How To Use The Rugby Black Book
By Dan Cottrell
Sir Clive Woodward’s “Black Book” is often used as one of the key
reasons that England won the 2003 World Cup. “Failure to plan is
planning to fail” seems as good a reason to try to use some of the
ideas used in the world cup winning coach’s document.
What is “the black book”?
It sets out where the team has come
from, where it is going and how it is
going to get there. It defines the culture
of the team and what each element
of the team stands for.
Reasons to create your own
black book
1. You focus: helps you, as the
coach, focus on the goals and aspirations
for the team – this may be
more illuminating than you think
when you sit down to do it!
2. Selling a team message: with a
reference point, the team can be
told/sold ideas more effectively.
The best “black book” will have
been discussed with all the players
and support staff (stakeholders)
and to a certain extent agreed.
Policies are easier to implement
based on the “black book” objectives.
3. Pressures off: many of the coaching
headaches are not about playing
the game itself, but getting the
required number of players onto
the pitch at the right time in the
right gear and in the right mind.
Passing and catching the ball is a
bonus at times. The book goes
someway to answer those questions,
giving you more time to
focus on the game.
An eye for detail?
Early in Sir Clive’s reign, well
before the 2003 World Cup, a new
member of the medical staff
turned up to help at a training session.
Eager to please, and not yet
awash with new kit, the nervous
medic donned a cap he had bought
at a previous international game.
At the session, he spys CW in the
distance, but is surprised as the
England supremo walks smartly
towards him. Before he can even
greet the coach, Woodward grabs
the medic’s cap, throws it to one
side and immediately calls for an
O2 cap to replace the offending
Cellnet item. An eye for detail or
making sure your corporate sponsors
are happy?
What was in England’s
Black Book?
1. Objectives for players, head
coach and management.
2. Who’s Who.
3. A code of conduct for everyone.
4. Getting ready for an international
match.
5. The support teams: medical,
technical, media, sponsorship.
6. Policies and procedures.
7. A schedule up to the World Cup.
Don’t worry about:
1. The length: small is beautiful, less
is more. Players and support staff
won’t want to wade through pages
and pages of ramblings. Keep it
simple and short. You can always fill
in the gaps later. The black book is
the starting point. It cannot play the
game for you.
2. The language: Woodward is an
arch user of “business speak”, but he
also knows that when he needs to
make a clear message, he needs to
speak to everyone. Make the book
practical, not inspirational.
3. Getting started on writing it: it
is a classic “leave until a long
winter’s evening” project, one sheet
of A4 is as good as a weighty
manual. Remember the thinking
process is as important to you as
getting it down on paper.
This article is taken from my Rugby Coach newsletter.
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“Drills should always finish by posing problems where there is more than one solution”
Pierre Villepreux, French coaching guru.
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By Andrew Griffiths
Our Archive. Inspiring and insightful information, free!
A newspaper editor I once worked for used to insist “if a story is worth telling, it’s worth telling more than once”. And of course the very best and most compelling tales are passed down the generations, perhaps getting altered here and there, but essentially being retold thousands of times, entirely proving his point.
What’s this got to do with rugby? Well, when it comes to rugby coaching advice, or any kind of advice in fact, there is a similar point to be made. You may read a smart piece on rucking technique, a defence system, or kicking strategy and think “I can use that”, but does it sink in? Do you always remember where you read it? Do you remember to use it? Advertising gurus say consumers need to be exposed seven times to advertising before the message is recognised properly. For rugby coaches, reading about a new technique, using it, remembering it and practising it can also be a long process.
All of us need reminding of what’s good and what’s not, and sometimes simply reminding of things that we already knew, but perhaps had put to the back of our minds.
What is all this leading up to? Well, I’m writing to persuade you to revisit the wealth of free rugby coaching advice articles now available on our Better Rugby Coaching website www.betterrugbycoaching.com
There are nearly 100 articles, organised into the following ten sections. Defence, Fitness, Handling, Kicking, Line Out & Scrums, Management, Rucks & Mauls, Strategy & Tactics, Touch Rugby, and Training. We will be adding more on a regular basis.
If you can’t find something of value here, something you didn’t know, something you knew and had forgotten, or something that you just needed reminding of, you must already know all there is about rugby coaching! If not, have a look now, add the page to your favourites, and come back to find specific advice when you need it.
Andrew Griffiths is the publisher of Better Rugby Coaching.
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