England expect Sherylle Calder to be a sight for poor eyes. The vision awareness coach, who was part of Sir Clive Woodward’s back-up team in the 2003 World Cup, will spend the next three years with the national squad, focusing initially on the back three players: the full-back Mike Brown and the wings, the quickest players in the team.
Eddie Jones worked with Calder with South Africa in the 2007 World Cup and when he coached Suntory in Japan. She is confident a player wearing the red rose will lift the Webb Ellis Cup in 2019.
“The concept is to get the eye to pick up the ball early and to judge early,” Calder said . “We train players to such a level that when they get on to the field you often hear them say that they saw the ball big. Bryan Habana was famous for intercepts, but it is not just the ability to be physically quicker but seeing the play early and getting to the right place at the right time.
“It is about the ability to judge and respond in your peripheral. We are getting the players fitter for 10 minutes a day, three or four times a week. The technology has progressed in leaps and bounds since the 2003 World Cup and I have worked with Eddie a lot: I respect his thinking and a lot of things he says resonates with me.
“I call the coaches who ask me to work with them visionary. They think outside the box and see things other coaches don’t see. We’re going to make a difference and this is a group that can win the World Cup, without a doubt. It was a marvellous experience in 2003: I had worked with the All Blacks and the Springboks and as soon as I saw England training, I knew they were going to win that World Cup.”
Calder, who has a company in her native South Africa, created a training programme, EyeGym, and has worked in a number of sports, including golf, cricket and motor racing.
“I grew up in Bloemfontein and rugby is in my blood,” Calder said. “I see my job with England as adding that little edge. If you improve a player by 1%, you make him better than he was and one decision wins a World Cup.”