1
'I think he is at peace with it now, he struggled for a few weeks'
New Newcastle director of rugby Dave Walder has explained how ex-England back-rower Mark Wilson has taken to coaching in his first few months as an assistant looking after contact skills and assisting with defence. The 32-year-old’s world was turned upside down last February when he quit playing with immediate effect just weeks after making his sole appearance of the season on January 29.
ADVERTISEMENT
Problems with his knee forced him out and Dean Richards, the Falcons DoR at the time, summed up the depression the news caused. “I hate talking about people being retired, it’s as though you have written him off in his life. It sounds f***in’ terrible,” he said.
It was mid-May, amid rumours that Wilson could join the Newcastle coaching staff, when Dave Walder, who was being promoted from head coach to DoR for the 2022/23 campaign, provided an update on how the 2019 World Cup finalist had been coping with life as a retired player.
“Like anyone it hit him like a bit of a train, he took a bit of time away and started training for duathlons and physically he is in good shape. His knee is still giving him struggles but he has realised that in the life of a coach you can stand around, you don’t have to run around.”
At the time, Walder couldn’t confirm if Wilson was definately joining his Newcastle management ticket but having assisted England Students and at the local Ryton club, it was eventually confirmed that the back-rower capped 23 times by England was indeed coming back to the Falcons in a very different capacity.
Ahead of the new season Gallagher Premiership opener versus Harlequins this Saturday at Kingston Park, Walder provided RugbyPass with an update on how Wilson has coped with the tricky transition from player to coach at such a young age. “Brilliant. What you see is what you get with Mark Wilson. He is Mr Positive, full of energy, he has got an unbelievable work ethic which is like he had when he played and he has also got that link with the players having captained the group last year.
“There are a lot of guys still in the group who he is very familiar with, so he has got a link with it but fundamentally he is just a good bloke who is very proud of the region and works incredibly hard and is always very, very positive.”
ADVERTISEMENT
He surely had some dark days, though, in the immediate aftermath of hanging up the boots seven months ago and transitioning into his new job. “I think he is at peace with it now. He struggled with it in the first couple of weeks in pre-season. We had a couple of tough sessions where the boys were on top of Cow Hill having done a hill session.
“The more experienced coaches were quite glad we were at the top of the hill watching the players run up it whereas Mark was angling to run down and join in with them. That is something I still find as a coach, you don’t ever get used to not having that camaraderie of playing, being with the playing group and being on the pitch.
“It is different and it does take time to get over it but over the last three or four weeks, he has got peace with it and he is in a really good place. He is doing a brilliant job and has got a great rapport with the players, has got some brilliant ideas and has been a breath of fresh air for our coaching team.”
For years, Wilson was the sole Falcons presence when it came to England representation and while that has changed in recent times with the emergence of the likes of Jamie Blamire, it will surely be beneficial for Newcastle to have got him back involved given he is such a recognisable figure in the north-east region.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The club is always built around people from the area,” continued Walder. “People are very proud to represent the area and Mark best summed that up when he signed for Sale on loan during the season we were in the Championship, when his name came up playing for England he didn’t want to be a Sale player he wanted to be a Newcastle player.
“That shows how much the club means to Mark and how proud he is of the club. We have also got other people on the coaching team, Micky Ward has been here for what probably feels like 50 years, he has been here for years.
“I’m coming up to 20 years at the club, Mark Laycock must be 15, 18 years, so there is a real group of coaches who have been here for a long time who know how the club ticks. Hopefully, we can impart that a bit on the players.”
Comments on RugbyPass
An 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!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 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 commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments