Which young coaches will be the successful and respected international coaches of the future..?

Who do you see as the future greats of the coaching and management world in international rugby...?


Over the last few years many nations have seen that concentrating efforts and finances on training good coaches is almost as important as investing in young players.

Who do you see as the future???

The first three people I thought of:

Anthony Foley - Munster

Steve Tandy - Ospreys

Craig Chalmers - Melrose

Connor O'Shea will make a very good national coach, I just hope it's for us (England) rather then Ireland.

I'd like to see him offered a temp role with the Saxons in a season or two just to see how he gets on working within the RFU environment. After that it'll probably be post 2015 before the chair shuffling starts again.

Another two i've just thought of are Gary Gold of Bath and Dean Richards of Newcastle, both have a lot of potential and are currently looking to rebuild struggling teams which should stand them in good stead for what ever nation they get a role with.

Richard Cockerill from Leicester could be a dark horse as well depending upon how Tigers keep going.

From a NH perspective:

Joe Schmidt

Bryan Redpath

Rob Baxter

Dai Young?

Nigel Davies?

And Connor O'Shea

I would tend to ask the question what makes a great coach.

What should the path be for a young coach to gain maximum value out of his experiences?

When does a coach have enough experience?

There should be a natural progression for a coach during his rise to the top, and does it help coaches to gain experience outside his country to experience different methodologies in say NZ, SA, France etc?

Mike Rayer, Conor O'Shea, Joe Schmidt are the three I'm most impressed with.

Apparently Steven Jones is going to be a valuable current player turning coach

I dunno about Cockerill, hes a great club manager but how much of the coaching side of things is him is debatable, and whilst Tigers have done OK in the league under him theyve struggled in the HEC. I like him as a leader, but as an international coach Im really not sure, especially given how much Johhno use to get slaughtered for trying to impose a "Tigers culture" on the team (right up till the point he got slaughtered for going soft on them...). I think hed struggle with the media relations side of things for a job like the England one, he has a touch of Gatlands "over honesty" and desire to wind people up. Give him a few years yet.

What about the evil Dr Venter? Is he a colour neutral horse for the SA seat in years to come? As much of a dick as he was he did have a stroke of genius about him and is clearly a real thinker of the game. Big sticking point for him going to a non SA nation would be he doesnt like being away from home of course. Im going to stick him out there as a wild card in the spirit of AWOPs " I told you so" thread

Dean Richards has a lot to do to rebuild his reputation and work his way back intio the game. He is still young enough though, but bloodgate will be a huge sticking point for him being offered the England job.
Id like to see Key and Back get their partnership back together in a Jeff club, honestly the two of them really have potential working together. Key is a very good administrator and tactician, back a fantastic out and out coach. Ridiculous fantasy prediction ....Them plus Richards as England combo post 2019 if we are still insisting on not getting Sanzar coaches in.

I think a big part of being a top coach is trusting the players to do a job and not being too prescriptive. For a lot of the younger guys who have turned to coaching they will have an initial period of thinking this is their chance to show that they were right all along and their coaches should have listened to them more.
Those who will be most successful will be the ones who can quickly park their egos and look at the bigger picture.
Of the current/recent players who I think will make great coaches if they decide to go down that road.
Girvan Dempsey
Anthony Foley (might be tougher to keep a lid on the ego)
Shane Horgan (Think he's gonna be a physio however?)
Johnny Wilkinson
Jason Robinson
Stephen Jones
Ryan Jones
Chris Paterson
Dan Parks

Venter is a good shout. Did a great job in the uk with Sarries.

I'm also entrigued to see how Easterby and his new administration get on this year.

Bernard Jackman, all those years of not getting picked will have made him a good coach, i think he coaches Micheals fowards now

Yappy...isnt Deano already proven....

If he can turn us round and make us a force in the Prem..then he will be working at rebuilding his reputation mind...

Dean Richards has a lot to do to rebuild his reputation and work his way back intio the game.


I totaly agree with you, but i do honestly think that if Richards had not done what he had done. He would be part of coaching the England national team.

Well i have to agree he would have been...so i guess we (Falcons) are fortunate to have him...

We have a very strong coaching team now...way better than Englands...

