IN THE LIONS DEN: GRAHAM ROWNTREE
If I had to pick one special moment from my own experience with the British and Irish Lions, it would be the series win in Australia in 2013 when I was part of the coaching team, writes Matt Hampson Foundation trustee Graham Rowntree.
We scraped through the first Test when Kurtley Beale missed a penalty when he slipped, we lost the second Test in Melbourne and in my area of responsibility there was controversy around scrum and set-piece, then we went into the third Test with the Brian O’Driscoll bombshell. But to win it in the manner we did, to be ahead with 20 minutes to go, we were almost able to relax in the coaching box. To see Alex Corbisiero coming in and scoring the first try and doing a job in the scrum, it was a special moment for me in my career.
I was fortunate enough to go on five tours – two as a player and three as a coach – and it’s been interesting watching the opening games of this summer’s trip to Australia, seeing some of the comments about performances and results. For me, it’s all about the Test series against the Wallabies. You win that and no one will remember who you beat or who you lost to, or the performances, in the lead-up.
In these early fixtures the coaches are tinkering and negotiating their way through injuries, rolling with the punches. You’re training, you’re on the move the whole time, it’s a big challenge. It’s about being battle-hardened as well. For the teams you’re playing against, it is the biggest game of their lives for some of them. In 2013 we lost to the Brumbies in a hell of a game but it did us good in the build-up to the Test and that’s what matters.
Through it all, you’re learning about players and combinations. The players who can tolerate being out of their comfort zone in an extreme environment are the ones who prosper and who can win a series.
Being a coach with the Lions is a completely different dynamic to any other coaching. You’ve got to keep things simple, you have to get good people to form a coaching team, even before you bring in the players. The coaching group has to work, you have to get on and that also means being comfortable challenging each other.
As a player, you look at the Lions as a pinnacle and, if you’re playing international rugby, it is the next step, but as a coach it was never on my radar. I was very fortunate to get my first call when I was only two years into my coaching career on that 2009 tour and I learned so much off those coaches, Warren Gatland, Sir Ian McGeechan, Shaun Edwards, Rob Howley.
You know that you can’t waste a minute of your time. You’re working on a plan, on new combinations with only a certain number of minutes to train, so it has to work. You’re reviewing one game and looking ahead to the next game at the same time. There’s a group of lads preparing for one game and another group who have just played and you need to know what matters and how much you can cover in the time you have.
You have to find a way to make it work. I remember in 2013, working with Paul O’Connell and he was used to doing 40 minutes on lineouts on a Tuesday while the Welsh lads were used to 20 minutes, but they both had to feel prepared and happy with training time, so you had to learn that and get on with each other.
There’s a lot of work on organisation, but you also need to fit in intensity because that is the game of rugby. The guys need to back-up, too.
The team that played the Reds last Wednesday would be back on the field the next morning, helping to prepare the Saturday team and they have to get used to that. This is not what you do with your clubs or national teams. You’re more used to having a couple of days to recover and you have to pick the right lads to do that.
Those guys that can back-up Thursday morning are as important as the rockstars who are going to win a Test series. Those guys are known as the ‘glue players’. I think 1997 was so successful and enjoyable because there were so many of these players who played a key part in the Test series win.
