¬.¬Raggs wrote:Watching the england training video, and even when Youngs is passing the ball back to the coach, when he's not under any pressure, in an exercise etc, he still sends it over the top of his head.
twitchy wrote:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... by-league/
Interview with jason ryles the new skills coach.
He literally only just started this week. That quasi-explains the complete lack of ambition in the Italy game, I guess. Hopefully he's a fresh face able to convince Eddie that we're able to do other things than kick the ball away.Jump to navigation
Jason Ryles exclusive interview: Why hottest property in rugby league coaching has swapped codes to join Eddie Jones' England
Having worked under Craig Bellamy at NRL champions Melbourne Storm, Ryles is prepared for exacting standards Jones expects of his assistants
By Daniel Schofield, Deputy Rugby Union Correspondent 6 November 2020 • 11:50am
Jason Ryles watches England train
Jason Ryles started work this week as England's new permanent skills coach Credit: GETTY IMAGES
As the hottest property in rugby league coaching, Jason Ryles could have taken his pick of the top jobs in Australia’s NRL. Instead, he kept his promise to Eddie Jones and started work this week as England’s new skills coach.
Previously the assistant coach at Melbourne Storm, who three weeks ago beat Penrith Panthers in the NRL Grand Final, Ryles was being strongly linked with head-coach vacancies at the North Queensland Cowboys, New Zealand Warriors and his hometown team, St George Illawarra Dragons. He was even being touted as a possible successor to the legendary Craig Bellamy (pictured below) when he steps down at the Storm, which would be the equivalent of taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. According to Storm general manager Frank Ponissi, Ryles is more than ready to become a No 1. “He is ready now, no doubt,” Ponissi said. “I am certain he would have done a very good job.”
However, Ryles did not interview for any of those positions. He had already given his word to England head coach Jones and that was the end of the matter as far as he was concerned. “I was always committed to coming over to fulfil my role with Eddie and England,” Ryles told The Daily Telegraph. “I saw it as an opportunity to work alongside Eddie and the other coaches and to develop my own coaching. It was probably a bit of a leftfield direction but at the same time coaching is coaching. The games are quite similar, more so than you probably think. League guys have previously made a good fist of coaching here so I thought it would be a good development in my coaching to be working with world-class coaches and world-class players.”
So after a period of quarantine, Ryles has begun sharpening up the Six Nations champions ahead of their Autumn Nations Cup campaign. Many of England’s players know exactly why Ryles is rated so highly having come into the camp intermittently as a consultant since 2016, focusing on the 'hit-and-stick' tackle designed to prevent the offload. “Billy, George and Owen are all big league fans so I found an instant connection with those guys, I found them real similar to guys I coach at the Storm in that they always want to get better,” Ryles said. “I did not find one guy who I didn’t get along with. I can’t wait to get started.”
While most coaches with a league background specialise in defence, Ryles will be equally involved in the attack in what Jones has confirmed is a “roving role” as skills coach. He specialises in the contact area where micro-adjustments in body angles and ball placement can yield massive gains.
“Coming from a league background, I probably have different ideas on how we do things and adapting that to union from the ball-carry to the tackle,” Ryles said. “Getting across both sides of the ball and finding something where I can get a bit of an edge in the ball carry, the catch-pass and tackle technique. I’ll look at the way we do things with our attack. Also defensively I can add value in regards to how we do things and see how we possibly adapt that with a few nuances with regard to what they do with the rugby ball.”
Yet Ryles’ greatest quality may be in his rapport with both players and coaches. He has a physical presence that commands respect, but he also knows how to lighten the mood when needed. “He has this wonderful, wonderful ability – I call it ‘the Switch’ – to go from having fun to putting on the footy head,” Ponissi said. “He is as good as I have seen in terms of delivering messages. In his years here, I have not seen him really have to raise his voice.”
