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'You need Santa, Jesus and a winning lottery ticket to fix that mess'

By Liam Heagney

Dragons enjoyed a dead cat bounce on Friday night, their first since they unceremoniously jettisoned Bernard Jackman on December 11. A last-gasp Blues penalty was all that denied them a 16-all draw after they were reduced to 14 players with Lloyd Fairweather’s red card on 31 minutes.

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This admirable grit to dig in was resilience consistently absent during Jackman’s short-lived reign. There years the Irishman was to be in situ for. In the end, all he got was 548 days and the sack before Christmas.

It was a grubby exit. Shown the door by the Welsh Rugby Union within weeks of receiving a stadium ban following criticism of a Welsh referee. Contrast that to the June 12, 2017, bells and whistles unveiling. Warren Gatland was in the foothills of running the Lions tour in New Zealand, yet he still found time to ravenously support Jackman’s appointment at a club newly taken over by the WRU.

Descriptions such as ‘ideal fit’, ‘huge asset’, ‘will create the right environment’, ‘is someone supporters can put their trust in’ were a taste of Gatland’s ringing endorsement.

Bernard Jackman (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Jackman had only 90 days earlier fractiously parted company with Grenoble in the French Top 14. Yet here he was, swopping the Alps for the River Usk and making big promises that eventually became a millstone.

He held nothing back in The Dragons Lair, the behind-the-scenes Rugby Pass documentary filmed that first pre-season. ‘I’m not going spend the rest of my life at Dragons. I will hopefully get back to Ireland at some stage. But I want to make sure that whatever length of time I stay here, whether it is three, five, 10, 15 years, that when I leave here people say I did a good job,’ he said, claiming qualification for a Champions Cup they hadn’t participated in since 2010/11 would be a ‘huge legacy’ to have.

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‘The big picture is a chance to unite the region and make people proud of saying they support Dragons. If I was a Dragons supporter, I wouldn’t say I was proud to support the Dragons as of today. But I would be very disappointed in a year’s time if they weren’t proud to support the Dragons.’

That burst of pride never materialised, a 25 percent win rate (11 wins in 44 outings) leaving the club muddling in the same slow lane it was in when Jackman arrived. Lack of progress in year one was understandable. He had to work with an inherited squad that had underperformed under the previous regime.

However, much better was expected second time round. There was an influx of 14 new players, among them notable names such as Ross Moriarty, Rhodri Williams and Richard Hibbard, but improvements were threadbare and fans voted with their feet.

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Dragons attracted a 6,133 attendance for Jackman’s maiden home outing in September 2017. Fourteen months later, in his last home game before his sacking, just 4,503 were at Rodney Parade for another Leinster clash, a game Jackman himself ironically couldn’t even attend due to his stadium ban.

This 1,630 drop-off would have lost the club a minimum £25,000 in gate receipts (cheapest adult ticket is £15), downturn replicated in other year-on-year fixtures. Even the traditionally big derby with Cardiff fell 1,346 on his first season’s crowd (over £20,000).

Jackman’s critics weren’t shy when he was ousted. Former Wales flanker Martyn Williams described the club as ‘embarrassing’, claiming he was still bewildered 18 months later as to why Jackman was appointed in the first place.
‘Let’s be brutally honest, I was really surprised he got the job,’ he said on BBC Radio. ‘It was left-field. I know a lot of people were frustrated. If we give it to an Irish coach, why not give it to a young Welsh coach who had got a little bit of pedigree?’

As an outsider with no loyalties, Jackman’s task was to cause mayhem. To act as a no-nonsense sheriff out to break established bad habits and expose weak mentalities.

It was what Australian Michael Cheika had successfully accomplished when shaking up Leinster. What Kiwi Gatland had done when transforming Wales following their humiliating 2007 World Cup pool exit.

Jackman’s withering RugbyPass documentary put-down of centre Pat Howard in front of the whole squad was an example of how he wouldn’t accept sloppiness. Wouldn’t accept laziness. Wouldn’t mince his words.

‘You don’t come f****** here to go for a jog,’ he said. ‘There’s a promenade down in Penarth, is it? A promenade in Port Talbot. Go f****** jog there. You were going to get game time this weekend. Now you’re not…. I’m not going to come here every f****** review and talk about poor attitude and poor work-rate. Is it clear?’

Howard was cut from the roster last summer and while Jackman mellowed approach this term, claiming he would lean more on his senior player leadership group following a very autocratic first year, results to back-up rumbustious methods were never realised.

It was generally felt the maximum wasn’t being got out of players. That the chopping and changing at out-half was a hindrance. That the November 15 sacking of Hendre Marnitz, the defence coach who oversaw the leakage of 127 tries in 29 league outings (average of a try conceded every 19 minutes), was long overdue.

Jackman, who had known Marnitz from the South African’s time at Buccaneers in the All-Ireland League, was then gone himself 27 days later. He took his expendability with good grace. Within 35 minutes of Dragons posting an announcement on Twitter, Jackman replied with a best of luck message to the players and the next man in.

Complimentary tweets from supporters followed thanking him for his effort. One in particular best summed up the miracle needed to breathe real fire back into Dragons. ‘You need Santa, Jesus and a winning lottery ticket to fix that mess. Kudos for your hard work, coach.’

How true. Other than a pair of consecutive Challenge Cup semi-final appearances in 2015 and 2016, Dragons have been repeatedly rubbish, rotting away for more than a decade. Even in 2003/04, when Mike Ruddock was at the helm and they came within four points of league champions Scarlets, home support was an average 4,042 average.

Now on course for a 14th successive season where they will lose more league games than they win in a campaign, it’s evident their increased budget of £4.5m is still insufficient when Welsh rivals have £6m to play with.

There is no quick fix. Extra time, considerably more investment and way more patience is required, a sobering reality that could yet see history reflect kindly on Jackman’s fleeting stint. He openly challenged the culture of failure, rolled with the punches, improved the club’s touchy relations with grassroots neighbours and has left a potentially better squad for his successor to work with than he inherited.

Jackman won’t be short of a crust in the meantime. His Irish media activity remained constant at Dragons, commitment that was used in Wales as a criticism of him. His coaching career, though, needs re-evaluation after six-and-a-half years away from Ireland.

He was linked to Connacht last May following Kieran Keane’s sacking, but said at the time it would be ‘unbelievably harsh (to leave Dragons) and I’m very much committed to my current role’. He’s now on the market as a coach ousted from his last two positions and the likelihood is the 42-year-old will again have to go abroad to take his next step.
Overseas adventure is a family trait. His grandfather worked on the Rockefeller Centre and numerous building-industry uncles also travelled to improve their quality of life. Building things is similarly Jackman’s career motivation and while Dragons was too awkward a project, the fumble can only stand to him in the long run. He will have learnt a heap in his 548 days in Newport.

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Jon 4 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

30 Go to comments
A
Adrian 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

30 Go to comments
T
Trevor 12 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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