THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS


Telfer insists pressure of national job has been blown out of all proportion



Former Scotland coach Jim Telfer



Published Date: 28 February 2009
HEART-pumping pressure drives sporting contests. But while that building around Murrayfield Stadium this afternoon might feel so all-encompassing it is suffocating for national rugby coaches, and one experienced figure who has walked the path before believes it is over-hyped.
Jim Telfer will not be at Murrayfield today as his mind is focused on his Melrose Wasps under-18 team in an East of Scotland Cup match with Tynedale, which kicks off at the same time as Scotland launch into their third RBS Six Nations Championship clash with Italy. The country's main focus is clearly on the latter.

Neither Frank Hadden, the home coach, nor the man in the visiting dressing-room today, Nick Mallett, are having an easy time of it lately, as both strive to keep their heads focused and out of the public maelstrom. Injuries, tactics, selections, horrendous errors and some debatable refereeing have contrived to leave them both winless and fighting to retain belief in the promise shown in the recent autumn Tests. There have been calls in both countries for them to be sacked if results do not improve, and they know that such criticism will only intensify for one around 4.30pm today.

Telfer is a good barometer of the demands of coaches, having been an international coach with Scotland and the British and Irish Lions in great times and some of the worst. Yet, as we discuss the difficulties in Hadden's tenure, where he sits now and what the future might hold, Telfer scoffs at the notion that it is much harder for Test coaches now than it was in the amateur era.

"There has always been pressure on coaches; at least international coaches who are always in the public eye," he said. "Even when it was amateur that was the case.

"I don't think you can get more under pressure than you are normally as an international coach, just because it is Italy. Frank will be under the impression that everybody expects Scotland to win, and I think we should win and that expectation does bring a pressure, but it shouldn't be any different to the pressure that comes with Test rugby – it is all about winning.

"It is just that it seems there is more pressure now I think. It is the way sport is, and it's the way the world is now, everything is black or white. There is far more emotion when people win a golf tournament than there used to be; when someone scores a try everyone is running to the scorer and jumping up and down, as if it's far more important now.

"It's almost a case of showing off, I feel – 'That's another £1,000 in the bank, maybe £1million for some sportsmen' – because I've scored or won a tournament. People are far more expressive now, in victory and defeat; whereas you used to hold back your emotions in the past. They all want adulation now. I watch it and wonder if they believe they are more important than players of the past, which can bug me, but it's just life. Most things we do in sport comes from America; the huddles, circles on a pitch. When my under-18s go in a circle I don't know what to say to them. They come together five or six times during a session and bind their arms together; all that stuff, but that doesn't make a difference to how they play in my opinion.

"But that doesn't mean the players are not dedicated. Obviously, the game has developed tremendously, due to players and innovative coaches and the players are just as dedicated; they just live in a different world where hyperbole is just taken for granted.

"Everything is exaggerated now in sport; it's the same in life. In politics, if someone claims a taxi fare for £40 when it was £31 it's as if the world has fallen apart. The tabloid press are responsible for a lot of that, and sometimes I look at that and it's all sensationalism; headlines; eye-catching, and it's all to do with selling papers. Or it's all 'instant', like Sky News, to get people to watch them. It's all about money and power at the end of the day and that's what sickens me."

Few good discussions with Telfer do not reveal his political bent and railing against the excesses of capitalism, but in spite of his dislike for the path being taken by sporting media he is more beholden to it than anyone. He positively eats up rugby coverage in local and national newspapers, magazines and virtually all rugby programmes on the television and radio.

There is little he misses in the current game and it was no surprise that Ian McGeechan has turned to him to help advise on Lions selection this year while this week he was in his element at an HSBC debate at Edinburgh Castle, sparring with former Lions team-mate Gareth Edwards and Gavin Hastings.

That has brought closer scrutiny of the Scotland players and perhaps a more acute awareness of the trials faced by Hadden to get the most out of the current talent.

"It is tough for Frank right now because we expect Scotland, with the talent that has been coming through in recent years, to be winning more games than we have," he said. "To be fair, I don't know enough about Frank's coaching methods, or how the players are responding, to know where the problems might be.

"I have a lot of time for Frank. The positives with him are that he knows the game inside out and has a clear philosophy about how he wants to play. I think he's become a bit more pragmatic in recent years, having used to be very 'wide-wide' in his style of rugby, but, ironically, now I worry he's maybe a bit too narrow. He's a good communicator, but I honestly don't know how inspirational he is. I took him to Australia ten years ago for skills sessions and I was impressed by his knowledge and work ethic. He doesn't have my sense of humour and I think he seems a bit thin-skinned with criticism in the media, but he is a lot more intellectual than me.

"I use more 'agricultural' language and have more rough edges. Frank likes his stats but I'd put them on the back-burner if I was him. I've seen stats of teams that have scored lots of tries which have been pretty bad, but they have flair players so they try things – some come off, some don't.

"It is not an easy task, coaching Scotland, but it is one that many, many coaches would love a crack at, and the thing at the moment is that it bugs us that we can't get consistent results and wins over Italy. Every other team has a hard time against Italy but doesn't imagine they'll get beaten. It's like an SPL team taking on a First Division side and nine times out of ten the SPL team will win. The last time I was involved against Italy was

in 2002. We went there and Brendan Laney scored two great tries and they were killed off dead. It was like Ireland, who worked away at their game, let Italy make mistakes, knew they had more class; they didn't get into a dogfight, didn't upset the referee and came away with a 38-point victory. They simply took their chances and we will get chances too.

"I'm not saying Italy should not win, but I wish we could get the monkey off our back."

One senses that he is just as keen to ensure his Melrose youngsters win today, however, the focus being on the intricacies of specific games, the tactics and nuances of different defences, than the hype that surrounds this weekend's Six Nations. He has sympathy for the current coach after just two wins in the last 12 Six Nations Tests, but, having sacked Richie Dixon and David Johnston after the 1998 defeat to Italy, believes that Hadden must be responsible for whether or not the team can discover new consistency.

Telfer insisted he does not miss being involved at the cutting edge, after spending 40 years in the senior game, but at 68, he still has much to give and is a bit surprised that few others agree.

"I don't miss being a coach with a top team," he said, "but I do miss talking to people at the top level of the game about rugby. There is a feeling when you retire that you're dead from the neck up, which is clearly untrue.

"I went to New Zealand and ran a fortnight's course and nobody from the SRU bothered speaking to me about it. It's like I'm the old regime, and never speak to them, and yet there is a lack of real rugby knowledge at the top at Murrayfield right now.

"To be fair to the Scottish set-up, there are good men in place there. Frank has brought coaches in to help him, Gregor Townsend, Graham Steadman and Mike Brewer, and they've not had much chance yet to show their spurs, but they're good blokes and I believe will make a difference.

"But results matter, and you don't get as many chances at international level to get it right. Frank's now reaching the stage four years in where the rugby public would expect more consistency from his team and he knows that.

"He will be hoping he can trust the team this weekend to go out and play the way he knows they can, because while he has ultimate responsibility the life of a coach ultimately depends on what the players under you are capable of, and what they actually achieve.

"I've disagreed with some of the selections made in this championship, but I think we've got as good a team on paper as we could have at this stage. They have to stand up. There are some very near their sell-by date and running out of opportunities to prove they deserve to be considered as good as players that have worn the jersey before them.

"Many of them can talk a good game, but as a coach all you want is for them to play a good game. That goes for my youngsters, and for Scotland."

This article was posted on 28-Feb-2009, 08:34 by Hugh Barrow.