A Coach's Thoughts on Selections

By Mike Sexton, Head Coach of FWRC

During highs and lows of any rugby team, there are times when showing up on Saturday is enough to earn you a starting spot on the A side. In fact, sometimes you “get to play” two games if you are truly lucky. This is often the case with teams in transition, be it from a new coaching staff, a shake up in the league, or a mass retirement of veteran players. The latter is truly the most devastating to a club, because not only do you lose numbers, you lose experience and veteran leadership. Those that have seen the battles and know how to win them.

As a team grows and matures, players learn to communicate better, understand the systems better and quite frankly commit to practice and games. Once that pool of committed players is established, the selection criteria becomes more apparent beyond showing up for kick off.

We are now in a new growth phase. We are nowhere near where we want to be, but we are a far cry from “just show up Saturday and you can play.” With competition and depth throughout the roster, you will find the rugby gets markedly better. A prop that knows he has 160 minutes to play on a Saturday is a very different player than a prop that knows he can run for 60 minutes and give it everything he has with a solid reserve behind him. His performance on the day is much, much different. That begs the question, what does a selection look like?

First, are you at practice? Do you know the playbook? We have multiple set piece moves, backline strikes, defensive alignments, expected plays based on location on the field. The action off a lineout on the left side within our 22m is going to be very different from the action of a lineout on the opposing 5m on the right side. As silly as it sounds, knowing what to do and your teammates knowing what you are going to do is crucial to a team’s success on the field.

Second, are you coachable? We all have habits. Some are good, some are bad. The rugby field is no exception. Oftentimes phases implode because someone decides to fall back into a habit instead of a coached pattern of play. Fourteen guys know that the phase calls for x,y and z, but one lone player has a habit of “picking and going” at an inopportune time causing everything to go pear shaped. This is incredibly disruptive to the flow and pattern of a game. Though that has led to funny quotes such as Keith Dalton yelling to Shay Flowers (watching a player do something incredibly off script) “WE FORGOT TO PRACTICE THAT!” Can you be coached?

Third, fitness. Should go without saying. If all things are equal but your competition at a spot can go 10 minutes longer than you can at a higher level, that player is going to get the nod every time.

Fourth, attitude. Do you bring positivity to the side? Do you encourage or belittle? Are you busy trying to fight the ref, the coach and your teammates or are you controlling what you can control and being a rock for your teammates to lean on? This is not just practice or at games, but also off the field. How do you promote FWRFC? Do you wear the gear? Do you hang out with your teammates? When they send out the call for help do you answer it? A team plays on a field, it is built and grown off the field. Once a team bonds and becomes tight, there are few things that can beat it. In every sport, we have seen team ownership throw obscene amounts of money and resources at a squad hoping to out athlete the other teams, just to watch it collapse because the team wasn’t a team. In the famous words of Mike Kwedar “15 morons going the same direction will beat 15 Einsteins going different directions everytime.”

Last, rugby skill. This is kind of a general piece. Obviously some of your specialty positions such as flyhalf, scrumhalf and fullback may be a bit different, but funny enough, those positions typically have players that show up to practice, learn the playbook, try to be fit and bring a proper attitude. At Fort Worth the requirements are simple. You have to be able to ruck, tackle, catch and pass the ball 5m. That’s it. If you can do all of those things regardless of position, you can make this squad. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Surprising how few can do these things well, properly and consistently. If you are unfit, you can’t get in the right position for a tackle and a ruck, or to take/give a pass. If you don’t have the right attitude, you won’t put yourself on the line to clean out that ruck or make that tackle. If you aren’t coachable, you won’t learn the biomechanics at training to execute these skills properly. If you aren’t at practice, well, you can’t practice these basic skills! It’s amazing how these fundamental skills will remove so many players out of contention, especially tackling and rucking.

As we review the list one thing sticks out to me, as a coach. EVERY single one of these selection criteria is up to the player, not the coach. The player is in charge of their fitness, their attitude, their base knowledge and their attendance at practice. The coach just has to impart the knowledge, it’s up to the player to accept it. The person who makes selections on Saturday is the player themselves. Did you remove all doubt? Did you make yourself so integral to the squad that you cannot be left out? I have selected players with lower skill levels simply because they had higher marks in the other four categories than their competitors.

Ultimately, the player decides if they play or not, the coach is often given a very simple choice. When does a rugby team elevate to championship status? When the coach struggles to pick a player at every position because they are so close on the criteria above. If you ever question why you are not being picked, ask the coach. Come in with an open mind. Watch your film. Did you walk a majority of the game? Did you make tackles and rucks consistently? Did you follow the game plan? Did you lift your teammates or bring them down?

The final say of any player’s game day selection will always be on the player.