Another interesting article from the Times:
The notion of renewal had to be at the core of what John Mitchell did when he took over as defence coach with England. Someone who has been praised and pilloried for being “full-on” in the past, getting plus points for his detail but black marks for off-field interactions, he had plenty to address in a short stint.
In last year’s Six Nations, England were whistled off the park by referees for infringing at the breakdown. In June last year at Ellis Park, when South Africa won 42-39, England’s missed-tackle numbers were within an acceptable range, but they still conceded 12 penalties to South Africa’s five, and leaked five tries. By this year’s Six Nations, Tom Curry, the flanker, was winning five turnovers but had eight penalties against his name.
When he started with England in September last year, Mitchell said that he would work on Curry’s patience, teaching him to pick his battles as a blind-side flanker. At this World Cup the 21-year-old has hit the pitch running, with the Sale Shark now up to five turnovers, while — up until the semi-final win against New Zealand — he had not been penalised once.
This kind of tweak, some say, is classic “Mitch”.
“I think he’s the best technical and most knowledgeable coach I’ve had,” says the former Wallaby open-side Matt Hodgson, who was with Mitchell, 55, at Western Force in Australia. “He’s very intense but knows his stuff. As a player I definitely grew my capabilities and my performance [under him] and I was able to learn new parts of the game which I didn’t even think about. The way he thought was so specific for the individual and what position they were playing.
“He was one of the first coaches who introduced the attacking of space. Rather than saying, ‘Here is your first three phases and you’re going to do this’, you had multiple variations of each. So he had identified space at the end of the line, space behind the line or space in the air. He improved me from an attacking point of view.
“And then he’d work with you specifically on all the actual running lines. Running as a rower, running arcs into breakdowns and overtracking it — taking shortcuts, to be there one or two steps earlier.
“Quite often you think, ‘Oh, if I’m already one step ahead of where I would be with my normal line, it doesn’t make a difference.’ But then if you add that up to the multiple rucks you hit in the game, and the timing that it gives you, it could be the difference between a turnover and not.”
Hodgson, who won 11 Australia caps, has also worked with Eddie Jones and lauds him for having the guts to pull in an ambitious coach who is used to running the show himself.
However, it is worth remembering that things would eventually fall apart for Mitchell in Perth.
After a hard-nosed playing career, during which the back-row forward represented the All Blacks six times — none of them Tests — he went on to coach his country to a World Cup semi-final in 2003. He was asked to reapply for his position after that tournament. He also worked as an assistant coach in Sir Clive Woodward’s early days with England, then going on to work with Sale Sharks. He held the reins at Western Force, Lions and Bulls in Super Rugby, and has been the United States head coach.
Yet his all-out approach to socialising in the earlier years drew some ire, while two club stints — in Perth and in Johannesburg with the Lions — ended with the coach being investigated for his allegedly brutal management style after player complaints. He has moved regularly.
Mitchell said at the time of his approach to handling players: “I have always had an honest and open relationship with the players and nothing will change. Having said that, as a head coach you have always got to look to evolve, and I am always looking to evolve.”
Even with more than a decade of coaching experience under his belt, Mitchell was talking about adapting. It is something he would discuss with others.
The former US captain Todd Clever has spent plenty of time with Mitchell. “The first time I met him was in South Africa because I was playing for the Lions but I’d just signed with Eddie Jones [and Suntory Sungoliath] in Japan,” he said. “We got to know each other on a personal level, spending time together, going to dinners and talking rugby and philosophy.”
Clever says that Mitchell is more complex than the average former athlete. He has heard the tales of player fallouts but is not a fan of hearsay and believes that Mitchell has “definitely worked on himself” after some tough times and that “he’s a self-improving man and I look up to that sort of stuff.”
The American gives some context, talking of how Mitchell approached him as the US tried to move on from a 2015 World Cup that the back-rower played no part in, due to a falling out.
“He gave me a call,” Clever said. “He’d just been offered the job of US coach and offered me my spot back in the team. He said, ‘What are your thoughts?’ He gave me the floor and heard me out. I said I didn’t want to be captain, nor have a leadership role. All I wanted was an opportunity to represent the American team. He said, ‘OK’.
“So I joined the squad and less than a week later he sat me down. He said, ‘You’re our captain.’ He’s like, ‘The guys respond to you. They respect you. I respect you.’
“So he and I have a lot of respect for each other. He showed it to me quite a bit, especially coming off a very hard time for myself. I have a special place in my heart for him.”
At this World Cup, heavy-hitting Courtney Lawes has said of Mitchell: “We love him.” The coach has empowered Sam Underhill, who rocked the All Blacks like a Japanese bullet train in the semi-final. Maro Itoje has an incredible ten turnovers to his name, alongside Curry’s five.
The Springboks have taken notice. Yesterday, their forwards coach Matt Proudfoot praised England’s coaches, before saying: “I think Mitch has added a lot of detail, particularly around what they do around the tackle. I think they’ve just become more efficient with what they do. If you look at what we would term the ‘efficiency of execution’, it’s up there.”
The burnt bridges of the past must still smoulder in Mitchell’s mind, which is why when asked about his future, he has said of any big decision: “I know this game too well to be too hasty.”
However, there is refuge in the details, and this England defence must revisit them if they are to repeat the savagery of their win against New Zealand and lift the Webb Ellis Cup.
England’s backroom staff
John Mitchell Defence coach
Coached New Zealand to the 2003 World Cup semi-final before long, winding route to England job last year via South Africa and the US.
Scott Wisemantel Attack coach
Creative Australian, recruited by Eddie Jones for the 2018 tour to South Africa, where he impressed.
Steve Borthwick Forwards coach
The ex-England captain was Jones’s assistant with Japan. A lineout guru.
Neal Hatley Scrum coach
An England Saxon as a player, he was pinched from Bath in 2016.
Always a Wasp
Topic: Rugby World Cup: How John Mitchell left wild days behind to become one of world’ (Read 1322 times)