Brian Ashton is a man of many talents. In addition to being a fluent Italian speaker and a former history teacher, he was on the Lancashire ground staff and played in the same youth cricket sides as David Lloyd, Frank Hayes and David Hughes. Over 40 years ago he was a drummer good enough to appear on the same bill in Wigan as The Beatles, just before the Fab Four became global superstars. John, Paul, George and Brian? Music's loss has been rugby's gain.
Of all the challenges in his life, however, the self-effacing Ashton admits there has never been anything on this scale. At an age when many of his contemporaries are contemplating an easier life, Ashton's 61st birthday on Monday was spent travelling to Paris where, over the next three weeks, he will be required to bring an alchemist's touch to a monochrome England team. Many aspects of the head coach's job come naturally after decades of tracksuited toil; the cheerleader role is less straightforward. At the official England send-off at The O2 in Greenwich last Thursday he was required to negotiate a narrow, 40-metre-long catwalk to be interviewed on a revolving podium by GMTV's Ben Shepherd. It was about as incongruous as Gordon Brown strolling into a karaoke club.
As ever he kept it simple and gave little away. His pre-match routine? Eating a Mars Bar. How does he feel? Excited. The audience would never have guessed, certainly not from the way England played in their three warm-up Tests, that Ashton is the possessor of one of the more visionary brains in British sport. Despite a penchant for traditional English food, his coaching is resolutely open-minded.
"He uses one line: 'If you don't try things, I'll drop you,'" reveals Mike Catt, his most trusted on-field lieutenant. "From a player's perspective that's brilliant because you don't feel intimidated. He's got a mean streak like every coach should have but you can talk to him. It's not forbidden fruit to go have a chat. He's got a hellishly good knowledge of the game."
But therein lies the biggest conundrum of England's World Cup campaign. For decades, whether it be preparing schoolboy teams at Stonyhurst or King's Bruton or top-class sides with Bath and England, Ashton's gift has been to set players free, to release them from the shackles of convention which choke so many rugby XVs. And then what happens? He gets parachuted in as Andy Robinson's replacement nine months before the World Cup, with barely time to repair the suspension on the battered sweet chariot, let alone add go-faster stripes. Even visionaries need a pragmatic streak and the ultra-experienced squad selected by Ashton is something of a giveaway.
By this stage in England's 2003 campaign, of course, Clive Woodward had everything sorted from peripheral vision coaches to the colour of his team manager's lipgloss. He had also had a failed World Cup expedition in 1999 to learn from. Ashton, by contrast, spoke last week of pressing the fast-forward button and not knowing quite what will happen next. "It's not the ideal way to do it. Given the choice we'd have had a good four-year run-in but you've just got to deal with the reality of your situation."
The task, nevertheless, is not wholly hopeless. Back in 1995 the late Kitch Christie had been in charge of South Africa for barely eight months when the Springboks won the Webb Ellis Cup, employing an unapologetically simple but effective game plan which rode shotgun alongside the Nelson Mandela-inspired euphoria of the times. Christie had the benefit of home advantage but the similarities are numerous: no-nonsense coach, hard-working forwards, disciplined defence, the element of surprise.
Forensic detail
Ashton, a scrum-half who toured Australia with England in 1975 but never won a full cap, has also gone to extreme lengths to ensure his men are mentally ready. The Rugby Football Union has even hired a forensic psychiatrist to boost their chances: Dr Steve Peters, the man behind British cycling's medal-winning success. "The last time he visited us all the recent England captains, plus another who has led Great Britain at rugby league, asked to see him," says Ashton. "You'd think that if anyone would be sceptical it would be the guys who have already been there and done it." The British Cycling Federation's performance director, Dave Brailsford, has described the 55-year-old Peters as "a genius" and "the best-kept secret in British sport". Ashton is confident his players will stand firm when the pressure comes on.
A stint with the Royal Marines also taught the head coach much about his charges. The players thought they were flying to Faro when they -assembled at Bournemouth Airport but, without warning, were ordered back on the bus and driven to Poole for a three-day exercise. Among other things they were required to enter the pitch-black, smoke-filled hold of a ship to recover trapped bodies. The results, says Ashton, were fascinating. "They lived the life of a Royal Marine and slept under canvas for three nights. The Marines gave me a full debrief on each player every day and were very perceptive. Since we returned we've constantly been chipping away and reminding them how they coped in what were pretty hostile surroundings. Hopefully we can transfer that into any similar environment we encounter at the World Cup."
It was merely another example of Ashton's determination to think laterally - in a non-rugby sense - wherever possible. This is the man who thinks kids up to the age of 12 or 13 are "better off not playing rugby at all" if they want to develop the vision so essential at the highest level. "If you want to understand the game's dynamic," he once remarked, "it's probably much better learned by games like football or basketball. They might even be better playing netball: you've got three seconds to get rid of the ball so you've always got to be thinking ahead."
So could it be that Ashton's teasing eve-of-departure hint - "We've not shown much yet but that might be deliberate" - holds real promise? Having brought Jason Robinson from league to union - as someone born into a league family in Leigh Ashton has never lost his affection for the 13-man code - it is surely inconceivable he will allow the ex-Wigan legend to end his career standing idly on the wing. Either way, things will change soon enough.
"I'm not sure what the RFU has planned for the next World Cup but if Brian's still in charge in 2011 you'll see a completely different side and style to the way we're playing now," says Catt. "It'll be a lot more expansive and free-flowing game. But for now this is what we've got and we've got to deal with it."
Ashton feels the same way. There have been whispers of plain-speaking disagreements behind the scenes but, frankly, it would be a bigger surprise if all was calm. "In terms of formal objectives we're hoping to get to the quarter-finals," he says softly. "Once the knockout games start, it becomes more open. A less fancied side can still beat a top team on a given day."
On the walls of the England dressing-room are the initials STW. They stand for "Shock The World". Could it be that England's opponents will endure some hard day's nights in France after all?
