Simon Middleton: “I would love it if the Red Roses were named the best team in all of sport” | England women’s rugby union team

The currently the most successful head coach in world sport lives in Pontefract and is not afraid to be different. “I do a lot of things that a lot of other coaches don’t do,” says Simon Middleton, freely admitting he’s not the type to pore over self-improvement manuals. “The other day I was having breakfast with some of the younger players and talking about the last book we read. I said, ‘I think mine was Winnie the Pooh.’

Perhaps that helps explain why his team, England’s all-conquering Red Roses, have claimed a record-breaking 25 consecutive Test victories. Simplicity alone doesn’t win world championships, but over-complication can be fatal. Middleton chuckles in embarrassment when asked if he has any tips for Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola, but any manager would be happy to bottle what’s brewing right now.

The checklist of positives is impressive as the Women’s Rugby World Cup gets underway in New Zealand next Saturday. A world-class team full of inspiring leaders? Tick. A nice mix of youth, experience, power and speed? Tick. Pretty much the only thing Middleton’s tournament favorites still lack is the actual World Cup, last hoisted by England in 2014.

So what’s his – and her – secret? Cynics will point to Rugby Football Union’s decision to offer full-time professional contracts ahead of their rivals. Even New Zealand was rolled over on tour in the UK last year. Any bus, they argue, would look good with this kind of chair ride.

But hold on. Neither side wins 25 consecutive Tests with Muppets in charge. While Middleton’s resume includes the disappointing final defeat to the Black Ferns at the 2017 World Cup, he was named World Rugby Coach of the Year in 2021. Humble and approachable, he’s quick to delegate and his fingerprints are all over the sly backroom dates that underpinned the Red Roses’ improvement.

“One of the things that I would call a strength – and I have a lot of weaknesses – is that I think I’m a pretty good judge of character,” he says. “People ask about my coaching philosophy. My coaching philosophy is: “Get the right people around you. People who know how to do the job. And then balance them.” I know a lot of coaches who really want to be in control. I’m not like that.”

However, a man coaching a women’s team poses some logistical problems. For obvious reasons, he and his assistants Louis Deacon and Scott Bemand can’t hang around in an all-female locker room before and after most games. “The dressing room belongs to the players,” says Middleton. “As soon as we get to the stadium, maybe we’ll take a look at the facility and feel the atmosphere, because it’s game day for us too. But that’s it. We go in at halftime, but we don’t go in at the end. Unless it’s the end of a tournament when we have a beer together.”

Simon Middleton at Pennyhill Park in Surrey. He scored 83 tries in 170 games for Castleford as a rugby league winger. Photo: Zac Goodwin/PA

For some, the obvious question is: wouldn’t it be easier if the Red Roses coach were female? Sarina Wiegman did a fabulous job in charge of the Lionesses at Euro 2022 and Middleton is among those who would like to see her – ‘How good would that be?’ – as Premier League manager.

So do his own players want a woman to succeed him? “I’m sure they would like to see a female coach and what Sarina has done clearly shows that having the right person on the job – male or female – can produce results. It’s the best person for the job, that’s what the players want.”

Ultimately, it’s probably less about sex and much more about empathy. Middleton, 56, may not be an avid reader, but he knows what makes his players tick. “Players no longer respond to being pointed at and people yelling. I was that coach,” he admits. “When I first came into the English Sevens program I was very demanding. But society has changed. People want and deserve to be treated very differently than they were 10 years ago.”

Middleton had to be adaptable in life too. Raised in Knottingley, Wakefield, he began his working life in the local bottle factory. “I literally graduated from high school in the morning and went straight there in the afternoon,” he says. “I fixed the pallets that the bottles were glued to. My father worked there, my mother worked there, one of my brothers worked there. It was exactly what you did.”

Slowly but surely he worked his way up the ranks, graduating as an engineer and becoming a designer and project manager. Along the way, the skinny, redheaded lad also became a late-rising rugby league winger, fast enough to score 83 tries in 170 games for Castleford and take part in a famous Regal Trophy final win over Wigan – Shaun Edwards, Andy Farrell, Jason Robinson et al. – in 1994.

“I played Jason Robinson and he scored a try just before half-time. They called it offside, but it wasn’t. That changed the complexion of the game. It was just our turn, everything worked out.”

One of his best buddies at Cas was Mike Ford and Middleton also learned a lot from Australian coach Darryl van de Velde. Those years also taught him what ultimately wins rugby matches. “Most people who play rugby don’t have much else to fall back on. That creates the desperation these players play with.”

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When he was first invited to the England women’s team as part-time defensive coach by friend Gary Street in 2010, he was met with a laissez-faire vibe: “It wasn’t a bad attitude, but it was a little bit, ‘Let’s show how it runs.’ That’s not me. If you can play really well and win, that’s awesome, but winning is what matters. That is the be-all and end-all of international rugby.”

His prospects were also marked by the day he was unexpectedly overlooked for a promotion to head coaching at Leeds Tykes in 2011. “It was a pretty devastating moment,” he says. “All of a sudden, after working two jobs for most of my life, I didn’t have one anymore. You’re like, ‘Right, you’ve got two kids and a mortgage, you gotta get your finger out of the ass and get a job.’”

Fortunately, fate intervened in the form of Jeanette Dawson, the principal of Bishop Burton College, whose rugby director had just left when Middleton’s CV landed on her desk. A non-educational background allowed him to develop the social skills that have since proved invaluable.

“I’m not superstitious, but I believe things happen for a reason,” says Middleton. “If you stay open-minded and positive, you will make a difference. Those really difficult moments give you incredible confidence for later in life. Whatever happens, you can handle it.”

Middleton and the team at Pennyhill Park. He says: “Players no longer react to being pointed at and people yelling.” Photo: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters

As the pressure mounts in New Zealand, he genuinely believes England can rise to a thinner peak. “We have a lot of things that motivate us,” he says. “But I would love it if we were called the best team in the world in all sports. I want people to talk about us like that – but we only get that if we become world champions.”

There is also a huge opportunity for women’s football in general as the Red Roses look to emulate the England men of 2003 by winning a World Cup in the southern hemisphere. Clive Woodward was subsequently knighted, so how about Sir Simon Middleton? “Believe me, I would 100% settle for a World Cup.” OK, but there has to be an award he covets? “We have a castle in Pontefract. Maybe they’ll let me live in there.”

To borrow from Pooh’s friend Piglet, “The things that make me different are the things that make me who I am.”