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Academy suits English coach

David Ogilvie

ENGLISH rugby coach Jim Mallinder will be at the WestpacTrust Stadium in Wellington tomorrow night to support his former mentor, All Black coach John Mitchell.

That fact is more happy coincidence than anything for Mallinder, coach of the Lancashire club Sale and a former England fullback in his playing days. His main focus is being a member of the coaches class at Murray Mexted's International Rugby Academy, being tutored by a lineup of former All Blacks.

Mallinder, who was Sale fullback—and backline coach—when Mitchell had the club in the mid-to-late 1990s, took the reins at Sale last season and raised the club from 10th to second on the English premier table.

Sale were beaten in the final by Leicester but took the European Sheild as consolation.

Mallinder and Mitchell have remained close friends since their days at the club.

Mallinder was alerted to the Mexted academy by former All Black and England player - and former Mexted teammate - Jamie Salmon, who is now running a consultancy in Britain.

"Something was sent through from him and attracted my interest. It was all done by myself, not the club. I rang John Mitchell and checked out if it was worth making the trip halfway across the world for and he said 'yes'," Mallinder said yesterday.

"Then I approached my club and said it was something that would benefit me as coach and, more importantly, benefit the club. So the club is paying."

The coaches class started on Monday and Mallinder said he learnt more about back row play in an hour from listening and watching skills coaches Graham Mourie, Mark Shaw and Mexted himself work with young players on loose forward defence than he had previously in his entire career.

"You think you know quite a lot about the game but it's only when you listen to guys like this that you know you don't. In that last hour I probably learnt a dozen new things."

Yesterday's work at the academy was based on a specific skill situation - often one coach on one player. Mexted has a strong belief, most definitely true, that much New Zealand coaching is too general.

At the academy, the coaches have Laurie Mains to guide them, and the players have this lineup: David Campese, Sean Fitzpatrick, Grant Fox, Allan Hewson, Richard Loe, Dave Loveridge, Graham Mourie, Murray Pierce, John Schuster, Mark Shaw, and John Mitchell.

Mallinder coaches former Wellington Lion and Hurricanes prop Kevin Yates at Sale.

The veteran forward arrived at Sale "a little bit tired", Mallinder said, but he had freshened up, lost a bit of weight and has gone well, playing 31 out of the 32 games.