JON NEWCOMBE takes stock of the well of rugby knowledge currently lost on the game with these ten coaches widely held in high regard.
1 Martin Johnson
Vowed never to become involved in rugby management again following the 2011 World Cup campaign blighted by off-field misdemeanours. Someone should try damn hard to change his mind as all that experience shouldn’t go to waste.
2 Brian Ashton
Whether the Lancastrian, well past his pensionable age, would want to get involved in club rugby again is another matter, but it seems a huge shame that football’s Premier League sees fit to employ him as a coach mentor and rugby does not.
3 John Fletcher
Hasn’t worked in a top-level coaching position since his 18-month reign as Newcastle DoR came to an end in March 2008. Enjoyed considerable success with various England age-grade sides and had an unrivalled track record in developing players.
4 Neil Back
Great players don’t always make great coaches but Back kept Leeds up against all the odds in 2010. Had a short-lived spell as forwards coach at Edinburgh before taking on the doomed Rugby Lions project. For the last eight years, he has fulfilled a number of business and ambassadorial roles.
5 Bryan Redpath
Top-flight experience with Gloucester and Sale Sharks before hitting the buffers with Leeds. Not seen in a tracksuit since coaching Scotland U20s at the 2018 Junior World Cup in France. Now in business, his name lives on in rugby through his son, Cameron.
6 Paul Hodgson
Said it was his decision to head off into the education sector to become director of rugby at Cranmore School in Surrey in May 2018, but you can’t help but feel the livewire former England scrum-half would love to be in the cut-and-thrust of professional club rugby again and, by all accounts, deserves to be too.
7 Paul Grayson
Popular radio pundit who was arguably thrown into the deep end too early as head coach at Northampton following his retirement in 2005. Recently returned to the club as a kicking consultant but has so much more to give.
8 Nick Walshe
Harshly shown the door by Coventry in mid-season after one bad defeat to Ampthill. The former scrum-half coached England U20s to back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014 and spent two years as backs and attack coach at Gloucester.
9 Tony Diprose
Former England No.8 currently director of sport and physical wellbeing at Canford School after 18 years at Harlequins as player, coach and academy head.
10 Graham Smith
Unceremoniously dumped after he and Gary Street coached England Women to win the World Cup in 2014. Smith struggled to get a coaching job in England and eventually found himself working in Barcelona. Players he has coached swear by his ability to develop skills and general body management. England arguably had the best pack in the world under his tutelage.
