Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Team Management | Tags: Brian Ashton, management of players, team play, teamwork
Brian Ashton former England and Ireland coach makes the case that the emphasis on playing for the team is perhaps misguided. It needs to be looked at in the context of the whole game.
From an article in the Independent.
February 13, 2010
Brian Ashton: Individuals make the best team players
Tackling The Issues
“There is no ‘I’ in ‘teams’.” Most of us who have been involved in coaching or management for any length of time are familiar with this well-worn phrase, which, given the frequency with which it is heard, might more accurately be called a mantra.
Like many snippets of home-spun sporting philosophy, it attempts to capture the essence of a basic truth: in this case, that the significance of the individual in a team game is as nothing compared to the importance of the collective. And like many of these one-liners, it misses the point.
Just ask Warren Gatland about the influence of individuals, their thought processes and their decision-making. I’d be very interested to know the Wales coach’s private view on Alun Wyn Jones and his visit to the sin bin during last week’s Six Nations scrap with England (although I can probably work it out for myself). And what about the interception pass thrown by Stephen Jones towards the end of the match? If these individual contributions were not absolutely central to the outcome of the contest, I was watching a different game to everyone else.