Well I see a lot of names being bandied about but I dont actually see what a lot of them have done.

So I'll put up a name that none of you have thought of. Dave Rennie has won three World under 20s titles in a row, and this year tried his hand at Super rugby rugby level, and was the first coach ever to win the competition in his debut year.

He already has respect and success, its just that he hasnt been given an International team to coach yet.

majesticimperialman wrote:Dean Richards has a lot to do to rebuild his reputation and work his way back intio the game.


I totaly agree with you, but i do honestly think that if Richards had not done what he had done. He would be part of coaching the England national team.

God yeah but three years out hes lucky to even get the Newcastle job to be honest. Otherwise he almost certainly wouldve either been bought in to "support" johnno or replace him (or both)
Now he has to work his way back into the premiership, get picked up by a bigger team, win something, and hope the job is available at the right time.

Its worth noting though that the only England head honcho in recent years who wasnt an "inside man" was MJ...everyone else in the modern era has previously been a coach for England in some capacity.

Mike Catt

An excellent question, and one to which I am have no answer at all. This is one of just two postings to 606v2 that make me realise how there are some big areas I know too little of!

The best answer of course so far comes from Laurie. My question is that for a decade ENG particularly go for a "manager" more than a "coach", but seem to return to the more traditional coach role with Lancaster. Seems like this experiment was stillborn and now the corpse is buried. Do you see any young "managers" on the rise? or is this a thing for the past?

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

majesticimperialman wrote:Dean Richards has a lot to do to rebuild his reputation and work his way back intio the game.


I totaly agree with you, but i do honestly think that if Richards had not done what he had done. He would be part of coaching the England national team.

God yeah but three years out hes lucky to even get the Newcastle job to be honest. Otherwise he almost certainly wouldve either been bought in to "support" johnno or replace him (or both)
Now he has to work his way back into the premiership, get picked up by a bigger team, win something, and hope the job is available at the right time.

Its worth noting though that the only England head honcho in recent years who wasnt an "inside man" was MJ...everyone else in the modern era has previously been a coach for England in some capacity.

Erm??

He is at a club with one of the best academies in Britain...a club with huge potential and club that has proved in the past in can attract the absolute worlds best players.
We should come straight back up and if Deano can use the resources...we could be a very strong side with European ambitions...

red_stag wrote:The first three people I thought of:

Anthony Foley - Munster

Steve Tandy - Ospreys

Craig Chalmers - Melrose

+1 Has a complete winning mentality (Telferesque)

Chjw131 wrote:From a NH perspective:

Joe Schmidt

Bryan Redpath

Rob Baxter

Dai Young?

Nigel Davies?

Totally agree, but not sure that he will ever be given a chance

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

red_stag wrote:The first three people I thought of:

Anthony Foley - Munster

Steve Tandy - Ospreys

Craig Chalmers - Melrose

+1 Has a complete winning mentality (Telferesque)

Will he ever get a chance at coaching Glasgow or Edinburgh?

Did you read the article in RugbyWorld where he went down to Australia looking for innovative coaching methods.

Easterby could be a big surprise this year in Wales. Future Ireland man?

Would say Easterby, (should he deliver on his early promise) and O'Shea could be a formidable pairing for the future Ireland team.

I think Elwood is doing a decent job at Connacht. But they're really never going to be contenders for trophy's with their small budget and lack of quality from their academy. He'd have to prove himself at a bigger team from a rugby hotbed before being considered for Ireland. But would he want to leave his beloved Connacht?

Not convinced about Foley. Glad he didn't get the Munster top job yet. I think Munster needed some innovative thinking from outside Munster.

There are actually more quality Irish coach's outside Ireland than in Ireland. Conor O'Shea is more of a manager than a coach though.

I don't really see Conor O'Shea as "Irish" any more.

- Moved to London in 1995 and has been there since

- Coached London Irish

- Director of Regional Academies with the English RFU

- National Director of the English Institute of Sport

- Came to give a motivational speech to England when they played Ireland in Dublin

- Head coach of Harlequins

- British Olympic Swimming Team Review Panelist

In short I don't ever see him coming back to Ireland. He has never coached in Ireland.

