There are few players past or present better placed to pass judgment on whether there is room in English rugby for free spirits, whether individualism can thrive in a sport with such a team ethos, than Joe Marler.
The veteran prop once turned up to an England camp sporting a red mohawk and rat’s tail for good measure – “I looked horrific” – and was asked promptly by Martin Johnson, head coach at the time, whether he would be getting a haircut. He did not, and was released the next day – though Andrew Sheridan’s return to fitness probably had more to do with it.
The debate has surfaced again because Danny Cipriani has made clear his thoughts in his book Who Am I? and in these pages. “I wasn’t a maverick, I was a decision-maker”, is his view and the thrust running through it all is that rugby is a sport that does not trust people who do not conform and that, in turn, engenders an environment of fear.
Marler, for his part, is not completely convinced – “Is Cips’s book fiction or non-fiction?” – but he has been brutally honest in the past about how he struggles spending long spells away from his family in suffocating environments and has previously ruled himself out of England tours and campaigns. He even retired from international rugby at one point.
But in what is implicit criticism of Eddie Jones’s methods – the former England coach’s intention was to make the players comfortable being uncomfortable – Marler says the current environment under Steve Borthwick has changed for the better immeasurably and a freedom for players to express themselves exists where it did not in previous regimes.
“Having been out of the previous environment for 18 months and then coming back into Steve’s environment and experiencing it for the first time in a World Cup camp and now here, there has been a huge difference in terms of how a lot of the group have felt, who they can be and how they can behave,” Marler says. “I think that’s had a massive effect on how they are approaching training and how they are enjoying themselves both on and off the pitch.
“Society has changed. It’s true society has probably moved faster than rugby but it is getting there. You’re getting a lot more boys who are comfortable in being themselves and being encouraged to be themselves. Because you’ll get the best out of players if they do feel comfortable and they’re enjoying the work space that they’re in.”
That freedom for self-expression can manifest itself in various ways but it is not something that can be forced or artificially created. At England’s team base in Le Touquet, Marler cuts a relaxed figure and the same can be said of the rest of the squad, all the more so after they began their World Cup campaign with a fine victory against Argentina. Marler, however, concedes it is something that requires continual focus.
“I just try my hardest to encourage that environment to keep that consistent because it does need work. It does not just happen. It does need work to keep on top of that and make sure that you are checking in on each other for long periods of time away from home and families and [with] the intensity of a World Cup bubble.
“Boys are far more comfortable to smile and enjoy themselves and be themselves in the whole environment; in meetings, in food areas, in team areas – not just behind closed doors with their mates, which has been the case in previous environments I have been involved in.
“I’ve always found it very easy to be myself whether it was under previous regimes or under this one because … I couldn’t give a fuck. It’s up to the individual. You’ve got a choice in how you react to being told something.
“That day, for example, Martin Johnson said you need to cut your hair before training. It’s up to me how I take that. Is he being serious, or no, actually I’m going to have my hair the way I want it. Does that mean I don’t get selected? OK, so be it. Do I want to play the game? OK, maybe I will toe the line to a degree in order to be part of this team. Because ultimately it’s a team sport and we all have to unite to a certain point.
“The perfect position would be everyone to be working towards what’s best for the team whilst still being able to show who they are, what they’re about, how they want to do it and how they can add to it.”
