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| Full name | Philip John Larder | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1945-03-20)20 March 1945 (age 79) Oldham,Lancashire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | Centre | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | Centre, Wing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Philip John LarderMBE (born 20 March 1945), is an Englishrugby league andrugby unioncoach, and former player in both codes.
He coachedEngland andGreat Britain national teams in rugby league, and in rugby union he was defence coach ofEngland, and theBritish & Irish Lions. He coached World Cup finals with England against Australia in both codes – losing the1995 rugby league final, before winning the2003 final in rugby union.
Previously a physical education teacher and national coaching director of theRugby Football League, Larder was one of the first defence coaches in professional rugby union, and is considered a pioneer in applying rugby league expertise to the defensive side of rugby union.
Larder was born on 20 March 1945 inOldham,Lancashire, and educated atHulme Grammar School. After graduating with a degree in Physical Education and Sports Science fromLoughborough University in 1965,[3] he began work as a physical education teacher atSaddleworth School.
He played rugby union as a centre forBroughton Park, playing regularly in the first team by the age of 16. He later played forManchester andSale, and became known as a particularly good sevens player.
Larder found the travelling required to play rugby union incompatible with his work at Saddleworth, so moved to rugby league, where games were concentrated in the north of England. He was first approached byLeigh but opted to sign forOldham. He played in Oldham's defeat bySt. Helens in the1968 Lancashire Cup final, and later moved toWhitehaven.[4]
Larder taught atSaddleworth School for 16 years, becoming Head of Physical Education before leaving in 1982.
In 1982, he was appointed Director of Coaching for theRugby Football League. FollowingAustralia's 40-4 win in the firstAshes series test overGreat Britain as part of the1982 Kangaroo tour, Larder realised that the Australians had left the British game behind and urgent change was needed. Larder spent a week with Kangaroos coachFrank Stanton before the second test in Wigan to observe the Kangaroos' coaching and training methods. Stanton first obtained approval of this from theAustralian Rugby League who raised no objections. Although the Australian's had begun to dominate international rugby league since the mid-late 1970s, the ARL recognised that for the international game to grow, Britain needed to have a strong international presence.
Larder subsequently made further visits to Australia, and was influenced by coaches such asArthur Beetson and "Supercoach"Jack Gibson, who himself had spent time inAmerica during the 1970s studying coaching and training methods in theNFL, especially those used by successfulGreen Bay Packers coachVince Lombardi. With what he had learned, Larder overhauled the coach education system in rugby league and his work saw the sport in Britain become more professional.
Larder later coachedWidnes from 1992 to 1993,Keighley from 1994 to 1996 andSheffield Eagles in 1997.[5] He was assistant coach toMal Reilly on the1988 Great Britain Lions tour, when the Lions won the third test inSydney, their first test win over Australia since the second test of the1978 Kangaroo Tour, and remained Great Britain's assistant coach until the end of 1994.
He coachedEngland at the1995 World Cup, where they defeated Australia in the opening game atWembley, but ultimately lost the World Cup final to the Kangaroos. Larder was coach of Great Britain on their disastrous1996 tour of Fiji, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. The Lions did not win a match in New Zealand, and several players had to return home early to save costs.
Larder then moved to rugby union, becomingEngland's defence coach underClive Woodward in 1997,[6] He also joinedLeicester Tigers in 1998, and the team won four consecutivePremiership titles, as well asHeineken Cup victories in 2001 and 2002. With England he won the 2003Grand Slam and2003 World Cup. He was awarded anMBE in the 2004 New Year honours.
He then worked as defence coach on the2001 and2005British & Irish Lions tours.
He remained part of the England coaching staff until April 2006, when he was sacked along withJoe Lydon and Dave Alred following the team's poorSix Nations performance. Larder later criticised coachAndy Robinson for letting player power run the team in his 25-month period in charge.[7]
Larder worked withWorcester Warriors as a defensive coach on a part-time basis in 2006-2007[8] and returned to the club in 2011,[9] before leaving in May 2013.
Larder has written two books on coaching rugby league –The Rugby League Skills Manual, published in 1983 andThe Rugby League Coaching Manual, published in 1988.
In 2015, his biographyThe Iron Curtain: My Rugby Journey from League to Union, written with Nick Bishop, was published.
He has also produced two coaching DVDs –Knock Them Down andIron Curtain Defence, both released in 2009.
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