Don’t Give in to Yourself

Sean Lineen arrived in Scotland in October 1988 to be met by Norrie Rowan who had instigated the move. Norrie was an hour late of course but to make up for it he allowed Sean to drive his Porsche back from the airport. Three weeks later Sean’s mother had to ring the SRU to find the whereabouts of her errant son. Sean was having such a good time he forgot to phone home. No wonder he stayed and built his life in the capital.

Like most New Zealanders Sean started playing rugby as a bare-foot 4 year old. Indeed, Sean’s father was delighted when he scored a try in his first game. Until, that is, he realised that his son’s sense of direction needed some work. Sean had scored at the wrong end. As a youngster he played plenty of rugby but was also keen on athletics. His athletics career started a year after his rugby career. Sprinting, long-jump, high-jump, discuss and shot-putt were Sean’s interests “They have a real strong athletics system in New Zealand” Sean said, “You wouldn’t think so because there are not many good athletes at senior level. All the best athletes in New Zealand go to rugby or rugby league”.

Sean played plenty of competitive rugby in the Auckland area before, in the 1985/6 season he made his first sojourn to the UK, playing in Pontypool. He obviously liked it as he had no hesitation in coming to Scotland when ‘Muir were looking for a midfield back a few years later. He starred in the ‘Muir team for many years and won 29 caps for Scotland as the original ‘Kilted Kiwi’.

Many observers thought Lineen retired from international rugby too early and I asked him whether, on reflection, he agreed: “No – I wanted to enjoy my rugby” he said emphatically, adding “ I think your body can only take so much”. He admitted that he wanted to spend his last few playing years focussing on Boroughmuir “I always enjoyed all my years with Boroughmuir but the last 3 or 4 years were great, bringing the young guys through. I still really enjoyed the rugby”.

When he finally decided to stop playing Sean hadn’t given any thought to coaching, but rugby was changing with the advent of the professional era and “It just came about through various circumstances”. Henry Edwards, his predecessor at ‘Muir had left to join the Edinburgh professional set‑up so Sean took over and had one season in sole charge of the team. “It was OK. We finished in mid-table” he commented but with a very young family taking full responsibility for coaching and team affairs was very time consuming. “When Iain Paxton came along it was great and he’s taken over the helm and I’m here as backs coach and we’re working pretty well” said Sean with definite understatement. The pair are recognised as the best coaching team in Scottish club rugby and both have been rewarded for their efforts this year. Whilst Iain takes charge of the Edinburgh back-up squad Sean has been appointed as backs coach to the Scotland Under 21 team.

And if Sean has his way it won’t stop there. “I’m quite ambitious. I may not seem it at times but I’m very proud of what’s been achieved in rugby in Scotland and I like to think that I’ve got something to offer. I would definitely take the opportunity to go further with the National side”. He confessed. But he also knows it’s early days yet.

He has no desire to leave Scotland to coach, saying “We’re pretty settled here in Scotland as a family”. With both himself and his wife having successful careers away from rugby and two young boys, Cameron and Jacob, to consider, he staying put. His current coaching roles at Boroughmuir and Scotland Under 21 are enough for now and right where he wants to be – “After that we’ll see what happens”. And he knows that it won’t happen without success “There are only two types of coaches – those who have been sacked and those who are going to be sacked – it’s a pretty fickle market. One day your fantastic and the next day your not, so you’ve got to go in there with a thick skin. You can only worry about the people that really matter” he said “What they think about you as opposed to the people that change their minds pretty much as often as we change nappies”.

His current commitments will give Sean the time he feels he needs to develop the necessary skills. “You’re always learning as a coach. You’ve got to develop, it’s not just technical skills, it’s man management skills, it’s listening skills, it’s also realising that every player’s different. It’s a real roller-coaster ride.” He commented.

He also found time to speak about his coaching partner at ‘Muir “The relationship is very strong. I think we’ve got a lot of mutual respect for each other. He’s certainly one not to be messed around with. He’s more the guy the players respect – he’s done it all himself – he’s very honest, very loyal and very dedicated to the cause as well, which I think is very important”. With obvious pleasure in speaking about Iain, Sean went on “We really get on well. I’m more the guy that’ll maybe come up with a few ideas – some of which are sh*** and some of which are vaguely OK. We do work well together”. But it’s not just fun, there is massive commitment as well “We live and breath every dropped ball, every try, every missed tackle. We have that passion for the game. It does matter, I think that’s very important”.

