ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Vol. 41 - No 37
Sports

Getting the right coach

By Vimal Perera

What a performance it was for Johnny Wilkinson as England beat Scotland 42 to 20. From being a defeated side England marched to victory with the return of Wilkinson. W on any good day is an advantage as he put points on the board. To the English fan thisvictory is a welcome sign after a dreadful two years. Does this mean that England is back in contention as a top playing nation in the six nation series? It will be the next couple of matches with Wales, Ireland and France that will measure the real strength of the English team as they get closer and close to the next Rugby World cup. There is so much written on the return of Wilkinson to the scene and his influence on the win after a drought of two years. The question however asked is with the injury prone history what will England be with out Johnny Wilkinson.

Johnny Wilkinson

What the team had with the return of Wilkinson is the return of confidence and the freedom for these around him to play their own game. While all praise is centered on Wilkinson one cannot forget the good work done by the forwards in getting good ball to the backs to give them the freedom to run their own game. It was a team game that made the final victory possible. Has England come back to those “good old days”? Time will answer the question as they take on the others in the six nation series. Team building and team management is an art that is now part and parcel of the game. Former English coach, Robinson, is often criticized for slotting in players to positions and not concentrating on the specialist. Ashton after the win against Scotland is considered to have got the good players together, to perform better. After all did not Robinson too have most of these fine players performing a lot less than they should? It is the change of attitude and inspiration that has made team to perform.

The Sri Lankan team too needs to combine the little extra that is needed that will make the stars perform in the encounters that are ahead of them. This includes the Hong Kong Sevens to which Sri Lanka is expecting to be invited. On the 15 a side there is the matches to be played against Kazakhstan and the Arabian Gulf. The pep up of the mental attitude and boosting the confidence of players will give the courage to perform. Those who are capable of inspiring others while on the field need to perform if the rest of the team is to give their best. Have we a Wilkinson in hiding. We see a number of them imitating his kicking style. Possibly not stopping to think as to what makes that clenching of the hands makes you kick better. I suppose it is the start and the end.

If we do not tackle this at all levels of the game whether it is National, Club or School the game will be at almost at a standstill.

The attitude will be to look at somebody else to share the blame. Invariably it will be the referee. It is not that referees are perfect. They too make mistakes. It did happen in the Scotland vs. England game too. A good game analysis will be of greater advantage as coaches build their teams. At least the number of times you have conceded penalties or given away possession by faulty handing will be useful. A good count to help will be the number of scrums that is given to the other side. The result of scrums is mostly due to mistakes in the handling skills.

The absence of the availability of skill to handle the game at the top levels is evident at all levels of the game. A good example will be to short list the talent of coach availability to handle the Sevens squad as well as the Fifteens at the national stage. How many of those in the field at present can fit into the slot of taking the national squad even temporarily till an expatriate coach is in place. Ten to fifteen years of development work and can we boast of having at least a handful to take up the challenge. Can we see somebody now in the coaching scene at the top level that can fit into take the National side? The need might be to recognize the best of the past that have potential to coach and have them undergo a process of education to make them suitable for the future. Coaching today is a very demanding job and requires a number of skills beside the knowledge of the game.

 
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Copyright 2007 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.Colombo. Sri Lanka.