Earlier this month, Gareth Southgate spent time with the England rugby league team to exchange knowledge and ideas with head coach Shaun Wane; it is not the first time the England football manager has collaborated with his opposite numbers in the oval-ball codes
By Marc Bazeley
Last Updated: 26/04/22 6:44am
Gareth Southgate with then-England rugby union defence coach Paul Gustard at a training session in 2017
There is an old saying that football is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, while rugby is a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen. Yet one of the ultimate gentlemen of the round-ball code has found there is plenty to learn from their oval-ball counterparts.
Like many coaches of his generation across various sports, England manager Gareth Southgate has often sought knowledge from other spheres to both improve himself and find different ways of doing things.For instance, just a couple months after being appointed to his current role on a permanent basis, the former defender was in camp with the England rugby union squad as they prepared for the 2017 Six Nations and found plenty he could transfer across. “I think you’re always looking for new ideas,” Southgate told Sky Sports News at the time.”You go away with loads of ideas and things you want to implement. It is great to be alongside people who experience the same sort of scenarios you’re in.”There is a lot more set-play work, so the detail of individual coaching is very interesting for us because it is something we’re looking at in football.”Southgate has met to exchange ideas with opposite number Eddie Jones several times since then and earlier this month was crossing rugby’s divide as well by joining England head coach Shaun Wane at an indoor session for his Rugby League World Cup train-on squad. The 51-year-old was one of the first to arrive and the last to leave as he spent time talking with Wane, England Knights head coach Paul Anderson and the rest of the supp …