During the recent Grand Final, there is a video of the Storm coaching box where Bellamy is suffering a trademark meltdown, booting a chair across the room (watch video below), while Ryles appears completely unruffled. Bellamy is known as ‘Bellyache’ because he never appears satisfied and is always demanding more from his charges. As such, Ryles is perfectly prepared for the exacting standards Jones expects of his assistants.
“I was in an enviornment at the moment where the work ethic from the players, coaches and staff is extremely high,” Ryles said. “I am well aware of what I am going into. If it is any more than what I am experiencing at the moment I would be quite surprised. I got to see Eddie first hand and he is quite similar in a lot of ways to Craig, but different personalities. A lot of the things they do and a lot of the fundamentals around work ethic and consistency and attention to detail I found striking similar.”
For most of his playing career, Ryles never aspired to become a coach. He was good enough to win 15 Australia caps and play State of Origin eight times, but downplays his own ability. “I was nothing out of the ordinary,” Ryles said. “I had to work really hard. It did not come naturally to me but my size helped.”
In 2011, he was released by Sydney Roosters and came to the Storm where all new players, whether teenagers or gnarled veterans, have to undertake a three-day military camp which involves sleep deprivation and gruelling hikes. “It was an experience and a half, I ended up with some chaffage in some awful places,” Ryles said. “I got blisters in places I didn’t know you get blisters.”
Painful introductions aside, Ryles quickly bought into the Storm’s culture which is where the coaching bug first bit. “I realised how important the little things in the game are, and the importance of clarity of your role in the team, and that started to whet my appetite for it,” Ryles said. After he retired in 2013, he began coaching at the semi-professional Western Suburbs Red Devils before returning to the Storm three years later as their forwards coach.
“Given he only did two years of coaching he was probably a bit raw, but he had the essentials,” Ponissi said. “In five years, I don’t remember a coach who has developed as quickly as he has.” Yet Ryles believes his education can be accelerated further still under Jones, even if it means biding his time to become a head coach. “I am not looking to go down that path just yet,” Ryles said. “I was lucky enough to go over a few times and get a taste of working with Eddie and I know that he is going to add so much to my development.”
I disagree - Furbank was given another shot over Malins for Italy given his familiarity with the squad, but he didn't take his opportunity with two hands. Eddie's a big fan of Daly at 15 and, if he's available, I just don't see him playing anywhere else.Scrumhead wrote:I’d like to think that we’ll see Thorley or Malins come in to the back three, but I imagine Furbank will be kept at 15 with Daly coming in on the wing.
Well Eddie has been talking about hybrid players and the kid used to play 12 as well right?twitchy wrote:
His school master wanted to upskill him, so whilst he had him throwing in at lineouts, he would be at 12 for scrums and open play.FKAS wrote:Well Eddie has been talking about hybrid players and the kid used to play 12 as well right?twitchy wrote:
Great vision by the sports master. He certainly looks the business for Wasps. Burgess whilst at Bath used to run at 12 as a third centre almost for a lot of lineouts and attack in open play so as to make the most of his ability to carry hard. In defence he'd play as a normal blindside and just got an hit things.Raggs wrote:His school master wanted to upskill him, so whilst he had him throwing in at lineouts, he would be at 12 for scrums and open play.FKAS wrote:Well Eddie has been talking about hybrid players and the kid used to play 12 as well right?twitchy wrote:
HeheMikey Brown wrote:Come on Eddie, get Paul Grant in the squad. Whoever that is.
Is qualification via the Olympic backdoor route still an option on the off chance Eddie likes slightly meh players out of NZ?Mellsblue wrote:HeheMikey Brown wrote:Come on Eddie, get Paul Grant in the squad. Whoever that is.
FTFY.Digby wrote:Is qualification via the Olympic backdoor route still an option on the off chance Eddie still likes slightly meh players out of NZ?Mellsblue wrote:HeheMikey Brown wrote:Come on Eddie, get Paul Grant in the squad. Whoever that is.