George Ford has the attitude to be a truly great No10 says Dave Alred
Alred’s client list in rugby alone reads like a who’s who of great fly-halves: Stuart Barnes, Rob Andrew, Neil Jenkins, Jonny Wilkinson and most recently Jonny Sexton.
But Alred’s Midas touch does not end there – as well as turning Donald’s fortunes around, he has also had a transformative effect on Padraig Harrington, who was desperately lacking form in 2011 but has had two top-ten finishes at Majors this year.
So given that alumni, it is high praise indeed for Alred to describe the Leicester fly-half as possessing one of the best attitudes he has ever worked with.
While their link-up – arranged through sponsor Adidas – began two years ago, Ford has already demonstrated his precocious talent on a national stage, starting in both of the Tigers‘ Premiership play-off matches.
That the 19-year-old barely looked out of place on such as big stage did not surprise Alred at all, who told The Rugby Paper there is no limit to the teenager’s potential.
“I have really enjoyed working with George so far,” said Alred, who was part of England‘s World Cup winning coaching team in 2003.
“He has got solid fundamentals and more importantly he has got one of the best attitudes I have come across. In my experience, attitude is the gatekeeper to everything else in your career.
“I am not surprised at all by how far he progressed last season. I was pleased but not surprised. How good he can become is all conjecture. The work I do with him is not about setting outcome goals related to playing in a particular team or kicking a particular percentage.
“What we do a lot of is process based targets, both physical and mental, that he is learning and then executing.
“But in terms of his talent and potential, you cannot set a limit on how good he can become.”
It would be wrong to describe Alred as a kicking coach because his philosophy applies as directly to his golfers as it does to his rugby clients.
While there might not seem to be many similarities between the calm gentile world of golf and that of rugby, the parallels between a place kick and a golf swing are numerous, both on a mechanical and mental level according to Alred
He said: “The similarities between golf and kicking just go on and on. It is quite difficult not to get drawn into the mechanics of the process but for me the mental side is the biggest similarity.
“You have one opportunity, you are on your own and there’s a massive outcome riding on the result of you executing the shot or kick correctly.
“In rugby terms, if you don’t get it right you can end up losing momentum; in golfing terms it could mean dropping a couple of shots. You generally have big gaps between kicks and it is the same with golf – the obvious difference is that golf is a lot less physical, so you are just walking between holes as opposed to being tackled.
“But the work I do with both golfers and rugby players is that when they approach their kick or shot, they expect rather than hope they will execute it correctly. The practice we do tries as much as possible to replicate the pressure of that situation so they feel totally comfortable with it.
“The other thing is that when you miss, you eliminate that from your head straight away so you still approach every kick or shot with confidence. Then there are the physical similarities in terms of posture, weight transfer and the swing which all need to transfer as much power as possible into the shot.
“That goes beyond golf and rugby, those are the same principles behind a Cristiano Ronaldo free-kick.”
Perhaps the other misconception that can occur with Alred’s teaching is that every rugby player is taught the same technique when, in fact, their paths diverge significantly. Alred, in effect, imparts the principles and physics behind the kick and then his client learns to adapt that to his routine.
That led in the case of his most famous student, Jonny Wilkinson, to a kicking stance that became his trademark and which has been infringed upon countless times by impostors ignorant of the deeper meaning of Alred’s teaching.
He said: “Lots of kickers take the stance but don’t have a clue why they are doing it. For Jonny it was about a centring process and there was a whole mental process behind that as well. There’s a huge reason for him doing what he did and someone copying that will not accrue the same benefits.
“What I do is I make sure the player completely understands what kicking is about: the importance of posture and how power is generated. They make the modifications to their technique themselves.
“There are certain principles but I don’t try to impose technical choices on them. I do help them with the choices they make, but they create the changes which come from understanding the processes.
“The technique often depends on the skills they have and any past injuries – all of that plays a huge part in how they adapt themselves to what they understand.
“But the key thing about everyone I have worked with is their desire to constantly improve – they never think they are perfect. I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with some great players – starting with Stuart Barnes and Jonathan Webb and continuing with Rob Andrew, Jonny Wilkinson, Neil Jenkins, the Wales guys and the Lions tour party in 1997.
“They all gave me particular challenges that I relished in getting them to a position where they could perform better under pressure.
“Now that challenge is working with George and it is something I am enjoying immensely.”
DAN SCHOFIELD
