A A big weekend awaits John Mitchell. He turns 60 on Saturday, the day after taking charge of his first Women’s Six Nations as England manager. Can the well-informed New Zealanders take them to the next level? The marriage between the bespectacled former All Blacks manager and a group of ambitious red roses from different generations is certainly an interesting one.
Because not everyone was happy when the Rugby Football Union chose not to use a Salina Wigman-esque figure for next year’s Women’s World Cup. Even Mitchell believes the days of male-dominated women’s schemes are numbered – “The future will definitely be a female manager” – and England’s Jo Yapp has been appointed The top job in the Australian team has reignited the whole debate once again.
On one hand, hiring Mitchell, who travels frequently, makes sense. He became All Blacks manager in 2001 aged just 37, and his resume includes spells with England under Clive Woodward and Eddie Jones. Few coaches, male or female, have a keener grasp of the big picture of a high-performance environment – “My record in terms of winning Test matches speaks for itself, I know this arena inside out”. So when Mitchell says he’s “probably more advanced than other candidates at handling pressure,” he has the scar tissue to prove it. “When you’re near the top of your game … I got some nuggets out of it.”
Even so, for some, naming a male overlord at this high-profile moment is akin to ignoring Taylor Swift and demanding the status quo dominate the headlines. Mitchell isn’t Swift, and he doesn’t have Dua Lipa’s dance moves when he sings the team’s induction song. “I’ve done Wonderwall by Oasis before, but this time it was Molly Malone. Normally you try to rush back to your seat, but once I found I had a connection, I stepped out of the middle of the bus and focused more on the chorus superior……”
There’s more to international coaching than confident karaoke, but equally, there’s more to Mitchell than people think. Danny Cipriani memorably describes him in his new book as “tall, bald, with different-colored eyes, like David Bowie” – Also included is a hilarious story about Sale’s social outing following their win over London Irish. “At night, I tried judoing John into a big food box in the back of the restaurant. Funny thing is, he loved it.”
That’s when. These days, “Mickey” lives a quiet life in Surrey with his South African wife Julie, supports Woking Football Club, enjoys taking pictures with his glasses on, listening to London Grammar School and is in his happiest place – ” That’s my quiet place” — barbecuing his backyard. In 2010, he was stabbed in the thigh and upper arm by an intruder at his Johannesburg home, an incident that apparently prompted him to reassess his priorities in life, as he recalled the Waikato man in the 1980s He also grimaced slightly when he spoke of rugby culture. Once shared an apartment with teammate Warren Gatland. “Maybe in the men’s game – and I fell into this trap when I was young – as a man you need to adopt a certain mental state. The game is coming and you mean it.”
The spiritual aspects of sports increasingly fascinated him. His daughter in Australia is a psychologist in Perth, while his son Daryl has grown into a standout Test cricketer for New Zealand. However, as coaches, it takes time for us to become more empathetic. “I lead very directly. That’s the strong truth. I’m not afraid to make tough decisions. When I look back on a lot of those decisions, I think they were the right decisions. But I can articulate them better.” Decision? Yes.”
But those old competitive fires still smoulder. In a self-deprecating reference to his old-fashioned cauliflower ears—”One looks like a kidney, the other like a dried apricot”—it soon became clear to him that gender had little bearing on coaching effectiveness. “I try to deal with human beings. People keep asking: What’s the difference between a male coach and a female coach? I don’t need to know the difference. I just have to deal with what’s in front of me. And then respond to it. If I understand the context, I’m definitely going to have a strong perspective. If not, I listen, observe and ask questions.”
Mitchell then compiled his first-hand insights with his assistants Louis Deacon, Lou Meadows and Sarah Hunter, who had already spent the last year Spent time with the Red Roses at WXV games. He believes that for some female players, disappointment may take longer to shake off, but in other areas they leave men behind. “These women are very driven, but I love the way they do it. These girls are able to have fun and have fun. But all of a sudden, they flip a switch. As long as we keep that balance, I have no problem with that.”
Newsletter Promotion Post
Indeed, England have nothing to worry about having won the last five Six Nations in a row, but beyond that, Mitchell is keen to instill a more flexible approach. “In professional sports you have to prepare for the worst. Maybe we didn’t do that in the last World Cup.”
Additionally, he wants his team to aim high. “The potential here is huge. We’ve always been a very good team but we want to be a great team. Even though we’ve done well in the Six Nations, how do we finish? [win a World Cup] What haven’t we done in 11 years? We must succeed in climbing to that peak. We also have to fill the top green seats at Twickenham. The team has a great identity but is still on its way to becoming fully integrated into the culture of British rugby. “
All in all, there’s a certain Heston Blumenthal about Mitchell as he prepares to use a metaphorical blowtorch on the England women’s game and erase the memory of his abrupt exit from Jones’ England men’s training camp in July 2021 Hints from the Er family. It got to this point where I couldn’t give Eddie 24-7 anymore. Basically, at 57 years old, I just woke up and thought, “I value things differently and I need to stand up for myself.” At the end of the day, you have to respond to your head coach’s approach and leadership. If you can’t fit in, you need to be honest. “
He said that his rich coaching experience also allowed him to see “my blind spots.” What might those be? “When your ego gets in the way and you can’t stay open and aware.” OK, so does he think he’ll be the last male head coach of the Red Roses? “No, I don’t feel that way. I’m not here just for a semester.” So when will women be in control? “At some stage the time will be right. It’s that time. At the end of the day we still have to make sure the girls are capable enough to play the games we want and make sure they have the right behaviour. It’s still about tactics It’s about clarity. No matter how one tries to separate the two, you still come back to the main ingredients.”
England women may have just found the catalyst to realize their elusive World Cup dream – regardless of gender.
