10 rugby coaches that bounced back after getting the sack
There are some rugby coaches that have never recovered from being sacked, and it altogether ended their careers. There are many, however, who have dusted themselves off and bounced back, so much so that past failings are quickly forgotten. With those in mind, here are the ten rugby coaches that bounced back after getting the sack:
Stuart Lancaster
After England were unceremoniously dumped out of their own Rugby World Cup in 2015 in the pool stages, there was only one outcome for head coach Stuart Lancaster, and he left by mutual consent that November.
He joined the Leinster coaching team in September 2016, working with Leo Cullen, and his career has blossomed since then, winning the Champions Cup in 2018 and back-to-back Guinness Pro14 titles.
Richard Cockerill
In January 2017, Richard Cockerill’s 25-year association with Leicester Tigers as a player and a coach came to an end when he was sacked following a rare slump for the club.
The former hooker had a brief stint in Toulon, before taking charge of Edinburgh at the beginning of the 2017/18 season. He has since led a revival in the Scottish capital, with his side sitting top of the Pro14 Conference B before the coronavirus suspension, whilst Leicester’s fortunes have not improved.
Ugo Mola
In a partnership with Régis Sonnes, Ugo Mola is now the man spearheading Toulouse’s return to the top of European rugby having won the Top 14 last season. However, his resume is not all that flattering, having been dismissed by Castres in December 2007. The former France international’s time with Toulouse has not been plain sailing either, and his job was in jeopardy after a 12th place finish in 2017, but the French giants look to be returning to their glory days.
Mark McCall
The man who replaced Mola at Castres, Mark McCall (alongside Jeremy Davidson), had recently seen his time in charge of Ulster end in tatters. While he did not actually get sacked, rather he resigned, his future at Ravenhill was in serious peril.
He joined Saracens in 2009 as part of Brendan Venter’s coaching team, and the rest is history. He took over the team midway though the 2010/11 season after the South African left, and has guided the London side to five Premiership titles and three Champions Cups.
Fabien Galthié
Having butted heads with the club’s brass during his time with Montpellier, Fabien Galthié was dismissed midway through the 2014/15 season, bringing to an end a four-year association with them.
Now the man in control of a French rejuvenation after being given the reins of the team after the RWC, having worked under Jacques Brunel, the former France captain has not been set back by his spell in the south of France.
Eddie Jones
Despite a runners-up medal at the 2003 RWC, Eddie Jones was sacked by Australia in December 2005. Since then, he has been a bit of a nomad of world rugby, finding a lot of success on his travels though.
A technical director for the Springboks at the 2007 RWC, the mastermind of Japan’s heroics at the 2015 RWC, and now England’s head coach leading them to the final in Japan last year, Jones has gone from strength to strength after his sacking.
John Mitchell
Following the All Blacks‘ semi-final loss to the Wallabies at the 2003 RWC, head coach John Mitchell was sacked, which led to a spate of jobs over the succeeding years in New Zealand, South Africa, England and the United States.
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He was brought in to the England coaching setup in 2018 under Jones to help stop the rot during a tough year. He has since revived England, and has been one of the main reasons behind their resurgence and path to the RWC final.
Michael Cheika
Sandwiched between his successful stints with Leinster and the New South Wales Waratahs, winning the Heineken Cup and Super Rugby with both, Michael Cheika had a less-than-glamorous two-year stint with Stade Francais, which ended with his sacking in 2012.
He became Wallabies coach in 2014, which he held until 2019, during which time he won the Rugby Championship, made the RWC final, and was crowned the World Rugby coach of the year.
Warren Gatland
Given his three Grand Slams with Wales, a further Six Nations title, a series win and a draw with the British and Irish Lions, and even his three Premiership titles and a Heineken Cup with Wasps, it is easy to forget that Warren Gatland was Ireland’s coach at the beginning of the century.
The current Chiefs coach was in charge of Ireland between 1998-2001, but was surprisingly sacked in the November of 2001 in the face of overseeing an improvement by the team.
Graham Henry
Despite a brilliant start to his time as head coach of Wales in 1998, Graham Henry’s tenure slowly unravelled, culminating in him leaving his post in February 2002 after a record 54-10 loss to Ireland.
He became the All Blacks’ head coach in 2004, and was the architect of the team’s domination of rugby over the next decade and beyond, retiring after the victorious 2011 RWC.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments