THERE was a study carried out over 20 years in the US and it came to the conclusion that even the very best coaches in the country had no more than a 10% influence on their teams' performances. Try telling that to the Welsh.
Jonny Wilkinson broke Neil Jenkins' points record and Shane Williams scored his 41th Test try, but still it was far from a vintage year. The real story of the Six Nations has been that of the coaches. Unsurprisingly, it is the new boys on the block
who have had the greatest influence. Ahead of this tournament, Marc Lievremont said that he didn't know what this "French flair" was; maybe he does now. He has encouraged his sides to play with a high-tempo, ball-in-hand style that is at one with the national psyche.
Moreover, the French coach understands that the unexpected is a powerful attacking weapon. His young side overdid the counterattack against England but, after blooding any number of new caps, including two teenagers, the coach deserves pass marks.
Nick Mallett has had less impact with Italy, although he too is attempting something similar to Lievremont. The South African is slowly persuading the Azzurri to attack through the backs and if he had a fly-half worth the name, Italy would have done better.
Brian Ashton and Eddie O'Sullivan both have their troubles after disappointing campaigns and, despite England's win yesterday, neither man is out of the woods.
As it is, Warren Gatland, pictured below, the one-time All Black hooker who never won a Test cap, has had a big influence. When his salary of £300,000 plus bonuses was first rumoured, it raised a few eyebrows but now it looks likes a shrewd bit of business.
In 2007, Wales played 15 matches and won four of them. The defeats included reversals at the hands of Italy and Fiji and a record loss to England in a World Cup warm-up match. The side only avoided last year's wooden spoon with a last-gasp win over England. Compare and contrast with this year's Grand Slam. Under the Kiwi and Shaun Edwards, Wales have rolled their sleeves up and added a beer and skittles mentality to their champagne rugby; forward solidarity now underpins their passing game. Martyn Williams was brought out of retirement to good effect and Gavin Henson was rehabilitated. The centre has now started ten championship matches for Wales and earned ten wins and two Grand Slams!
When asked what he should be called if fellow Kiwi Graham Henry was "the Great Redeemer", Gatland replied succinctly, "a lucky bastard". Luck scarcely comes into it. If the 2005 harum scarum Grand Slam was deemed something of a fluke, this year's team has dogged it out when needs must. This team has character. There were last-ditch tackles by hooker Huw Bennett on Paul Sackey, which almost certainly saved the England match, and an equally important tackle by Mike Philips on Shane Horgan probably earned victory in Dublin.
"When a team has coaches of their calibre it's not difficult to understand why the side is doing so well," said Ireland's scrum-half Eoin Reddan.
So what is the calibre of Scotland's coach? Leave aside Frank Hadden's whinging about everything from the shape of the ball to the one-eyed officials, and stick to the facts. Aquick look at the stats prove that Scotland were hopeless in the opening three matches of this tournament: lowest in line breaks, with half of Italy's number, never mind getting anywhere close to Wales' total; sitting the wrong side of an 11-1 try count; joint highest missed tackles and highest error count. And he has the brass neck to complain about press "negativity"; he wraps himself in self-pity like a child in a comfort blanket.
The Calcutta Cup win was hugely welcomed but it did not prove his critics wrong. Instead it proved the vast majority of them right. Most pundits had not labelled this Scotland squad a poor one but had insisted it was a decent group playing below their potential.
Hadden deserves some sympathy after losing several key players to injury but he would get a lot more sympathy if there was any evidence that he is working to a greater plan, if he possessed any rugby philosophy worth the name.
Admittedly, he used to preach the wide/wide gospel but that was blown out of the water last year by Italy, since when the squad has looked leaderless. Hadden's kick/kick game was perfect for a tight and nervy World Cup, but he tried to use the same tactics in the Six Nations with disastrous results.
After the opening defeat by France, one journalist asked Hadden about the wisdom of selecting players who had not seen active service for up to five weeks and the coach's reply started: "With the benefit of hindsight" which misses the point. What about the benefit of foresight because plenty of people had been talking about the players' enforced idleness?
The coach's selections suggest a mind that does not know what it wants. His treatment of Chris Paterson mystifies everyone else so the player himself must be a tad confused. He seems to alternate Paterson and Parks in the playmaker's shirt as if the two wildly different players were indistinguishable. Either you build a team around the Gala man or you don't and Hadden still can't decide. But Paterson's brief spell at ten, allied to a dynamic and athletic forward pack, saw a welcome return to the high-tempo style that is far better suited to the Scottish mentality than the lumbering, forward-orientated game.
In short, the coach is a man in need of a plan. He is forever reacting rather than innovating. The damning statistics have piled up ever higher about him: two wins in the last two championships, three tries in the last five matches, 13 conceded over the same period, and yet one thing might yet save him – a lack of obvious alternatives.
Jake White will not coach Scotland even if Murrayfield could afford him and the two pro-team coaches, Sean Lineen and Andy Robinson, both have unfinished business at their respective clubs. Hadden might survive the Six Nations review but, if he does so, it will be for reasons of expedience rather than excellence.
This story was written by Scotland on Sunday rugby correspondent Iain Morrison, not by Nathan Hines as was originally published.The full article contains 1086 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
