Nick Cain: Sherylle Calder will keep focus on big prize

Sherylle Calder’s capacity to make a difference as a visual skills coach can be measured by the three-year contract she has signed with England until after the 2019 World Cup. Eddie Jones rates the former South African hockey international so highly because he has been on the winning end, as well as the receiving end, of her work.
This week Calder started working with England backs like Anthony Watson, but she got her first big break when Clive Woodward’s obsessive search for marginal gains in the build up to the 2003 World Cup brought her into the spotlight.
It was not instantaneous. Woodward was extremely secretive about England’s preparations, with more security around the squad than at an American presidential rally, and requests for interviews with Calder were invariably turned down.
However, her innovative eye-training got an airing during England’s World Cup-winning campaign, and with the Wallabies, coached by Jones, beaten in the final, her stock rose. It did not take long before Jones saw her visual skills work at first hand, because at the same time that Jake White asked the Aussie to become a consultant to South Africa ahead of the 2007 World Cup, he also signed up Calder.
South Africa’s win over England in the 2007 World Cup final gave Calder added kudos as a backroom double World Cup winner. Jones is clearly hoping that her visual skills magic rubs off a third time, with Calder’s return to the England camp an integral part of his plot to overthrow New Zealand as world champions at the 2019 World Cup.
While Jones last week highlighted the influence of Calder in turning Springbok wing Bryan Habana into an intercept king through her peripheral vision training, England’s 2003 World Cup-winning centre Will Greenwood was also singing her praises.
Greenwood said that in his experience Calder’s work delivers the marginal gains that Jones – like Woodward before him – is looking for. Greenwood explained: “The classic thing to do on Monday is to look back and say that they missed this chance, or that chance. What Sherylle equips you to do is see those chances on the day – and fix it on the day.”
Greenwood also recalled the ‘CTC’ acronym which Calder developed – standing for Crossbar, Touchline, Communicate – to get the England players to scan the pitch constantly for opportunities.
However, Calder said this week that the programs she uses now have progressed “leaps and bounds in the technology”. She revealed that through an app which will be used by the England squad for ten minutes a day four times a week during the Six Nations, they will improve their visual fitness.
Calder added: “We can monitor exactly what you train and how you train. How you speak, how you respond, how many decisions you make effectively, etc.”
England wing Watson gave the visual training an early thumbs-up. Asked if it would help with reading of the high ball, Watson said, “100 percent”. He added: “She spoke about understanding depth perception better. For us wingers and full-backs that’s definitely something that will help us massively. There were a few laptop tests, and manual tests as well…there were a few tough things, and others I was good at.”
Calder also gave Jones, who was sporting a black eye at the Six Nations launch after a slip in the shower, a bit of TLC. “I call the coaches who ask me to work with them ‘visionary’. They think outside the box and see things other coaches don’t see. We’re going to make a difference, without a doubt.”
How England best utilise Calder’s expertise gives food for thought. Last week Jones said that she would be targeting the back three to begin with, particularly to help them to see the ball early and make the necessary adjustments.
However, while work with the backs is important to England’s progress, you feel that the area in which Calder could make an even more critical impact is with the forwards – a few of whom catch-and-pass as if they’ve got plates attached to their arms rather than hands.
It is the ability of forwards to catch cleanly and pass accurately under pressure that has set New Zealand apart from the chasing pack, and will be an essential component in England’s bid to overhaul them.
Calder will be busy.