The famous father of Russian ice hockey coaching, Anatoly Tarasov, once claimed “[Canadian star] Bobby Hull will single-handedly beat any Soviet hockey player one-on-one. But five Bobby Hulls can never beat the top five of the Soviet national team, because our masters give assists and the Hulls act every man for himself.” It is an admirable tribute to the power of teamwork, and the deeper power of selection which underpins it, in any sport.
Tarasov reputedly never picked a new player who did not have the approval of all the other members of the team. Finding the right combinations and discovering collective synergy, on and off the field, was everything. Ahead of the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia in July, the hosts and visitors now need to undertake the most arduous task in sport, in two very different forms. Selection, selection, selection.
For Australia, the issue is the replacement of head coach Joe Schmidt, who will be stepping back from the role at the end of the 2025 Rugby Championship in October. The ideal would be for the Kiwi to complete a whole four-year World Cycle up until 2027, but that will not happen with the ongoing concerns about his son’s medical care at home in New Zealand.
The angle of approach from RA high performance director Peter Horne at the announcement of Schmidt’s ‘departure’ suggested a unique situation was developing.
“We are delighted Joe will continue to coach the Wallabies beyond his current contract [until the end of the Lions series],” he said.
“After noting the positive impact Joe has made with the Wallabies playing and coaching staff, we were keen that he stay on after the Lions series.
“Joe expressed to us that he was enjoying his work with the Wallabies while also making clear his need to spend more time at home with his family.”
It was not the kind of statement you make about a man who is leaving for good, quite unequivocally. Schmidt’s own ‘farewell’ only reinforced the sense he will continue to be involved from the background: “I am very much enjoying my time with Australian rugby. The British and Irish Lions is our immediate focus but, with the Rugby Championship following so closely after the Lions series, I understand the need for continuity heading into two away Test matches against South Africa.”
I believe the longlist of names proposed – as many as 16 in some recent media speculation – will be a whole lot shorter in fact.
This is not so much waving goodbye as a strategic retreat. Conductors never appear on stage but make no mistake, it is they who are orchestrating the show. Instead of the start of a completely new era, it is far more likely Wallaby supporters will see a subtle version of continuity, with Schmidt rubber-stamping the selection of the new man, ensuring the travel and trajectory of the Wallabies remains the same, and functioning as an active consultant to him thereafter.
Tarasov never picked a new player without the approval of existing members of the team, and it will be the same for Australia in Schmidt’s step-back phase. The task for Rugby Australia is therefore a matter of finding a coach who embraces the same rugby philosophy, and who can build on the work Schmidt has already done. There is no need to start from scratch.
For that reason, I believe the longlist of names proposed – as many as 16 in some recent media speculation – will be a whole lot shorter in fact. Those who would want to remake the team completely in a new image, such as Ronan O’Gara, Michael Cheika and Dan McKellar, are far less likely candidates than those who already either have a working relationship with Schmidt, or compatible playing philosophies, or both: Les Kiss, Stuart Lancaster and Stephen Larkham.
Whether or not the head coach is Australian off the field, this is a Wallabies team which will continue to have a distinctively Australian character on it. As CEO Phil Waugh phrased it so succinctly it in December 2023:
“I genuinely believe our competitive advantage in sport is being Australian, so we need to ensure there is a really strong Australian flavour within the coaching structure. We are open-minded around whether the coach is an Australian or a foreigner, as long as the broader coaching environment is very Australian.”
Waugh received support from his old mucker Matt Toomua on The Roar Rugby podcast:
“I think my preference would be for someone who’s got a proven track record at provincial or Test [level].
“I don’t think we need to be forcing an Aussie in there if there’s better candidates.”
Aussie can fit in around the need for continuity. Amen to that.
The conundrum for Lions head coach Andy Farrell is more traditional and straightforward. It involves melding the playing products of four different nations into one within a very short coaching timeframe. ‘Faz’ will pick men he knows well around him in the coaching group, and the players selected will need to be able to fit into existing Irish patterns. If Felix Jones is appointed as Farrell’s defence coach, it would naturally pull the England players previously coached by him, and the Leinster players who run a very similar blitz system in Dublin, much closer to the final team selection.
Likewise, the success or failure of sub-units within any of the home nations teams could mean they appear on, or disappear from the tour radar en masse. The Welsh backline structure is so poor it could diminish the chances of players who may have the skills but lack the platform to express them, such as scrum-half Tomos Williams. He is currently far better showcased in the cherry and white of Gloucester than the scarlet of Wales. On the other hand, the English scrum mastered the French at Twickenham, and that set-piece success will advance the tour prospects of all the tight forwards in it.
