The pressure on Darren Coleman over the last few months was both foreseeable and unsurprising.
Much has been written about Coleman not having enough time, about Australian Rugby not learning. Only half is on the mark.
The truth is that Coleman is set up to fail in a role where learning on the job doesn’t cut it.
There was a gaping hole in his CV, where head coaching in a fully professional, elite level competition should have been.
Remarkably, the same can be said about every current head coach of Australian Super Rugby sides, except Les Kiss. Surprise, surprise.
Don’t get me wrong, what Coleman achieved at Shute Shield level with Gordon and the Warringah Rats was arguably unparalleled. But it was in an amateur competition.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 03: Darren Coleman head coach of the Waratahs looks on ahead of the round 15 Super Rugby Pacific match between NSW Waratahs and Moana Pasifika at Allianz Stadium on June 03, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Coleman’s Shute Shield experience was bookended by a player coach role at semi-professional Italian side Benevento and leading the LA Giltinis in US Major League Rugby.
Many of us wanted to see Coleman rewarded for his Shute Shield commitment just like many of us thought Mick Heenan deserved a crack at the Reds.
The harsh reality is that Super Rugby, while perhaps not what it used to be, is a serious provincial competition. There is no room for sentimentality.
Things have also been very uncomfortable for Simon Cron. And you have to feel for him too.
After the Force slumped to four losses from as many games, Cron was forced to admit that his players reverted to “club rugby heroics” at times… in “some of worst rugby I’ve ever seen.”
Could it be that players reverted to “club rugby heroics” because they are being coached by a club rugby coach? That is not meant to be cruel, Cron is the definition of the ‘Man in the Arena.’ He’s toiling, he’s getting up off the canvas again and again.
But was Cron really ready? Did a CV that was almost exclusively domestic with the exception of 3 seasons in Japan, prepare Cron for a job with the Force coaching perhaps the weakest squad in the competition?
The same questions come up with Kevin Foote’s appointment at the Rebels.
Foote is a Cape Town Rugby playing legend and admittedly spent eight seasons playing Sevens for South Africa as well as time as an assistant under Dave Wessels, a coach with a near identical background.
But again, Foote, like Wessels had next to no experience coaching in an elite competition and it should not be shocking that the results are the same.
Playing rugby doesn’t automatically qualify you to coach it. Even the greats find that out, just ask Martin Johnson, Brad Thorn and Stephen Larkham.
(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Larkham had a hugely disappointing stint as attack coach at Munster. When Larkham left, Gavin Cummiskey of the Irish Times commented that “Stephen Larkham the player and Stephen Larkham the coach are two completely different entities, if Larkham was of the same coaching standard as Andy Friend we would have heard or seen it by now as an attack coach. We just simply haven’t. Now he’s off.”
Off the back of Munster, off that kind of criticism, Larkham was handed the keys to one of Australia’s prestige marques. Should that really have happened?
None of this is to say that Larkham or Thorn, Coleman or Heenan, Wessels or Foote, can’t be immensely successful coaches.
But they can’t be set up for failure.
The QRU appears to have recognised this, hiring a head coach who has not only served an apprenticeship but become a master at the highest level of Irish and English Rugby.
Queensland Reds head coach Les Kiss . (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Les Kiss told the Sydney Morning Herald this year: “My journey, you always felt like you had to earn your stripes, as a leaguie. Coming into union, I was very diligent. I researched the game and I became a student of the game. I was patient and I knew I had, not so much to learn, but I knew I had to gain the experiences I needed.”
One look at the CV of Kiss reveals a wealth of experience at both international and provincial level, in attack and defence. Work placements under both Declan Kidney and Joe Schmidt. Springbok defence consultant alongside a very young assistant coach, Jake White. His time spent overseas was neither fleeting or unsuccessful.
That was all after he left these shores 15 years ago following six years as Waratahs assistant under blokes called Dwyer and McKenzie too.
Who would have thought it?
