Guardian - November 2008
The coach is looking to a consultant to
blunt Australia's edge tomorrow.
Tony Smith wants his England team to be positive when they play
Australia.
When England face Australia in their first defining challenge of
the World Cup tomorrow, the coach, Tony Smith, will be employing
some very unorthodox thinking. He will relay messages to the
players through a management consultant who previously worked as a
human resources director for Unilever.
Damian Hughes's varied CV also includes a couple of brief
encounters with Brian Clough as a schoolboy trainee with Nottingham
Forest, five years on the junior coaching staff at Manchester
United, a classics degree from Leeds University, helping his dad to
keep Mancunian youth on the straight and narrow at the Collyhurst
and Moston Lads Club - Brian Hughes was awarded the MBE in 2000 for
his services to boxing, which included coaching Robin Reid to a
world title - and publishing three books on organisational
psychology.
That is a suitably unorthodox background for a ground-breaking
rugby league appointment, which follows the trail blazed by Sir
Clive Woodward who described the round-the-world yachtsman turned
motivational guru Humphrey Walters as a key figure behind England's
World Cup success in Australia in the other rugby code five years
ago.
The brief of Hughes, pictured right, is both straightforward and
daunting: instilling a belief in the England players that they can
end Australia's long dominance of international rugby league.
"It's taken a lot of courage on Tony's part to bring somebody
like me in," said the 35-year-old, who addressed the players in a
team meeting in their Melbourne hotel on the bank of the Yarra last
night. "The orthodox thing is to ask how many caps you've won and
stuff like that.
"But when you're at the level these guys are, talent equals
itself out. Physically there's very little different, and
tactically, Tony's a world-class coach. So it comes down to
mentality and how you deal with pressure and change and issues like
that. That's what might make the difference in this World Cup.
"The pressure on the players does become more intense. The other
night we went to a reception in Melbourne which was supposed to be
a celebration of 100 years of England playing Australia, but the
videos they showed were of about 50 Australian tries, and then some
fleeting footage of us being successful before 1963.
"The good thing was the players were all aware of it and as we
came away they laughed about it. It was just another example of
them trying to convince us that we've got no chance, and that
they're superior. It's important to be aware of that and be
prepared for it."
Hughes's connection with Smith goes back to a chance encounter
with the Leeds captain and England loose forward Kevin Sinfield
during a sports discussion progamme hosted by the late Tony Wilson
on BBC Radio Manchester three years ago.
"Kevin invited me to come and see Tony, and we just hit it off
straight away," Hughes explained. "When he got the England job he
gave me a role as coaching consultant. Rather than impose standards
on the players we allowed them to have control, and they imposed on
themselves a more stringent set of standards than any of the
coaches would have done.
"They are a very impressive bunch. With the boxing and when I
was coaching at United I've been around a rarefied atmosphere, and
seen the sacrifices that are required. I've seen it in business too
and this lot are as good as any I've seen."
They were not overly impressive in beating Papua New Guinea
32-22 in their opening World Cup game in Townsville last Saturday,
making an improved performance against Australia tomorrow
imperative for their credibility even though both teams are almost
certain to make the semi-finals whatever the result.
But Hughes stresses that they are working to a five-week plan.
"It's not where you start, it's how you finish. In rugby union, can
you remember who England played in their first few games when they
won the World Cup? The focus is on who we play on November 22 and
this is just a step along the way."
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