The biggest losers after two rounds have undoubtedly been Scotland and Wales. The disintegration of the Scottish backline in the absence of Sione Tuipulotu before the tournament ever started, and after the unfortunate head clash between Finn Russell and Darcy Graham early against Ireland, have severely weakened the Lions hopes of Huw Jones at 13, Duhan van der Merwe at 11 and Blair Kinghorn at full-back.
Nobody would pick Jones ahead of either Garry Ringrose or Robbie Henshaw or even Ollie Lawrence playing as an outside centre now; or select Kinghorn ahead of Hugo Keenan, or Van der Merwe in front of James Lowe. Likewise, Andrew Porter has shot past Pierre Schoeman in the battle for the Test loosehead berth.
The only Scottish forward to do his tour chances any good at all on a bleak afternoon in Edinburgh was Zander Fagerson at tighthead prop. The one Welshman whose Lions case is burgeoning is the man who is currently hors de combat, hooker Dewi Lake. The rest of the Lions picture is turning a universal shade of green, with some broad slashes of white.
In the backs, Alex Mitchell will be debating the nine spot in the Test starting XV with Jamison Gibson-Park, Lawrence could appear at either centre spot and Henry Slade may be towed in on the tide if Jones gets the defensive gig. Tommy Freeman and a repaired Immanuel Feyi-Waboso are certainties in the back three, as is Marcus Smith as the ever-present ‘utility back’. Farrell may even take Fin Smith as his third 10, because Fin can run a Leinster-style attack as well as Sam Prendergast. He already does it at Northampton.
Up front, the success of the England scrum against Les Bleus will progress the applications for a Lions job of Will Stuart at tighthead, George Martin in the boiler house behind him and both hookers, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jamie George. Ellis Genge’s name should already be pencilled in in bold on Farrell’s depth chart. England won the penalty/free-kick battle 4-1 against a mountainous French scrum including three tight forwards on the right side weighing collectively over 430kg between them: to wit Uini Atonio, Manny Meafou and Georges-Henri Colombe.
France began by implementing their classic Top 14 formula at the first set-piece.
After ‘set’, massive 145kg tighthead Atonio works his way inside on to the England hooker Cowan-Dickie, while French rake Peato Mauvaka ‘pinches’ the Sale man from the other side. The idea is to put Cowan-Dickie under so much pressure he becomes separated from his own tighthead, Bath’s Stuart. The ‘cooked’ product could be seen 10 minutes later.
The Sharks hooker is under so much pressure he releases his bind on Stuart early, leaving the Bath man isolated. The good work is undone by France getting the nudge on too early, well before the scrum-half is ready to feed the ball. Free-kick England.
For the most part, the England tight-five had all the answers.
This is essentially the same scrum seen from two different angles. In both cases, Cowan-Dickie temporarily loses his right-arm bind with Stuart but then reconnects and that gives England an advantage. With their three-man front firmly bound and straight the odd man out is suddenly Atonio, angling in but now static and a sitting duck for Ellis Genge.
The suspicion England were finding the answers to the technical problems France had set was confirmed by a scrum later in the first period.
Cowan-Dickie has forced himself past the ‘pinch’ and it is Les Bleus front-row which crumbles in the middle. One of the issues facing France with the away match against table-toppers Ireland hoving in to view in round four is the performance of reserve tighthead Colombe. He has Atonio’s size but the resemblance ends there.
As soon as Colombe turns in, Fin Baxter and Jamie George barrel straight through him. Porter is scarcely likely to be any gentler with Colombe on 8 March.
Rugby Australia and the Lions have some huge selection calls to make over the next couple of months. Australia need to find a new head coach, but one who will be able to work with Schmidt in the background, continue his good work and provide a ready link to his rugby philosophy.
Farrell meanwhile, needs the right men to fit the patterns ingrained in Ireland, among the other three home nations. Both have to discover the coaching and playing linkages the ‘father of Russian hockey’ knew so well:
A player’s individual technique must belong to his line-mates, to the line. This puck on the blade of your stick is not ‘yours’ at all. Yes, in this moment it seems to belong just to you. But you are not its master, it is not you who controls it. Yes indeed! So it should be in our hockey, where the principle of collective play is elevated to the status of law. If a player considers the puck to be ‘his’, he may not part with it for too long, slowing down the development of the attack.
Amen to that.
