Top dogs who build teams in own image

A CCORDING to an article on the American website “Psychology Today”, there is scientific evidence to suggest that dogs not only look like their owners, but also share many of their personality traits.

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Rugby folk old enough to remember the French pack of the 1970s will therefore be grateful that they never encountered a hound belonging to Gerard Cholley or Michel Palmie, those XL Bullies in human form.

As far as your columnist is aware – a low bar, admittedly, but let’s not make an issue of it – there has been no formal research into any similar relationship between rugby coaches and their teams. Yet it would be a fruitful area for study, especially now Richard Cockerill is in command of the Georgian national side.

Leicester’s bullet-headed hooker of yore may have found his true place in the world, for to the naked eye, his fundamental rugby characteristics are perfectly aligned with those of his new charges. As a player, he was courageous, durable, confrontational, technically proficient in some areas, just a little rough and ready in others. Which bit of this doesn’t apply to Georgia? None of it.

Our argument can be made more strongly still in respect of Felipe Contepomi, who has just succeeded Michael Cheika as head coach of Argentina and will presumably be given an entire World Cup cycle to build a side capable of taking that one last, forbidding step towards a first global final.