Simon Middleton: Why Lesley McKenzie and Shaun Edwards can transform their new teams

The first thing is that I think Lesley McKenzie is one of the best infielders at her craft, particularly in the contact area or the contact defensive area.

This isn’t to say she isn’t very strong in other areas; she is a well-rounded coach, but every coach specialises in one thing. In Lesley McKenzie’s case, that is contact. Personally, I’ve never seen or worked with a better contact coach than her – whether in the women’s or men’s game.

But don’t take my word for it; take Dean Benton’s [former head of sport science for England Rugby and Director of Rugby Melbourne Storm] or Ollie Richards’ [acclaimed S&C coach, specialising in MMA fighting], as they both could attest to the same.

In my time working with Lesley at JRFU, Ollie, whom Lesley had signed up as Head of Sport Science for the Japan women’s programme, came to his first contact training defence session and, after experiencing it firsthand, said, “Well, this is one area less for me to cover!” Dean Benton, who observed the session, called it one of the best contact sessions he’d ever witnessed.

Lesley brings a high level of critical skill to players they haven’t worked with or experienced before, and it reflects in how they play and perform. For her, it’s about how a team can be better, how a player can be better, and how the environment can be better so they can play their best on the field. Her attention to detail in everything she does is anchored in her determination to drive purposeful standards.

I say purposeful, because everything she does is connected to the game and the players’ generic or specialist skill set. When I first joined the Japan women’s team, I found a high-performance environment that, although lacking resources, was well structured, well organised and was making an impact on players’ performances and lives.

I’m not sure I’ve ever worked with someone more driven than her. Her belief in the programme, expanding it and looking forward to taking it to the next level, was inspiring. It got me on my toes quite a bit. I quickly realised that through working with England, with all their on-field and off-field resources, I’d inadvertently slipped into something of a comfort zone, and I had to get back up to speed in terms of working under the pressure of knowing every minute on the field had to count and every resource had to be maximised.

I remember thinking, ‘I am well outside my comfort zone here!’ I don’t mind admitting I felt like I was treading water for a while. Just trying to keep up with the intensity she worked at – because she wanted to keep driving forward and push everyone to become their best version.

I remember a specific episode when, at the end of a session, we would pick up a group of players to work on a specific craft or skill. Lesley asked me to take the scrum halves to train delivery from the lineout, and I said yes and took the players.

However, that bit of training was a bit uninspiring, as I even recognised that and then Lesley came over to me and said, ‘What are you doing? There’s no point in doing that. It will only make them worse’, and I thought, ‘You are bang on. I have to up my game.’ That’s the kind of driving force she is.

At the same time, she is a great student of the game. I have never met anybody with wider knowledge of the game or stronger opinions than Lesley. Whether it is about players, teams, or competitions worldwide, she has incredible knowledge of it all.

She is obsessed with rugby but, more specifically, she is even more obsessed with making the game better and safer. I wouldn’t say she isn’t in the game to win at all costs, but it’s more that winning is a product of the programme: making the game better, the players better, and keeping them safe while they play. The ‘safe’ part is one of the things that drives her, because her belief is in safety through technical excellence.

That’s why I mentioned the word ‘detail’ before. Her work on tackling and its technique has been crucial to help our game progress and reduce player injury, or at least across the Japan team. If you take the France v Australia game from the other weekend, how many of those yellow cards would have been avoided with more effective tackle technique? The answer is all of them!

Her network of coaches and acquaintances is something to behold; she’s always looking to speak and exchange ideas with people from both the men’s and women’s game. All in the pursuit of making the game a better version of what it is and expanding her knowledge of the game and its intricacies.

Looking at her journey, she went from Canada to New Zealand and then Japan, working in the country completely alone. It takes a special kind of person to keep going and striving in those kinds of challenging environments and circumstances. She certainly isn’t afraid to make brave decisions and step into the unknown.

Her approach to working with players, and her commitment to supporting them in every way possible, speaks volumes about her abilities as a people manager. She will never just give you the answer; instead, she asks questions or offers a suggestion.

Working with her in Japan, I could see how much she put into empowering the players to find their way around the game and to take as much ownership of their development as she placed in developing their rugby.

Her team meetings were impressive, to say the least. Always alternative, always educational, always relevant and more often than not, incredibly inspiring.

Lesley will bring this and much more to any programme, whether it’s men or women. She wants to be the best coach she can be. Portugal are getting an astounding coach with a range of skills and knowledge to match anyone in the game. If she thought she had nothing to add, she would be the first to say that she shouldn’t be there. But she has, and she will be invaluable for the Lobos and Lusitanos going forward. I have no doubt.

Same with Shaun Edwards. He will bring detail, ideas, quality and commitment to helping the Red Roses become an even stronger side. He will add another few per cent to England’s chances of winning games. He is a great coach and motivator, bringing energy and high standards.

During my rugby league days, I had the privilege of playing against Shaun on countless occasions. More often than not unsuccessfully! To say he’s a natural-born winner would be stating the obvious; he’s the most decorated rugby league player the game has ever seen.

What made him that winner is what counts. More than a natural-born winner, he’s a natural-born competitor; he literally was the most ferocious opponent you could meet on the field.

But he was, and clearly still is, one of the game’s great students. That’s clearly reflected in his rugby union coaching career. While some outstanding defensive coaches were migrating from league to union in the 90s, Phil Larder and Mike Ford, to name just a couple, Shaun literally revolutionised defence with his work at Wasps and, in doing so, turned them into the powerhouse of English rugby union at the time.

He introduced the concept of UP & IN defence, so fast, so aggressive yet so detailed, that attack coaches couldn’t come to terms with it. Shaun took this into the international arena with Wales and, along with his old stomping partner from Wasps, Warren Gatland, they replicated the success they had at Wasps, only this time in the red of Wales.

Edwards’ move to the Red Roses is another example of how big-name coaches from the men’s game now rate the challenges and opportunities the women’s game offers for them. And for the cynics out there who may see this as an easy win for Edwards and a chance to coast along with a great team already in the seat till the next men’s opportunity comes along, think again.

He only knows one way to operate, and that’s at the top of his game, with the expectation of improving everyone around him and, with it, winning. An expectation he will, I have no doubt, impress on all those around him.

Players and staff will like his approach because Shaun loves rugby and is a world leader at what he does. He comes across as very serious, but he is actually a great people person. He cares deeply about people, and that will strike well with England.

Now, if you are wondering what changes he will bring to England, I would say you will feel a different energy emanating from them, especially in defence. Linespeed, aggression in the contact area, and willingness to take risks in defence. Shaun Edwards loves a highly energised, aggressive defence that won’t be afraid to take chances. It might look unstructured and messy, but it isn’t, because there’s real structure to the strategy he applies.

Organised chaos would be the most suitable way of defining it.

For people who don’t see positives in Lesley McKenzie joining the Portugal men’s national team or Shaun Edwards joining England’s women’s team, I can honestly say that you live in the past.

Teams that want to get closer to winning or build a more successful programme will always hunt for the best coaches in the game, and that’s what those two nations did. It’s a recognition of their ambition, quality, high standards, and vision, and they will show firsthand what they can bring to Portugal and England.