Hughi
Roar Rookie
That is a very fair comment. There is a lot to think about in this article and that is the point. The RA need to think about what is in place and if it works, what needs changing and what they need to add to get Australia back on track. I remember thirty years of watching state and international rugby and enjoying it as we more often than not were in with a chance. It is different now and with the professional side of it, it requires more than what happened last year. What seems to be going on now has the smell of deliberate well-thought-out decision-making. This needs to continue and more than that they need to admit it if they get it wrong and rectify it. This won’t happen overnight and RA could do a good job in getting that message across. Queensland lost last weekend, and I haven’t watched the match, my first thought is they need to front up week after week and be consistent. But it will take time and coaches will take time is RA on top of that? We can be right back up there given good decisions and building the good well-thought-out structure the game in Australia needs, so players get support from coaches who get support all the way through. RA could look at the centralisation problem that keeps coming up and those states who don’t trust RA, RA could ask the states what do we do to fix that? A lot to think about
NotKev
Roar Rookie
Great info thanks WE :)
NotKev
Roar Rookie
I train kids with an aussie and Saffa and the Aussie always wants to ask are we alwasy angry lol :) interesting comments thank you :)
Ben Forsyth
Roar Rookie
Cron 40 d Kiss 31
crumbfingers
Roar Rookie
It's a fair point to make but I also think harsh on the coaches when the Australian talent is more likely the real issue. Scott Robertson and Clayton McMillan both only coached at NPC level prior to super rugby. Leon Macdonald only two years as an assistant prior to coaching the Blues. I don't know the intricacies of the coaching development in NZ or AUS but I'm guessing they're much better supported in NZ than AUS. I do find it interesting that we often want coaches and players to go to Europe "get better" then come back to Aus. NZ doesn't seem to have the same issues being good despite not having widespread European exposure. Guess they already have a lot of IP. Anyway, maybe we should be trying to send more coaches/players to NPC if our don't gain enough from Shute shield/Bris prem
Passit2me
Roar Rookie
It’s surely of no surprise. Top coaches demand top $, and can get it overseas. Why come over here for less money and more work, trying to turn half baked rugby players into competitive professional players. The abandonment of our own coaching development program is what set us up to fail. Presumably, the powers at be thought stuff that, we’ll cut the program, save some money, and just import our top coaches. Leaving us with diddly squat….
Big Dave
Roar Rookie
Highlanders weren't a terrible team that year either...
El Gamba
Roar Guru
Yes agree, and each level of the pathway should have their own strategy which feeds into the overall strategy best serving Australian rugby. Supported by RA. Hypothetical at this point sure, I reckon I could get AI to make me an overall strategy in half an hour with the right inputs. It may take a while to work out those inputs, but AI can help there too. Or PK, we can trust in RA.
MalBreakaway
Roar Rookie
Larkham sounds like an intelligent coach. Always interesting to hear his analysis- so different to Jones. The Brumbies tonight against Moana Pacifica looked very well coached. Kiss also seems to be having a great impact. CV’s ultimately are just an introduction. And in the case of Eddie Jones a deception.
ajhreds
Rugby should first be about good Rugby players. I've excellent athletes that don't transform into great Rugby players. To say they do disrespects the code. Also a lot of athletes don't have goid decision making from having developed as good Rugby players.
jeznez
Roar Guru
I look at Zen Cheika running the Argies and he's barely recognisable from the guy raging in the booth for the Tahs or Aussies. I think his time with the Pumas has improved him but gee he frustrated me with the way he ran the Wallabies. He did have a hell of a Waratahs squad: Fat Cat TPN Keps Skelton Dennis Jacque-Pot Hoops Cliffy Phipps Foley Matt Carraro Horne Two-Dads Naiyaravoro Folau Latu Paddy Ryan Mitch Chapman Hoiles Brendan McKibbin Lance Betham Only Carraro, Chapman and McKibbin hadn't played test footy (or wouldn't shortly). Admittedly Ryan for USA a step below the rest of the Wallabies and Bok) That side shouldn't have gone from 17-20 down 17-35 off the back of one penalty try/yellow card with 23 minutes to go.
Hugh_96
Roar Pro
Yep, don’t seem to have seen anything from Whits. His brother Tom doing well coaching surfers on WSL WCT
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Cheika is another Jones. Short sugar hit and then steady decline. It’s been the same everywhere he’s gone. He’s uncouth and out of control in the box and an embarrassment bagging refs post match. We need less shouting and more talking And I’m done with Randwick figures in critical positions in the game. 100% sure Hoiles will be groomed to replace him.
Big Dave
Roar Rookie
I'd keep DC if it were up to me. But you're talking about cheika from 9 years ago, been a lot of water under the bridge, getting the experience that would benefit so much now. And even 9 years ago he had them 2nd/3rd, what would we give for that these days? I remember that highlanders game. It turned on a penalty try against Potgeiter for a high tackle on a guy who was 6 inches off the ground diving for a try... Score was 20-17 at the time but that turned it. Not the runaway highlanders win the scoreline makes it seem to be.
Cec
Roar Rookie
I don’t think any head coach should go into a provincial comp without a solid team around them. Any coach would want a Lordy type guy in their corner. Just remember that Bernie didn’t have Lordy in his team for the last three years as head coach in his first stint (2015-2017). But this year it’s Bernie’s own team picked rather than inherited so let’s see how that goes. I think the answer for Bernie is 6yrs as head coach at Brums with 6 finals, with a couple semis in there. Bernie has been the most successful SRAU coach in these 6 years bar 2014(Chieka), which was the year White quit and Bernie and Lordy were joint head coaches.
Footy Franks
Roar Rookie
Produce some facts. Facts doesn’t equal arrogance. Shute shield coaches have produced 2 rwcup winners, 3 finalists and a semi finalist . QLD zilch
W Evans
Roar Rookie
Hey Ulrich - thanks for a great comment. I think there are always exceptions. For example, Scott Robertson benefited from a very strong transfer of IP with the Crusaders after Deans as well as a strong roster. Ronan O’Gara also took to coaching like a duck to water with La Rochelle. But those are exceptions to the rule and there will be fewer as the game evolves. Personally, I’d like to see Aussie rugby develop a structure where the best school boy coaches and club rugby coaches are brought into be mentored by a David Nucifora, carry the water at Wallaby training then move into professional youth development. From there, the best candidates receive sponsorships to apply for roles in South Africa or England or Ireland etc. and earn their stripes before returning to Australia. The whole process is not a 15 week or 15 month process. It is more like 15 years - looking at CVs like Kiss, Schmidt etc only reinforces that.
W Evans
Roar Rookie
Hi Cec - it’s a fair point. To be clear, I do think Larkham will one day be a very good coach but I think the position at the Brumbies, one of the top 3 provincial positions in Australia came too early for him. Was he really deserving? He’s had the benefit of both Fisher and McKellar steering him around until now. When he didn’t, he really struggled at Munster. I’d have liked to have seen him spend time as a head coach in another environment and competition.
W Evans
Roar Rookie
Hi Frankly What I would like to see is a systemic change in how Australian Rugby develops coaches. For example, 10 years ago Heenan and Coleman should have been identified for sponsorship to make them more attractive candidates for NH positions. Now, young Jason Gilmore should be the first on a plane to the NH to learn his trade before being anointed. Same could be said for Nathan Gray and a few others. What id like to see is coaches coming through school to club rugby, being identified to coach u20s etc, spending time with the likes of Nucifora, taking assistant super rugby positions then spending 5 years in the NH. At that time they come back, the successful ones compete for super rugby positions or wallaby assistant positions. Wouldn’t it be great to see McKellar and Friend return in 2-3 years and go head to head with Kiss for the Wallsby job, strictly on merit?
jeznez
Roar Guru
I see a lot of the same issues persisting from when Whits was running the attack and from before DC joining. The main one, players not being in position to clean our attacking rucks. Maybe the pair of them suffer from the same issue!