Lee Radford's key role in Ian Watson going from Rugby League boss to Union coach

Northampton Saints assistant coach Lee Radford played a key role in Ian Watson landing an assistant coach role at American rugby union team Seattle Seawolves.

Hull-born Radford was part of a coaching team that guided Northampton to winning rugby union's Premiership final this year, having previously been a rugby league head coach at Hull FC and Castleford Tigers in Super League, as well as Samoa assistant coach when they reached the Rugby League World Cup Final two years ago. Watson, formerly in charge of Salford Red Devils and Huddersfield Giants in Super League, received a positive recommendation from Radford when views were sought out from Seattle Seawolves.

The American team's head coach Allen Clarke - a former Ireland rugby union player - had spent time with Radford in 2019. That was when Clarke was Ospreys head coach, and he and the Welsh team's defence coach Matt Sherratt - now Cardiff head coach - paid a visit to see how things were done at Hull FC, where Radford was head coach.

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Watson, who left his most recent job at Huddersfield in July, visited Northampton last month to discuss coaching in rugby union with Radford. The former Hull FC head coach shared his advice - similar to when he himself was making the transition and sought out the view of the likes of Martin Gleeson, Kevin Sinfield, Shaun Edwards and Paul Deacon.

Discussing Watson, who will focus on backs and defence at Seattle Seawolves, Radford said: "We've crossed paths on numerous occasions, we have coached against each other on plenty of occasions, so I've known Ian for a while. I thought he did a phenomenal job with the resources that he had at Salford. He got absolutely everything he could out of that playing group. There was success, you'd say, at Huddersfield and unfortunately it just probably didn't kick on from there. I think it's a great move for Ian, similar to myself. My idea was to go over, learn rugby union (at Dallas Jackals before the pandemic stopped the move), and there in Major League Rugby there's not as much media coverage as there is over here."

Speaking generally about making the switch from a rugby league head coach to a rugby union assistant coach focusing on defence, Radford said: "A 3 on 2 on an edge defensively is still a 3 or 2 on an edge whether you are playing rugby league or rugby union. A 4 on 3 is still a 4 on 3. But there are differences in there. In rugby league, the defensive line is ten metres back, so it's almost advantage attack. The flip side to that in union is that they don't have to get back ten metres. So it's almost advantage defence.

"In both codes, you are looking for a quick ruck, with the ball. And you are looking for a slow ruck, defensively. At Northampton we have focused on what we can do defensively to slow the ruck down."

Asked about his views on the state of rugby league now, looking from the outside these days, Radford said: "It's a frustrating watch. I just think there are so many things we could do to better our game. You only have to look across the pond to Australia and to where they are taking their game and how the sport over there is flourishing. There are so many simple decisions that could benefit the sport in general but for whatever reason we choose not to make those.

"The simplest one that jumps out at me is disciplinary. We are obsessed with taking our best players off the field to sit in the stands. Now, not associated with the game, just watching it, I don't want to watch an 18-year-old kid who I don't know his name being given an opportunity at first team level because the starters in that team aren't playing. You only have to look at your Castleford Tigers and your Hull FCs and when they have got several injuries then if you add three suspensions to that then they have to put in debutants.

"As a sport, there aren't enough quality players in our country to put 10 people every week, or 15 or 16 or whatever it is, charged with disciplinary. We just haven't. In rugby union, we didn't receive a suspension last year, not one. The only reasons our best players were not on the field were either due to selection or injury. And that's exactly how it should be. To promote our sport, any sport, you want your stars on the field."

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