”
“In the end, we lost against Stade Français, so I said, ‘I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna line you up in contractual order, highest paid player to lowest paid player and stand you in line. Then the next thing we do, we’re gonna vote who’s the most respected player, and we’ll stand you in the most respected player to the least respected player.’
“In my mind, the guys who were on the highest contracts should be the most respected.”
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“I didn’t land on contractual order, but I did do the respect ranking. I asked them to rate each other technically, tactically, physically and mentally out of 10 for each player in the squad. And so obviously every player ultimately got feedback from 44 players, and you got an average score. Gael Fickou, number one, Owen Farrell, number two, all the way down to 44.
“Mentally, which is about resilience, leadership, and all that, that was the one I was really interested in. Some of the youngest players were ranked in the top 10, and some of the most senior players were ranked in the bottom 10.
“What I didn’t do was then stand them in a line and say this, but what I did do was meet every player, one to one, and say, ‘you’re in the top third, you’re in the middle third, you’re in the bottom third’.
“I didn’t publish it. It landed because there were certain players who believed they were senior players, believed they were leaders, believed that they had the right mindset.
“As much as I told them 10 times, ‘there’s more in you’, it took the 360 degree feedback from their teammates to realise, ‘oh, Stuart thinks it. Everyone thinks it. I need to up my game here.”