Central contracts system under discussion as England pick up World Cup pieces

In an interview in Brisbane with The Times Rugby League Blog, RFL executive chairman Richard Lewis gives his thoughts on England's World Cup flop and the challenges and possible solutions ahead, including a central contracts system for England international players

"The debrief has already started. It's very important to get coaches and players' perspective. We did that in 2006. We might broaden it out. I was impressed with the recent conference involving NRL players and coaches, in order to get a broad cross section of views. I don't think there's a magic wand. It's about [numbers of] overseas players, the different interpretation over the way the game is played around the ruck, and our depth of talent.

"Some of the things we've done over the last couple of years do stand up to scrutiny. Licensing, for instance. There is no excuse for clubs not investing in British talent, but I don't think there's a quick fix solution. There were things that were very hard to explain in the World Cup. So many England players played below their potential. I can't give an answer for that and maybe they can't either, but it wasn't for lack of effort or preparation.

"It is fair to say the pressure built up more each match. PNG took England by surprise and then Australia really blew a hole in the confidence of the team, in my view. By the time we got to the semi-final, the team were desperate to turn it on against New Zealand, but I don't think the confidence was there. It was a team who had lost confidence. Sport is about momentum and, if you play badly, you lose confidence.

"They didn't play well against Australia apart from a spell, PNG put them on the back foot and there was  that bad spell in the first game against New Zealand. I think there was an element of bad luck. The referee [Australia's Tony Archer, the international referee of the year] made some pretty big mistakes in that first match against New Zealand. It's not an excuse, but it compounded a brittleness within the team. These guys may lose a couple of games at club level and come back and play well but at international level it's far harder and England haven't built on their track record. Last year's 3-0 win over the Kiwis seemed a long time ago when they played them again in the semi-finals.

"I was very struck by Darren Lockyer's comments post Melbourne, when he said how well Australia had played but that their performance was built on their defence. They held their line for 20-25 minutes under real pressure from England and conceded one try. That gave them the confidence. Take our semi-final, when we were nervously trying to hang on to the ball. The mantra was simply to complete a set of six. I've queried before why we don't pass and hang on to the ball as well as Australia and I'm told it's confidence.

"In Super League we do play a bit shallower, whereas here the second and third man are running from deep. Tony Smith worked with the team an hour longer than planned at the stadium the day before the semi-final on the specifics of dummy runners and they were finding it very difficult to too defend even then.

"There's no doubt it's a setback. We'd good momentum going into this tournament, good crowds in Super League, increased TV viewing figures and I think slightly increased coverage of the game in the national press. I'm not sure that will necessarily stop. The 2009 Four Nations will be built up as our chance for revenge. In Super League it will fairly quickly be forgotten because we'll see good contests, but the challenges will be there.

"Clubs say they are very keen on homegrown players and better quality and reduced quantity of overseas players. We've got to create opportunities for British players, but at the end of the day they've got to be good enough. Under licensing there is a rationale for challenging clubs more. Clubs will say it's our business, but with licensing it does give the opportunity to ask more searching questions. There are times [in the cases of some overseas signings] when you do wonder.

"Central contracts are something I'd to like to look at and something I talked privately about after the 2006 Tri-Nations series. I wouldn't want to see central contracts like the ones in cricket and rugby union, involving massive amounts of money and players being taken out of the Super League competition for long period of times. It's about the ability to work with them, to try and work in conjunction with their clubs in developing these players a bit more - to put some icing on the cake, so to speak. I don't know details but it's something we should all look at." PICTURES BY ANDREW VARLEY AGENCY

RFL investigates England's World Cup failure - see story in Friday's Times HERE

Comments

[John Ryan]

Untill the SL starts bringing it own players through and stops running to the NRL clubs and throwing money around the UK side will get nowhere.
You people would be far better spending the 5 mil on your own juniors or setting up a junior competition in schools, unis and BARLA,other wise like the premier league you will have a spot the English man and a 3rd rate touring side.
Untill you stop thinking that buying Aussie and NZ players is the be all and end you your clubs should study the juniors system in OZ and try to emulate it

[John Ryan]

Untill the SL starts bringing it own players through and stops running to the NRL clubs and throwing money around the UK side will get nowhere.
You people would be far better spending the 5 mil on your own juniors or setting up a junior competition in schools, unis and BARLA,other wise like the premier league you will have a spot the English man and a 3rd rate touring side.
Untill you stop thinking that buying Aussie and NZ players is the be all and end you your clubs should study the juniors system in OZ and try to emulate it

[griffo]

its come to something when Mr Lewis starts talking tactics-

i didnt know he had a coaching qualification

[KWC]

Look at one stat to begin:
European league = 39% non European players.
Compared to the European level, the imported players are a cut above. Compare the imports to players in the Aussie league; the imports are almost always second rate.

[albert whittle]

I feel the only good thing to come out of this disaster is that, International Rugby League is now being taken seriously again.
Australia are going head to head with England to again stage the next World Cup after making a £2 million profit, we now have five years to sort out this mess, starting with next seasons 4 nations.

[mike hunt]

the problem is the same people who dished out a liscence to celtic wotevrs and not widnes (who put most superleague clubs to shame, with their excellent facilities) are still in charge so I m not filled with confidence on anything Dick Lewis says apart from Fault,duce, and maybe game!

[K Senior]

If this pulls off, ill be at the next World Cup too as there is no one who can replace me. And lets not forget chaps I got rated a 10 on a recent performance.

[Turkey Boy]

I'd take a contract out on Keith Senior - a failure to tackle.