{"id":195772,"date":"2025-10-12T22:05:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T22:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/195772\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T22:05:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T22:05:17","slug":"the-select-cross-code-coaching-club-martin-gleeson-has-just-joined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/195772\/","title":{"rendered":"The select cross-code coaching club Martin Gleeson has just joined"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just 10 days after Lee Blackett\u2019s departure to England<\/a> had been confirmed, Bath<\/a> announced Martin Gleeson as his replacement as the club\u2019s attack coach.<\/p>\n

It might seem an unlikely match, given the grandeur of Bath\u2019s Farleigh House training base, set in the lush Somerset countryside, and a world away from the industrial, red brick corridors of league. But Bath as a club have probably had stronger connections with the 13-man game than most PREM rivals.<\/p>\n

The Bath-Wigan cross-code games in 1996 brought the two sports closer together than they had been in 100 years, since the Great Schism of 1895. It led to Jason Robinson<\/a> and Henry Paul having a loan spell at The Rec before ultimately making the switch permanent, at Sale<\/a> and Gloucester.<\/p>\n

\"VideoSophie Lloyd\u2019s Medley Rocks Twickenham | WRWC 2025 Final | RPTV<\/p>\n

Witness guitar virtuoso Sophie Lloyd set the stage alight at the Rugby World Cup 2025 Finals with an electrifying medley of Bon Jovi\u2019s \u201cLivin\u2019 on a Prayer\u201d and the Black Eyed Peas\u2019 \u201cPump It\u201d.
Filmed live at one of sport\u2019s biggest nights, this special showcase captures the spirit of rugby and rock in perfect harmony.<\/p>\n

CATCH UP NOW<\/a><\/p>\n

\"VideoSophie Lloyd\u2019s Medley Rocks Twickenham | WRWC 2025 Final | RPTV<\/p>\n

Witness guitar virtuoso Sophie Lloyd set the stage alight at the Rugby World Cup 2025 Finals with an electrifying medley of Bon Jovi\u2019s \u201cLivin\u2019 on a Prayer\u201d and the Black Eyed Peas\u2019 \u201cPump It\u201d.
Filmed live at one of sport\u2019s biggest nights, this special showcase captures the spirit of rugby and rock in perfect harmony.<\/p>\n

And it was Bath who captured arguably the highest-profile league player since Robinson and Andy Farrell, when they signed Sam Burgess ahead of the 2014\/15 season. Mike Ford was the man charged with getting the most out of their expensive recruit.<\/p>\n

Now back up north and running the show at Oldham, Ford originally moved to union as a defence-oriented coach and reached the top of the game in this role, working for Ireland, England and the Lions. But for a brief period at Bath, he also ran the attack, which initially included using Burgess as a dummy runner a lot of the time, until it was decided that, at club level anyway, blindside flanker would be his most effective position.<\/p>\n

By moving Burgess to the pack, Ford was able to have two genuine playmakers, his son George and another ex-league man, Kyle Eastmond<\/a>, playing alongside each other with the mercurial skills of Jonathan Joseph<\/a> on the outside. As a result, Ford had Bath playing like Wigan, adopting an entertaining style of play that must\u2019ve had renowned union attack coach, Brian Ashton, nodding in approval.<\/p>\n

Ford\u2019s diamond formation, where players clustered around the ball carrier and made themselves available as viable passing options, is probably one of the most successful tactical innovations that a coach steeped in rugby league has brought to union in an attacking sense.<\/p>\n

Aussie Scott Wisemantel had a positive, if short-term, impact on England as one of Eddie Jones\u2019 assistants in 2019. Jones\u2019s side scored 24 tries during the Six Nations<\/a> and 22 across their World Cup campaign with Wisemantel by his side.<\/p>\n

Harlequins<\/a> then recruited Sean Long as an attack coach for the 2019\/20 season, with mixed results. While at the same time, Graham Steadman spent the truncated Championship season in the role at London Scottish.<\/p>\n

So by focusing primarily on attack coaching, Gleeson is part of a select bunch, something of an outlier in the world of cross-code coaching.<\/p>\n

Ever since John Muggleton became the first coach to cross the divide, once union followed league and officially went professional in the 90s, it\u2019s the defensive qualities of league personnel that have been much sought after.<\/p>\n

Using Muggleton\u2019s defensive system, Australia<\/a> won the 1999 World Cup, remarkably conceding just one try, and England wrestled the Webb Ellis Cup from their grasp four years later, with another \u2018league-ie\u2019, Phil Larder, the man barking orders from behind the white wall.<\/p>\n

No end of coaches have followed their esteemed paths, with Shaun Edwards arguably the most successful and enduring of the lot, from his time with Wales<\/a> and now France.<\/p>\n

With league being such a collision-based sport, it is no wonder that the qualities of league coaches primarily lie in defence in the eyes of their new union paymasters.<\/p>\n

Union is a much more complex game, too, with laws that even established coaches struggle to get their head around at times, so hiring a coach new to the game to stop players rather than work out ways to run around them \u2013 especially with two more bodies taking up space on the field \u2013 makes more sense, certainly in the short-term.<\/p>\n

Gleeson was lucky that he had the man he\u2019s replaced at Bath, Lee Blackett, to learn from during their time together at Wasps. The Wiganer moved over full of ideas, and some came off and others didn\u2019t. But after about six months, the positive effect of his input was there for all to see, as Wasps<\/a> reached the Premiership final with the best attack in the league.<\/p>\n

He got the England attack job off the back of his work with Wasps, before returning to league two years later, as Burgess\u2019 assistant at Warrington. The end of his stint there was timely, coinciding with the bombshell news about Blackett.<\/p>\n

\u201cWherever he has gone, he has made a difference,\u201d Bath boss Johann van Graan said to RugbyPass this week. \u201cI believe he will take us forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis knowledge about the game (union) and league is fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a South African, Johaan van Graan was not exposed to rugby league during his formative years in the sport. But his inquisitive mind and search for excellence soon led him down that path.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t say that I am an expert in rugby league, but I visited league for the first time in 2004, I visited the Parramatta Eels, the Sydney Roosters and the West Tigers, and I have followed it since.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think running line detail, the attacking kicks, seeing the space, making decisions on the last set \u2013 when you kick and when you keep the ball and so on \u2013 it is one of those things where you can learn so much from other codes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has impressed me is that his knowledge transfer has been really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

In looking for a replacement for Blackett, van Graan wasn\u2019t after a clone but someone who had their own ideas and who would connect well with the other coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the most important thing is that every coach is a bit different,\u201d he said. \u201cAs with all people in our group, people must come in and be themselves and be part of something bigger than themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the one hand, it is difficult to come in at this stage of the season. But there are some amazing players, coaches and staff around him that will make the transition easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has fitted in really well and long may that continue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just 10 days after Lee Blackett\u2019s departure to England had been confirmed, Bath announced Martin Gleeson as his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-195772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}