Cavanagh’s Approach To Coaching Problems

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 August 1948, Page 4 (Supplement)

Cavanagh’s Approach To Coaching Problems

Mr V. G. Cavanagh, jun., a member of the South Island selection committee, and one of the selectors and principal coach of the Otago provincial team, holders of the Ranfurly Shield, by now has become one of the most celebrated, and certainly one of the most effective, coaches in the country, and it was with the idea of obtaining an impression of his approach to the problem of coaching that I sought an interview with him when he Avas watching the West CoastCanterbury match at Christchurch, writes a staff correspondent of the Ncav Zealand Herald. It is soon apparent, when one talks with him, that he has a great deal of the first need in coaching, enthusiasm. Second, he has genuine eloquence. It would be very difficult not to be captivated by this combination of an enormous liking for Rugby and a superior ability to talk about theories of the game. On top of these two qualities, Mr Cavanagh has, as his record proves, a Avide and deep knowledge of Rugby. These is nothing original in Avhat he teaches, he says. It can all be found in the books of leading British Avriters on the game. He has a theory that New Zealanders by now have developed an instinct for Rugby, but he also thinks that New Zealanders blunt that instinct by being opinionated about their ability in the game. The British work out the strength of particular styles of play at some length and with a good deal of system; and, having no false ideas of superior ability, they are not guilty, as New Zealanders in Mr Cavanagh’s opinion can be,, of discarding this, that or the other style of attack because there is too much trouble in working it out properly. Failing in Fitness Mr Cavanagh thinks, for instance, that nine-tenths and more of all NewZealand Rugby players, especially forwards, never become properly fit. He considers that the preparation for 80 minutes of hard Rugby must be no less intensive than a boxer’s training for 15 rounds of fighting, or a sprinter’s for a 100-yard race. But, he says, no team ever approaches its task in this way. Half an hour of helterskelter running about the paddock or the training shed twice a week is usually considered good enough. “We don’t play about with our Otago team,” Mr Cavanagh says. ‘We practise for 80 minutes or more and we practise hard. When a forward goes down on the ball, he gets booted off it if he hangs on too long, and every man has to make his tackles as hard as if he were playing in a match. No one ever gets killed in a tackle; you might get sore, but that soon wears off.” Two days before the proposed match for the shield against South Canterbury a fortnight ago, when so much rain had fallen in Dunedin that the prospects for the match already were extremely doubtful, Mr Cavanagh had the 22 players of the representative group out for a full period of training in constant rain oh one of the Dunedin parks. If any man had refused, not without cause, to turn out in such conditions, his place in the team woulfi have been forfeit. Except on a tour, there is no such thing as too much work for a footballer, according to Mr Cavanagh. You mav indulge this or that theory about the way to win matches when you talk with Mr Cavanagh, but sooner or later he will have you back at his favourite belief that the forward pack is the foundation of the good Rugby team. A forward, he says, cannot let up throughout the 80 minutes of the game, and however well he is working, there is a demand for more from him. "A modern forward must not be just fjt.” says Mr Cavanagh. "He must be a superman.”

Theory Of Forward Play

In his approach to forward play, Mr Cavanagh imagines a line drawn across the field between the two teams, and he works either to fortify or to penetrate that line according to whether or not his team has possession.. If his team is defending—that is, if the other side has possession—Mr Cavanagh seeks to allow no attacker past that line because then, as he points out, his forwards have to run back to get to the’ ball ,If on the other hand, Mr Cavanagh's team has possession, he seeks to penetrate the line, first to impose a strain on the opposing forward team and second to allow his own forwards to run forward to the ball. If the ball is trapped, his forwards must be the first to it, they must take command of it, and depending on the need of the moment they must either take the ball through themselves or heel it with such speed that the backs, having the overlap, obtain the initial advantage for another attacking movement. . There are no fanciful phrases m Mr

Cavanagh's eloquence as he talks of this and other theories. He does not say. “Employ aggressive action.” "Hit hard,” he says, and as he uses the words he hits his open palm with his clenched fist and puts bite into the word, "hard.” Every action on the field, in fact, must be hard-hitting. There is no such thing as soft forward plav. A wing-threequarter who has the ball in a promising situation must not onlv run for the goal-line, but he must also “run hard.” The fitter a team, the harder it can play and the harder it can play the more pressure it can apply. “In the South Island, we do not have as much of the great individual talent as you so often seem to have in the North Island,” Mr Cavanagh said. “As a result, we have to set ourselves limited objectives and work to perfect our ability. We have to depend on teamwork instead of on brilliant individualists in key positions. Teamwork—that is what we strive for and that is what we have to get to do well.” Mr Cavanagh said he was quite sure that the Auckland team which last year lost in the Ranfurley Shield challenge, 18-12, after leading 12-3 at halftime, contained-a higher proportion of brilliant individual players than Otago’s. If he could be given men like F. R. Allen, L. W. Deas and some others to put into a team, he would be very happy indeed. However, Auckland's challenge failed, even with these fine players, because, he thought, the team at that time had not quite appreciated the value of teamwork.

“I told our fellows at half-time that I wanted ten minutes of everything they had Avhen the second " spell started,” Mr Cavanagh said. "I did not care whether we were beaten by 40 to 3 or 100 to 3, as long as they'put everything into it for those ten minutes. The result Avas, as you know, that. Otago Avon because Auckland, with its lesser appreciation of teamwork, could not close up the game and stand the pace until Otago’s effort Avas spent.” Study Of Players Mr Cavanagh makes a close study of his players. He will tell you of one of his strongest backs that he is a more dangerous player on one side of the scrum than on the other because with his dangerous side he can bump and brush past a player—but he will leave in to you to find out which is the stronger side. Then he will tell you about another player who is retained in the pack in spite of the fact that he is too long in the back for the front row, insufficiently lively for the side of the scrum and not well enough versed for the back row. The man in question is played because, in spite of his demerits, “he is a fine forward.” Another illustration of Mr Cavanagh’s attention to detail can be given from his remarks about the challenge from North Auckland last season. After studying the North Auckland team’s record, especially as to individual players, he gave Otago less than an even chance of retaining the shield. The brilliant individuals of the North Auckland team, especially in the backline, had ,an ability greater than anything Otagb could muster, in Mr Cavanagh's belief, and this someAvhat gloomy prognosis Avas fortified Avhen North Auckland beat Auckland. Then Mr Cavanagh watched the North Auckland, team at training. He noticed that the forwards, after heeling the ball, ran straight up the field with the apparent belief that the backs would penetrate and swing the passingback, or that the wing-threequarter, when blocked, would centre-kick. This was an interesting and profitable discovery. In the team talk which he always gives on the evening before the match, Mr Cavanagh enlarged on this habit of the North Auckland pack. He commanded that the Otago backs should tackle surely and that the Otago forwards should follow the ball. The result was, he says, that the Otago pack was always at or near the ball when a rush was stopped in the outside backs and that the North Auckland pack for the most part Avas running up the field, well away from the scene of play. While Mr Cavanagh talks of the game which he has so much at heart, his eyes light up, he cannot restrain an enthusiastic gesture and his eloquence becomes fervent. It is easy to imagine how, at team-talks, 15 or 20 keenlyreceptive young men become infected with his idea that each must put his best into a common effort for the sake of the reputation of Otago Rugby. Howwell that infectious eloquence has served the province, the record already shows. It seems, on the whole, a very great pity that his services are not available for consideration for the All Black team in South Africa next year.