How the head coach has to give bad news, and how best to do it

The best and worst time in the week for a coach is telling a player who is in or out of the team. It is a people business and we have only a certain amount of slots on the field at any one time.



I remember when I had to tell three scrum-halves they will rotate for the next three games. There is little difference between them, each offering a slightly varied style of game.

I have learned that being totally honest is the best policy and I laid it on the line to them. Okay, that was relatively easy.

With the next group of players I had to tell them that they were not in the playing squad – unless there were injuries to the main squad, they would get no game time.

Before you write in to tell me that you should never deny anyone rugby, this was a district selection, so they still had plenty of school and club action ahead of them. But these boys had all worked extremely hard to be in the squad. Everything we asked of them, they did. It was just, at this stage, there were better players.

Of course, that is in our judgment. We could have been wrong. As head coach, you take responsibility for that judgment. And, as head coach, I had to explain to the players - and more often their parents - why the decision was made. In essence, one boy is better than the other, and you (or your son) is the other.



After the 2011 World Cup, I spoke to Graham Henry about telling eight of his players they were not in the squad for the World Cup final. He said to me it was extremely tough, but he didn’t dress it up – he was honest. Not brutally honest though.

Like any good leader he reassured them of their worth, gave them the bad news and then gave them some crumbs of comfort (if he could). That’s what I did, sandwiching the bad news between the reassurance and ways forward.

TIPS ON GIVING BAD NEWS

• Be honest.
• Be clear - use short sentences.
• Give direction for the future.
• Don't promise what you may not deliver.
• Remember, no one likes bad news, so be prepared for a bad reaction.
• Also, be prepared for a delayed reaction.
• Finally, make the decision about "rugby" and not about the person.