Sean Fitzpatrick told The Rugby Club that Mike Brewer was not given enough time at Sale.
Sale sell Brewer short says Fitzpatrick
Sean Fitzpatrick told
The Rugby Club that Mike Brewer was not given enough time at Sale.
Brewer was sacked by Sale just before Christmas after four months at the helm, with former Sharks skipper Pete Anglesea put in charge at Edgeley Park until the end of this season.
The former New Zealand back-rower who had previous top-flight coaching experience with West Hartlepool, was dismissed after failing to arrest last season's slump and falling out with some leading players, notably the England outside-half Charlie Hodgson, however Fitzpatrick believes that to change a club you need a lot more time.
"You look at the result over the weekend and Pete Anglesea saying that they were happy with 19-19 draw. Mike Brewer would not have accepted that," said Fitzpatrick on
The Rugby Club.
"Six months is just not long enough for a coach to change the way a club is. Mike Brewer has obviously got a coaching history and Sale would have obviously done their homework on what that history was.
"Sure Brewer was probably a bit tough on some of the players and demanded a lot but that is his way. I have been involved in All Black teams where a coach has come in and I have hated it. But you have got to accept it and change.
"Laurie Mains took over in 1992 and said 'this is the way we are going to play'. We had never ever trained the way we had and it changed the way we thought. We became the fittest and the fastest team in the world, but it took maybe three years before I understood where he was coming from.
"Six months is just not long enough. I don't know Mike's history as I have never been coached by him but I have been involved in teams with him. He is a perfectionist, he is hard nosed and he demands excellence and he is a winner. Maybe Sale was not the right club for him to go to."
Fitzpatrick's words struck a chord with Stuart Barnes who believes that the southern hemisphere teams and players are prepared to push themselves harder.
"I have just been listening to Sean and he is talking about a perfectionist and standard of excellence and wanting to be a winner. I think the truth of the matter is that sometimes in the northern hemisphere we just don't push ourselves hard enough.
"The reason these boys in the south have been top of the world for all bar a couple of years in rugby's history is because they are prepared to hurt themselves and go a little bit further. Maybe we are just a little bit soft."
