JUNE/JULY 2015 // NZ RUGBY WORLD //
95
03
LAURIE MAINS
The former All Black
coach, after a stint
in South Africa, was brought back
to Dunedin to take charge of the
Highlanders in 2002. They made the
semifinals in Mains’ first year and on
the outside at least, it appeared as if
they were well-placed to push harder
in 2003.
But it transpired that a number of
senior players had met with Mains at
the end of 2002 to talk through some
issue that were brewing.
Former All Black captain Anton
Oliver wrote in his autobiography:
“Many of the players were extremely
unhappy; some were disillusioned.
They felt Laurie was too often petty,
needlessly picky about some matters,
and was manipulative in ways that
frequently left them feeling uneasy and
insecure.”
As the 2003 season developed, the
players became more disillusioned
with Mains. Whatever agreements
had been reached the previous
year, were not being honoured. The
situation reached crisis point in April
when the New Zealand Rugby Players’
Association were called in.
The players – 23 of them – had
written a letter to express their
concerns about the way Mains was
treating them. Again, Oliver painted
the picture in his book of Mains being
irregular and inconsistent.
“The rule was no fat, no cheese, no
eggs, no mayonnaise, no butter, but
margarine was okay, for some reason...
I found Laurie’s food-restriction fixation
excessive and plainly ridiculous.”
The Highlanders missed the playos
and Mains left at the end of the season.
DEAN RICHARDS
Well, what can we say?
If the list is coaches who
lost the plot – who other
than Dean Richards could
occupy this spot?
Richards didn’t suer a slow inexorable
meltdown. Nope – he had one act of madness
that changed everything.
As coach of Harlequins he sent a player
onto the field with a fake blood capsule.
Tom Williams was asked to use it so Nick
Evans, who had started at No 10 but had come
after 60 minutes, could be reintroduced in the
final stages of a Heineken Cup quarterfinal
against Leinster.
Richards wanted Evans on the field as the
score was 6-5 and Harlequins needed a drop
goal or penalty to win.
What followed was an extraordinary string
of events that saw several professionals at
Harlequins lose their jobs after it became clear
they were complicit in the saga and actively
bullied Williams into being the fall guy. They
also lied about their involvement and it even
transpired that one medic had inflicted a real cut
on Williams.
“From then on, with the agreement of Tom
Williams, I suggested the fabrication of a story
which led to us all withholding the true facts, a
position that was obviously wrong. I have since
made clear that I accept full responsibility for
what happened and have apologised for my
actions. I honestly believed that I was acting
in the best interests of the club and my
colleagues, a clearly mistaken belief.”
02
MARC LIEVREMONT
Marc Lievremont’s coaching tenure with the French national team
was never going to be conventional.
He was erratic with his selections and no one had any clue how he wanted his
team to play but they kind of muddled along until 2010 when they finally clicked
and won a Grand Slam. All that did, though, was build expectation and France
under Lievremont had no idea how to live up to that. The following year they lost
to Italy in the Six Nations and Lievremont said afterwards: “I told them they are
a bunch of spoiled brats. Undisciplined, disobedient, sometimes selfish. Always
complaining, always whingeing.
“They betrayed us, they have betrayed me and they have betrayed the French
national team shirt. Do you really think I told them to play like that? They weren’t
asked to walk on the moon.”
Worse was to come at the World Cup. France scraped past Japan and Canada,
were thumped by the All Blacks and then lost to
Tonga – at which point Lievremont tried to make
the players drink with him in a post game
bonding session. Most of them refused
and it was apparent the coach had lost the
dressing room – but the following week,
France beat England in the quarterfinal,
playing superbly.
“Yesterday we had the same players
out there as in Wellington against Tonga,
except that they grew a big pair of balls,”
Lievremont said. France would go
within one point of winning the
World Cup and however mad
and removed from reality
Lievremont appeared, he
achieved an enormous
amount.
DIFFERENT STROKES
Anton Oliver and Laurie Mains
were not on the same page.
BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS
It was the lies that really made
bloodgate such a bad incident.
