Getting a heads up on being a head honcho

London Irish director of rugby Toby Booth provides a useful insight in to the trials and tribulations associated with the role

OUR PLAY-OFF hopes had already slipped away and London Irish get money back from the RFU if more English lads are in the team so my season is over although training continues until May 21st . As a result, I didn’t play against Northampton on Saturday but I had a busy week getting my level-two coaching badge.

We had our under-16s squad in and my hands-on role was to coach them how to defend the fullback coming into the line. Naturally it got me thinking what would be required if I was to become a head coach down the line. It is a long and arduous road.

I have a decent handle on running drills and I can get through to players but that’s only about 20 per cent of the full package. Just getting to grips with managing the club’s budget requires more than a decent rugby brain.

I sat back and looked at what exactly is involved. You start by looking at the scarcity of job opportunities. I paid a visit to our director of rugby Toby Booth’s office to get a better feel for it. Toby was busy but he made time for his captain.

The head honcho gets two half-days off a week and is in from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. It is a massive time commitment for somebody with a family. Toby is married to an Irish girl called Noreen and they have two young children.

His duties span across every aspect of running the club. Media relations are a weekly event while player recruitment ranges from the academy right up to the big signings – and there is plenty in between.

Player management is another crucial element as is constant liaison with the strength and conditioning department, the physios and the medical staff. Of course, he must be constantly communicating with his other coaches. A coaching ticket is normally a four or maybe five-man team comprising of attack, defence, possibly a forwards coach and a skills specialist.

Toby also has to deal with our employers. That means regular meetings with the board. The sponsors regularly want a piece of him and so do the supporters. A player can occasionally say no to such requests when they are focusing on preparation for a game; Toby doesn’t have that luxury.

It becomes a fairly lonely existence. Everyone gets to vent their frustrations with you – see players, the board and supporters in particular – but where does Toby go to get something off his chest? The answer is he doesn’t. He has to suck it up.

We had a great chat about it. The man earns every penny of his wages.

The big different between us and him, he stressed, was players go from week to week, game to game and when we go home at night we can tune out. The coach must be continually strategising with the big picture in mind while keeping everything afloat on a daily, weekly basis. We are in May but pre-season is already a major part of his thought process. Recruitment is huge right now.

Respect of the players remains paramount. A great coach needs a strong personality and an astute understanding of the game coupled with the ability to react immediately when something unfolds on the field.

Massive organisational skills are essential and so is a rhinoceros’s hide because the media are guaranteed to turn on you at some point but so will everybody else. That’s just the nature of the job. In the Guinness Premiership, on average, there is a four to five-season life-span.

I asked Toby what he thought was the biggest challenge he has encountered these past few seasons. He said it was keeping the squad simulated throughout such a long season. It starts on July 1st and guys are together until the end of May. Monitoring the form of players and maintaining consistency levels is a formidable task over that period.

Rugby, in many circumstances, comes down to opinion but Toby analyses the facts. Is my outhalf playing well? Check his kicking statistics and game management. Is the lineout functioning to the necessary level? Check the video from every angle. When we are on a poor run it is all well and good saying Bob Casey was having a great season last year but it is not happening now. Toby looks at the individual stats to identify the problem.

I did a straw poll of the lads – see, busy week – to see what makes a great coach.

Personally, I seek honestly. Most players agree. If you are not being selected don’t give a bullshit excuse, just tell the guy straight: “Look, this guy is doing more around the park. He is better at the breakdown than you. Okay, you offer this but we feel he offers more in more facets of the game”. It means you can compute the information and go do whatever needs to be done to improve.

The players want their coach to be calm under pressure, otherwise it spirals downwards and soon enough you start getting tanked. He has to be a good listener.

I looked through the Premiership and all but two of the coaches were top-level players. At Wasps there is Shaun Edwards, Gloucester have Bryan Redpath, at Leicester there is Richard Cockerill. Go to Sale, there is Kingsley Jones and now Mike Brewer. Saracens have Brendan Venter – a Springbok. Alan Tait, a Lion, is in charge at Newcastle.

In the Six Nations all bar Declan Kidney played at the very top level. Andy Robinson with Scotland, Marc Lièvremont with France, Warren Gatland sat on the bench for New Zealand about 50 times because of Sean Fitzpatrick, Nick Mallet in Italy and, of course, Martin Johnson. Just shows you what a great achievement it is by Declan.

And their commitment levels go up another notch again because of the length of training camps and tours. The sacrifice doesn’t always pay. Especially if you are trying to educate a family but have to uproot them every couple of summers.

This week also marked Mike Catt's swansong from playing at the age of 38. Catty has been our best-ever signing when you consider what he has given the club as both player and coach. He is old school, he'll go for a pint with you after a game, but he remains a freakish athlete. It must be his genetic make up. Competing in Sports Starslast year Dame Kelly Holmes, the Olympic 800 metre gold medallist, only beat him on the line. He is just a genuine competitor. Two World Cup finals is proof of that.

Finally, thanks to Ambassador Bobby McDonagh for the invite to dinner at the Irish embassy on Tuesday night. It was a celebration of Irish people living in London. Of course, there was a singsong, led by Angelina Ball, the gorgeous blonde one from The Commitments, with Eddie Jordan on the spoons. You get the picture.