Season’s greetings to all. And I wish you all good fortune for 2018

It’s the theme of good fortune I want to focus on. A couple of weeks ago, I watched an extraordinary Champions Cup game between Northampton Saints and the Ospreys. It ended in a 32-43 victory for the visiting side from Wales.

Both teams were in a run of very poor form. The press and supporters were baying for coaching blood.

The Ospreys are my local team, and I’ve coached a couple of the players as they’ve come through the age-group ranks. These are hard-working players, along with a dedicated staff. You can sense the desperation for both sides to piece together enough good play to win games.

Sometimes the harder you work to win, the more elusive that win can be. It’s sometimes do with flow, which is more to do with the mind than the body. When you are confident, you are in the zone and relaxed. This wasn’t where the Ospreys or Saints were when they entered that cup game.

The Saints then had the misfortune to lose their starting fly half and then their back up fly half in the first twenty minutes. In the meantime, the Ospreys started to find their rhythm. They raced away to a big lead before the Saints managed a late burst.



While we can say it’s only a game, the coaches’ livelihoods, and indeed their players’ contracts, can be defined by a good cup run. The pain was etched on the faces of the Saints staff as they contemplated their misfortune.

On the Monday, Saints head coach, Jim Mallinder, was sacked. Rugby doesn’t tend to have a culture of hire-and-fire that pervades football. Yet, poor results can be fatal in the long run. The scariest thing for the coach is that it’s sometimes completely out of their control.

In this season of goodwill, you might say, let everyone keep their jobs. But, there are also plenty of ambitious coaches itching for the chance to take on one of these big jobs. Like in any good organisation, there’s a time to renew and refresh the leadership.

However, being head coach is not all that’s cracked up to be I think. It can all come down to the bounce of the ball or a bang on the head. No matter how hard you work, you cannot mitigate for injuries, the weather or a referee’s mistake.

That all sounds like a pretty dire state of affairs for a game we are supposed to love. Thankfully, many of us who coach have another job. That means we can put misfortune into a different context and look forward to next week.

So, I wish you the good fortune of players and clubs who appreciate your efforts and families that understand the enormous gift you give to others when you are not spending time with them.