I would be surprised to see him come to Ireland to coach. In fact I would be amazed. He has lived comfortably in London for the past 18 years. BTW I just want to state he is a really top coach and I genuinely think one of the best rugby minds involved in the sport.

If Schmidt leaves to coach an international side do you think O'Shea would be a good choice to take over at Leinster?

GoWales, I think he would be a great coach at any team.

However I don't see him going to coach Leinster in a hundred years.

He is much more likely to simply coach another Premiership team or have another role involved in English sport if he leaves Harlequins.

I know O'Shea has spent his whole career in England. He's still Irish though. He hasn't magically turned into an Englishman.

I don't know what he'd do if he got the opportunity to coach Leinster. We he uproot his life in London? I have no idea. Surely he couldn't turn down a chance to coach his country though.

That opportunity probably won't arise if it's true that he has fallen out with the IRFU.

Feckless he is of course an Irishman.

I just doubt that he would ever come to Ireland to coach. Therefore I don't think of him as an "Irish coach".

I don't think many would turn down the chance to lead their country. But I don't think he'll be offered that job so you're probably right.

I wonder would the RFU consider him for the England job at some point?

I can definitely see him ending up coaching England.

He has worked for the RFU before, he has done motivational speeches for the English team, he has coached several different clubs in England and won the Powergen Cup and Premiership as a coach.

Ticks all the boxes to be next English coach.

Is he vaguely competent? that may rule him out

Really like Baxter and it will be really interesting to see how he/Exeter cope/s with the HK and its draw on their resources. So far he's over achieved which is very impressive and the sign of a good coach.

Malinder hasn't been mentioned though he is to my mind still 'young' as I think he is still learning. It's a massive season for Malinder and everytime I see him interviewed he seems to stink of ambition. Can he make the sum of his teams parts......Massive challenge for Malinder and the comparatively small Northampton squad. To me Malinder looks absolutley desperate to win a trophy/the HK.

Richards is the elephant in the room. As a romantic I can see great things for him and his rugby redemption, then again just being back in the game maybe success enough?

Redpath is a weak coach who I don't think will make it to the end of the season at Sale.......followed not to far behind by Diamond. For me the Sharks merry go round has a good few more spins left to whirl.

red_stag wrote:I can definitely see him ending up coaching England.

He has worked for the RFU before, he has done motivational speeches for the English team, he has coached several different clubs in England and won the Powergen Cup and Premiership as a coach.

Ticks all the boxes to be next English coach.

Didn't he do a motivational speech to the English about Croke Park and what it meant to Ireland...?

From the BBC

"Croke Park is hosting its first Ireland v England Six Nations match
When the England squad's preparation includes a history lesson, you know that this is no ordinary rugby international.

Irish fans have been relishing this moment for a long time and finally, after all the debate about national anthems, the match is finally upon us.

Earlier this week, Conor O'Shea, the former Ireland international who now works for the English Rugby Football Union, was given the task of explaining the significance and history of Croke Park to England's players."

Final Score Ireland 43 - 13 England

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/6389727.stm



I would definitely say that Connor O'Shea doesn't have any interest in England doing well rather than Ireland.

I think COS wants to stay at Quins until he has made them Royalty in the English game like Leicester. He comes across (I hope as a Quins fan!) as a club career coach alla Ferguson for Man U where he really thinks he can build something special. I think think he'd rather stay at Quins until that is achieved than go to coach any country.

ChequeredJersey wrote:I think COS wants to stay at Quins until he has made them Royalty in the English game like Leicester. He comes across (I hope as a Quins fan!) as a club career coach alla Ferguson for Man U where he really thinks he can build something special. I think think he'd rather stay at Quins until that is achieved than go to coach any country.

I'd say they probably thought something similar at London Irish!

Can't see him coach any country other than Ireland - he works hard at maintaining the links and keeping a presence here in Ireland with his punditry. Crickey, he has even gone to Wales to do commentary on a Rabbo game on a Friday night and 'Quins have had a game the following day!

Recently he was asked to speak at some sort of a coaching conference by the IRFU as well, so he is staying well in with them.

I think he will be with 'quins though for a long time and will probably coach the Lions long before he coaching internationally!