As the World Cup warm-up matches across the globe are being watched and dissected, the outcomes of two Under-18 games has gone almost unnoticed. Last week Leinster’s Under-18s travelled across the water and defeated Leicester 26-19 before they went on to trounce Wasps 49-14.
While the World Cup is now only a matter of days away, the never ending task of elite player development doesn’t sleep. As the motto of the USA Olympic committee so prophetically puts it: “It’s not every four years. It’s every day.”
There are players in today’s Under-18 competitions who will be wearing their country’s jersey at the Rugby World Cup in 2027 and 2031. Every national team is completely reliant upon the quality of the high performance system below them.
Today, the world’s top four ranked rugby nations (Ireland, New Zealand, France and South Africa) have playing philosophies that kids begin to experience at around the age of 14. These philosophies are generated in the systems far below the national team. As Leinster’s mantra says, it is from the ground up. It is a long-term process that cannot be rushed.
When rugby systems educate players, based on a philosophy of play that becomes ingrained across many seasons in schools, clubs, academies and then into the professional ranks, eventually the national team will benefit. Big time.
It is no accident that both England and Australia are struggling. In both countries, the systems below their national teams are failing. Yet the leadership of both countries seem to have bought into the short-term belief that sacking their coaches will magically make their teams successful. Recent results are proof that this thinking is folly.
The standards of the professional club teams in both England and Australia have plummeted because the elite player development systems and coaching standards in the pathways beneath their professional teams have deteriorated.
The concept that sacking the coach will solve this problem and create a successful national team, without deep and meaningful reform, is like placing a Band-Aid on a shark bite. It is an inadequate and inappropriate action that will not remedy the problem.
England’s decision to remove Eddie Jones was either a deception by the RFU leadership, who do not wish to admit that on their watch they have allowed standards and processes to deteriorate, or worse still, they do not have the rugby intellect to comprehend the gravity of their internal situation.
The demise of the Wallabies and Australian rugby as a powerhouse was the combination of both of these leadership catastrophes. A successive series of leadership teams have for decades blamed the national coach and not the internal functions of the national body’s high performance program to produce quality players.
Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick are both exceptionally talented coaches. For that matter so was the former Wallaby coach Dave Rennie.
All three coaches are the victims of years of failed leadership and decision making that led to the degrading of the high performance systems that should be producing conveyor belts of talent.
With the vast swathes of schools and club programmes that swirl across the English game, it is incredulous that the professional club game in England is so grievously ill. With the ocean of resources at the disposal of the RFU, England should be dominating global rugby like New Zealand and South Africa.
The current structure of the game in England is not preparing their players to dominate at the international level because English rugby has no overriding philosophy of how their game should be played.
This is because it is the individual Premiership clubs, and not the national body, who determine the philosophy of how English rugby is played. It is no accident that what has evolved is a mishmash of rugby concepts that has England’s highly creative players, like Marcus Smith, excelling in the Premiership but struggling to the point of failure at the international level.
Unlike France, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa there is no definable English style of play. Mauling followed by a kick does not qualify as a philosophy.
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If we look dispassionately at the facts, the enormity of the English system should dominate Ireland in every match. Yet this weekend at the Aviva we may see the exact opposite as the current Grand Slam champions look to continue a record breaking winning streak on home soil.
Below their national team, Ireland’s Under-20s have won this year’s Grand Slam and reached the World Cup final. And Irish provincial teams have dominated the English sides in the Champions Cup.
Which brings us back to Leinster’s winning Under-18s team. It is no accident these Under-18s are good. They have been excellently coached for five seasons by Brett Igoe, who is a long-term rugby comrade with a 20 year relationship with elite professional teams and whose rugby intellect I deeply respect.
As a club, Leinster take this section of their elite player development so exceptionally seriously that they assigned a club great, Rhys Ruddock, as Brett’s assistant. The province provides the 35-man squad with a 10-week preparation window, with full sports science, medical and nutritional support.
Leo Cullen takes an active interest in the team, so the next crop of Leinster and potential Irish players are being coached to an exceptionally high standard in the Leinster philosophy of play. A philosophy that Andy Farrell has so successfully adopted for Ireland.
Crucially, the players are introduced to the winning culture and the demanding standards that Leinster has cultivated.
Yet the rugby journey of these Under-18 players started years before they set foot inside any provincial academy representative team. They have been mentored and coached within Leinster’s and Ireland’s philosophy along their journey at their schools and junior clubs.
This is why Ireland’s prospects for the next two World Cups will remain highly positive.
England and Australia have to confront some tough realities and implement deep systemic change, or their path to the next two tournaments will be as rocky as this one, with a string of broken coaching contracts and both teams continuing to underperform.
