Why those gentlemen of league are on the defensive

While rugby league’s national standing has waned as union’s has risen since the introduction of professionalism, its influence on the XV man code remains as strong as ever.
The obvious example comes in the players who have swapped codes, starting with Jason Robinson and following on with Joel Tomkins and Kyle Eastmond – both potential stars of the Premiership this season.
The less noticeable but stronger influence has been the dissemination of league’s aggressive blitz defence through a host of disciples, who have spread their gospel far and wide.
At the last World Cup, England, Wales, France, Ireland and Scotland had a former league player in charge of their defence with Mike Ford, Shaun Edwards, Dave Ellis, Les Kiss and Graham Steadman calling the shots respectively.
In the case of Ford, Edwards and Steadman they were half-backs during their playing days. Steadman was once league’s most expensive player when he moved from Featherstone to Castleford for £170,000 and he won ten Great Britain caps.
Ironically, none of he, Ford or Edwards were considered brilliant defenders. But Steadman, who has just taken charge at Newcastle, believes their mindsets – as creators rather than destroyers –  has made them perfectly in tune to defence coaching.
He said: “I don’t think it is a coincidence that we were half-backs and are now defence coaches. We spent most of our time as players studying defensive patterns and trying to work out where the weaknesses in the system were so that has helped us in our coaching.
“We all get on – I also regularly speak to Les, Dave and Phil Larder (England’s 2003 World Cup winning defence coach) –  and we will meet up and exchange ideas. We came from the same background and have, roughly, the same philosophy in defence. In league, as an attacking unit, you will have five to eight metres from the tackle area while in union you only have no more than four metres from the breakdown.
“So really our system is geared towards closing down the time and space the attackers have to operate.
“The advantage for me is that when I came to Newcastle, the systems put in place by Alan Tait and Mike Ford, who come from similar backgrounds to me, need tinkering rather than remodelling.
“The most important thing is that the players totally trust the system and that means I have to make it crystal clear what is expected of them.”
Steadman arrives at Newcastle after a stints in charge of Munster, Ireland and, most recently, Scotland’s defence.
While Andy Robinson has never been able to solve Scotland’s attacking problems, their defence – under Steadman – was as good as any in world rugby.
They delivered astonishing defensive performances at the heart of victories over South Africa and Australia, twice.
The only player Steadman admits his system was torn to shreds by was the freakish Sonny Bill Williams, although it is unlikely he will face such calibre of opposition in the Championship.
Even before he found out what division Newcastle would be in, Steadman had signed up to the project knowing Dean Richards and John Wells were on board.
And while Steadman’s task at Newcastle in many ways will be the inverse of what he experienced in Scotland the 50-year-old, who has previously assisted at Rotherham, maintains the challenge will be just as hard.
He said: “I did some spells at Rotherham so I got a good taste for the division and there will be nothing foreign to me.
“With the quality of our players we are going to be the Manchester United of the league, and everyone will be setting out to knock us off our perch.
“Everyone will raise their levels of intensity against us and our job, as coaches, is to ensure we match that.
“With Scotland we were nearly always the underdogs so although it will be very different, it does not make it any easier.
“International rugby to club rugby is a totally different ball game. The relationships you build in pre-season are so important because they will last you right through to the end of the season.  With international rugby you only have two to three weeks to get them into your way of thinking.
“Then you have guys coming from France and England who have been slogged to death by their clubs and so a lot of the sessions take place in the office.
“I didn’t enjoy that, I like being out on the training pitch and being at Newcastle has been like a breath of fresh air.
“I have been here for five weeks now and I have been very impressed with how the players have responded to what we have asked of them so far.”
DANIEL SCHOFIELD