THE HERALD REPORTS

Winning ways of a faithful coach GRAHAM SPIERS February 10 2007
WHEN Frank Hadden leads his team into battle against Wales at Murrayfield this afternoon, somewhere at the back of the Scotland coach's mind will be the same gnawing agitation which afflicts all coaches in sport: how long will he be able to hold down his position?

By almost universal consent, Hadden has restored the fortunes of Scottish rugby since he succeeded Matt Williams - a smooth talker with a nose for defeat - as national coach. The journey, though, has been an examination of the former school teacher and unsung grafter of the 1980s club game since he assumed office 19 months ago.

Nine wins in 17 matches has vindicated his appointment. Yet there were questions about Hadden then, and there remain questions today, not least: how can a coach who never knew what it was like to smell the big-occasion grass of Murrayfield or Twickenham possibly tell his players what to expect?

advertisement"If you've played top international rugby which he has not it is undoubtedly a help when you are talking to your players about what it will be like on Saturday," says Hadden. "I was involved in professional rugby for seven or eight years before I took this job, and it's definitely the case that, in my early years, I wouldn't have had enough experience to coach the national team.

"To be honest with you, when I took this job on, I didn't expect to still be here today. When I arrived Scotland had won only three of their last 17 games. I didn't think we could win nine of our last 17 matches. I was only being realistic.

"What I will say is, when the opportunity came to apply for the job when Matt Williams left, I knew I was the right man for the job: right man, right job, right time. And I'll stay here just as long as we keep making progress. If we don't, I'll be out."

The fact that Hadden brought measurable revival to Scotland's fortunes, embodied in wins over England and France last season, only just helped him to win over those who felt that, whatever he had achieved as a coach at Merchiston Castle or with various Scotland youth teams, he was not of sufficient standing for the top job.

"I don't know if there was any prejudice against me or not, but it's quite obvious that, if you are a so-called iconic figure in rugby, you'll get a longer honeymoon period to get it right,'" says Hadden.

"Someone said to me recently: D'you feel that your honeymoon period is over?' Well, actually, I wasn't aware that I ever had a honeymoon period. In my previous jobs in rugby there was always a longer-term developmental aspect to it, but not now with Scotland. This job is about winning and - almost, if not quite - nothing else.

Now I focus on our strengths and the opposition’s weaknesses


"An international rugby coach's job is dependent on so many external factors. Ultimately, a coach is dependent on the quality of his players. Eddie Jones the former Australian coach probably lost his job because Stephen Larkham wasn't available to him for a long spell. Maybe Andy Robinson ex-England coach lost his job because Jonny Wilkinson wasn't available to him.

"It's an uncompromising business. The quality of the players is the most important factor. In any inquests, injured players aren't a factor. It's about winning, nothing else, and if you don't win, the flak will fly."

Hadden, a man who could have been a professional footballer had Raith Rovers not had the temerity to offer him just £7-a-week as a starting wage, is downbeat charm personified. Yet in his early days coaching Edinburgh there was a perceived prickliness about him. As Scottish rugby, just like the nation's football, fell into one of its periodic slumps, Hadden became famously huffy over the way in which the careworn rugby writers wrote up all the gloom and doom.

"When I started coaching in professional rugby, reading the papers was one of the things that had to go," he says. "I stopped reading the rugby press because I got so frustrated over it. The comments, I felt, were not conducive to what we were trying to do in this country, which was to instil in the players a necessary confidence to believe that we could go out and beat the bigger nations. I felt that the way the game was being treated in the press was very counter-productive in terms of us being successful.

"It was almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you completely blast the players and coaches over and over again, then you'll get that outcome. So in order to get away from that, I had to remove myself from it all.

"Now, since becoming the national coach, I go through the cuttings with a fine tooth-comb every morning, but only because I have to. I've got so much media work to do now that it would be unprofessional of me not to. But I'd rather not do it, because it can make you lose focus on what you are supposed to be doing."

Before Hadden set about throwing me some well-natured personal abuse, I quoted to him the famous Dutch soccer coach, Leo Beenhakker, from last summer's World Cup. Beenhakker, in charge of humble Trinidad and Tobago before they faced England, claimed he had some "special secrets" with which to dumbfound Sven-Goran Eriksson's team.

Does Hadden, as a coach, have any "special secrets" with which to unravel opponents, starting with Wales today?

"No, I don't," he says bluntly. "Nothing about this job is mystical. It's just about believing that you can do it. On top of the coaching, it's about trying to convince the players that they can do it, despite the flak that they take almost on a daily basis. But, no, there are no special secrets.

"Put it this way: people say to me: Can Scotland win the World Cup?' Wearing my logical hat, when you look at our resources compared to everyone else's, then no, we probably can't. But what I can assure you of is that every week, when I announce my team, I genuinely expect us to win.

"I've changed my approach in one regard, based upon experiences I had when working in Australia. I used to focus on the opposition's strengths and our weaknesses. Now I focus on our strengths and their weaknesses. And when I apply this method, and I watch our opponents on tape, I always see something which makes me believe we will beat them.

"My players will be prepared to face every eventuality against Wales. There has been a massive amount of video analysis, specifically on Wales' lineout, their defensive shape and their attacking preferences. So we will be ready and I genuinely expect us to win. This isn't just psychological talk: I believe we will win."

Turning upon this reporter, Hadden guffaws at an allegedly withering piece which he claims appeared beneath my name after Scotland's 18-12 win over England last year.

"So many people showed me that piece, and even Sean Connery phoned me about it," he says. "I now refer to it repeatedly when I'm speaking in public.

"You said something like: It's only England.' Well, let me tell you, England have 150,000 adults playing rugby, and we only have 9000. They are also the rugby world champions. And their profit of £23m last year is exactly the same as the SRU's debt. So I think we had every right to be pretty chuffed with that win.

"I know you guys have your jobs to do, you have to find your own slants. But, come on, . . . beating England was pretty damn good."

This article was posted on 10-Feb-2007, 12:20 by Hugh Barrow.