Gordon D’Arcy: How to get your rugby squad running like a well-oiled rowing team

Picking the right people matters as much as picking the most talented ones. That is the thread running through Daniel James Brown’s The Boys in the Boat, an account of the Washington crew that won the gold medal in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.Rowing demands relentless physical and mental resilience, but also an almost poetic grace when everyone finds their “swing” – that moment when eight rowers move in such perfect synchronicity that the boat feels as if it is flying on its own.I got a small taste of the physical demands in a team rowing event, where we set out to break the mixed over-40s world record on land, not water. I played a supporting role, mostly because passion and grit only get you so far in a sport where short legs and a long back put you at the tail of the queue. You cannot outwork physics.Al Ulbrickson wouldn’t have touched me with an oar. The coach of the Washington eight spent an inordinate amount of time finding the right mix to crew the boat.READ MOREBrown’s description of it struck a powerful chord. “Good crews are good blends of personalities, someone to lead the charge, someone to hold something in reserve, someone to pick a fight, someone to make peace, someone to think things through and someone to charge ahead without thinking.“Somehow all this must mesh. That’s the steepest challenge. Even after the right mixture is found, each man or woman in the boat must recognise his or her place in the fabric of the crew, accept it, and accept the others as they are.”It’s such a powerful insight into a team dynamic and where coaches and players fit. You must be able to register the cues and be open to hearing them to understand where you fit. It’s constantly changing too.When I came out of school, I could find my way out of tricky situations on the field, but it took time to earn people’s respect and trust first before growing more confident in my role and how it fitted into the bigger picture.Munster's head coach Clayton McMillan arrives at Thomond Park for the URC game between Munster and Sharks last Saturday. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho It was about speaking to coaches, being comfortable with more experienced peers telling me how I could best serve the team. I have written before that I didn’t always feel I fitted in outside of the rugby but inside the white lines I felt valued and respected. Successful teams foster that dynamic.Leo Cullen has done an excellent job managing a large Leinster squad, kept an awful lot of players content while also being a bulk supplier to the national team. Richie Murphy and Stuart Lancaster are building something similar at Ulster and Connacht, and Clayton McMillan is making the right sounds in Munster.Andy Farrell has done the same, following on from Joe Schmidt. He keeps players on their toes, but is supportive, and they know where they stand. I can think back to times in my career when I didn’t know where I stood with a coach.In the short term, that uncertainty might produce a kind of desperation as players fight for a place. Eventually it becomes unnerving. You don’t know which way is up. It can push players towards being selfish for the wrong reasons. I’ve written here before about being selfish and selfless at the right times for the team. The indicator is confidence. Coaching is about getting the person right so the player can play.Look at Munster over the last fortnight. The performance against Leinster was heavily driven by emotion, by the desire to get one over on the old enemy. With only Tadhg Beirne and Craig Casey away with Ireland, you would have liked to see that carried into last Saturday. Instead, an error-strewn display saw them lose to the Sharks at Thomond Park.It isn’t a huge step backwards. The result, while painful, illustrates the desperate need for consistency. It’s not easy because if it was, everyone would be able to do it.The Sharks are an interesting case study. JP Pietersen is making difficult decisions. Bongi Mbonambi, a double World Cup winner, has left for the Stormers after a disciplinary issue over team rules. Pick your analogy: turning the ship, stopping the rot.A clean sweep on their three-match tour to Europe and last Saturday was their first win at Thomond Park. Pietersen has started to change the culture. It begins with the man at the helm and who he puts in the boat.Sharks head coach JP Pietersen arrives at Thomond Park, Limerick on Saturday. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho That links neatly into November, because getting the right men in the boat and getting them pulling together, literally and figuratively, has been one of Farrell’s defining qualities.The core is familiar, but the boat is not settled. Caelan Doris, Jack Conan, Jack Crowley and Calvin Nash were ruled out before the squad was named. Garry Ringrose has since followed with a hamstring injury. Sam Prendergast is working his way back from a wrist problem. Jamie Benson and James McNabney are uncapped. Some players will likely be asked to fill unfamiliar seats.It has never really been about tactics or a clever play for Ireland. It has been about collective performance, and that starts with individuals. It runs from Farrell and Paul O’Connell down to whoever is number 34, 35 or 36 in the squad. Those players may not get many minutes across the series, but they are as responsible and as engaged as those playing every minute of every Test.Argentina’s inconsistency – capable of being brilliant and poor in the same breath – makes them dangerous and unpredictable. Felipe Contepomi has a plan. Will his players be able to implement it?For me the summer’s Nations Championship gives a better indication of where they are than the August and September Tests against Australia. They lost a 12-try game to Scotland, beat Wales comfortably and pushed England close in Santiago del Estero.There are similarities with how Ireland want to play – a little more off the cuff, perhaps without the same individual flair across the 23. That is tempered by a very strong tight five, an area where Ireland may not have the same strength in depth. We have seen this season, and over the last calendar year, how much the tight five sets the standard. Their discipline will be huge.The Test against South Africa looms large in the background. There’s plenty of spice. Ox Nché offered a reminder last weekend of what’s coming at scrum time. The decision to clear Tadhg Furlong after his citing has divided opinion. It’s got the hallmarks of a proper grudge match. That’s exciting.The format means it is about winning the first match and building momentum. The emphasis will be on those boys in the boat. This is where Farrell makes his point of difference, the people he picks and the trust he places in them. They have repaid his faith in spades.We know who’s in the boat. It’s all about the synchronicity of performance now.