The Life of Brian
Brian Ashton has been a club and international rugby coach for 39 years.
He took the England squad from rank outsiders in the 2007 World Cup to within 10 points of victory in the final against South Africa with a quiet assurance and absolute belief in his management techniques that despite outside criticism proved to be world beating.
His individual and highly effective management and coaching style and straight forward personality give him the ability to lead others through extreme high pressure situations to achieve astounding results.
Brian started his coaching career as player/captain/coach at Fylde Rugby Club in 1970. He was in this position when one young Bill Beaumont made his debut at the club. He later had the same position in Milan Italy. Later moving to Stonyhurst College where he coached and taught from 1981-87.
He was England Assistant Coach in 1985. During the mid-90s, as Assistant then Head Coach at Bath, he helped establish Bath as the dominant club team in World rugby for nearly a decade.
Having built up a reputation as one of the best attacking coaches in world rugby he went on to be the National Coach of Ireland from 1997-98 and became Sir Clive Woodward’s assistant from 1998-2002, building up to England’s first World Cup victory in 2003.
His next role was as the RFU’s National Academy Manager from 2002 to 2006. Brian created England Rugby’s National Academy. Players that were first spotted as schoolboys have moved through the academy and are now the future of English Rugby at senior level.
Brian’s creation of a High Level Performance Model for the academy has brought to the world stage new, young players that have been given the opportunity to fulfill their potential.
Brian said “The job of manager is as facilitator, your players or employees are the experts, which is why you select them. It is the role of the manager to create the vision and the correct environment for them to perform consistently well at the highest level.”
“Individuals have to be able to think independently and perform from their own motivation because they have given a clear objective and framework to work within. Creating and communicating that vision is essential in sport and business at any level. Identify what you need, create a model to work to and then achieve it.”
Brian is a natural communicator, also speaking French and fluent Italian, who thrives on the pressure of question and answer scenarios. His insights into what motivates individuals and what makes or breaks a team are invaluable in the commercial arena whether managing a multi-national organisation or a family-run business.
Brian Ashton knows the meaning of pressure having been in the position where every result, negative or positive, is broadcast around the world. With this in mind he knows more than most the importance of looking forward from every event to the next challenge, a skill which is of equal importance in the commercial world.
Brian said “You must have a clearly defined goal, but it is equally important to manage by instinct as sport and business are by nature unpredictable. You can only manage what is happening; you should not waste time worrying about what has not yet happened or what happened in the past. As soon as a goal has been reached it is essential to move on with a clean sheet of paper and effectively start again, that way your approach is always as dynamic as the environment you are working in.”
Brian Ashton
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