I asked Sean to reflect on his own career and tell me who he had enjoyed playing with. With little hesitation he reeled off four names “The players that I respected most when I was playing are people like John Jeffrey and Finlay Calder. They’ll admit to not being the classiest footballers, but they were just so passionate and so intelligent and so ruthless in how they went about their game”.  Sean went on “Gary Armstrong of course who’s still playing. He’s a legend. And David Soul. Another ruthless man, extremely competitive”. All players from a similar mould. No nonsense but intelligent players who always gave 100%. But it was a different type of player that Sean found hardest to play against “Jeremy Guscott” was the verdict. Sean described him as “Very difficult to play against, very fast”.

Sean went further in his comments about his favourite position “I think if you look at the teams now who are very dangerous, playing 15 man rugby, they have very good 13s. Brian O’Driscoll, Tana Umaga – Australia are struggling to find a genuine 13, South Africa may have unearthed this guy called Marius Joubert and we’ve got a young lad in Scotland called Steven Cranston who I’ve rated for a while now. I hope he comes through”.

So having discussed the past and his own future I asked Sean to turn his thoughts to the future of his current charges. His views on the current Boroughmuir squad were not unexpected. “Physically, in turns of rugby playing ability, I think there’s a really good blend there” he said. Then he went on “Mentally, I think we’re struggling to understand that every team looks upon us as the team to beat, so every team’s raising their game 20% and we’re not doing the same. That means we’re having some very hard battles at the moment. Teams are closing in on us, slowing things down, they’re getting in the way and we’re finding it difficult to understand. It’s a mental thing, not a physical thing. We’re good enough” he confirmed, “I think we’re good enough to beat most teams when we’re on form, when we’re playing good rugby, but teams aren’t going to let us play good rugby so we’re going to have to cope with the mental side of really taking it to teams before waiting to see what teams do to us”. And as this interview was conducted between the Heriot’s and the Melrose games it seems that the coaches are getting their point across.

“I wouldn’t be in it if I didn’t think we could win things” Sean continued, “We’re so passionate, so committed to going as far as we can in both the league and the cup”. He added “We’ve got our short term goals and our long term goals and it’s about putting the players in an environment where they can give their best”. But, striving for perfection, Sean is not yet entirely happy “I think we’re still carrying a couple of passengers. I think there are still players who aren’t playing anywhere near the level that they can. It’s up to them and it’s up to the team scenario to sort out these individuals and get it right” he warned.

Sean also recognises that Scottish rugby has a way to go yet “The standard of rugby this season is lower than last season and the standard of rugby last season was lower than the year before that” he said. “It’s only natural when the pro teams take out the best players and some of the other best players leave when they don’t get a contract”. But in Sean’s view it’s not all doom and gloom “We’ve got three tiers now. I’ve been down to Wales a few times and when you hear people like J J Williams and Gareth Edwards talking about how Scotland have got it right and Wales haven’t by keeping the club system and nothing in between, then you realise we’ve just got to get on with it and fight our corner, have strong personalities in the club game to make sure it doesn’t drop back too much. In getting it right I still think the club game has a huge part to play in the development of the game”.

But, as he recognises, every year ‘Muir will need a major recruitment drive to keep at the top. And the top is the only place Lineen will accept “I’m very much a believer that we’ve got to have a strong first team, we’ve got to have a winning first team” he said with passion. “As soon as we move away to having a friendly first team that every one wants to join instead of a winning first team, we’ll just become another social club” was his warning. “I know there are some people at this club who would be reasonably happy for that to happen whereas I’m committed. As soon as you lose that you’ll attract the wrong type of people in terms of playing winning rugby and so I’m ruthless in my belief in that and I’ll continue to make sure we put out a competitive Boroughmuir team as long as I’m here”. A strong message from a strong man who undoubtedly has the courage of his convictions and is not afraid to stand up and say his piece.

In closing, I asked Sean to send a message to the current squad. He turned to a simple philosophy from Wayne Bennett, long time coach of the Brisbane Broncos and an internationally respected figure. “Don’t give up on yourself” was the message. Sean explained “As long as they don’t give in to themselves too easily. It’s up to them. If they don’t give in to themselves, each individual, if they go through the pain threshold and they work a little bit harder and don’t get lazy …” he stressed.

But no matter how tough Sean will be on the current squad, and hopefully many more to follow, he was unable to hide his deep pride in Boroughmuir. He’s been here for 14 years and been a fantastic servant to the club. Before he moves on to bigger fields we can be sure he will strain every muscle and do every thing in his power to leave Boroughmuir with the success he craves.

Mark Furnivall