Mixed reactions as this year's Six Nations gets the Netflix treatment

With this year’s Six Nations getting the Netflix treatment, DANNY CIPRIANI thinks it’s just the boost rugby needs after years of decline… but SIR CLIVE WOODWARD says: ‘If you want to be in the movies, go to Hollywood!’

  • Netflix wioll have behind-the-scenes access for a Six Nations documentary
  • Maul or nothing: Netflix will follow all six teams at the upcoming tournament
  • Some see it as a vital step to showcase the sport beyond its traditional market
  • Concerns have been raised by others about the intrusion it will have 

This year’s Six Nations will be the subject of a warts-and-all Netflix series, with cameras behind the scenes following the teams and capturing all the drama.

For some, this is seen as a vital step to showcase the sport beyond its traditional market, to bring it to a wider, younger audience in the hope of growth.

But concerns have already been raised by Wales head coach Warren Gatland and others about the intrusion. Sportsmail put the issue to rugby columnists Sir Clive Woodward and Danny Cipriani… and they had very different views.

Sir Clive Woodward: As a fan, I think the involvement of Netflix is fantastic. But for players and coaches trying to win games, it is stepping over the line into territory where they shouldn’t be.

I promise you, if I was involved, I wouldn’t allow it. They tried to do that with me, with England, and I said no.

Sir Clive Woodward (L) and Danny Cipriani gave their thoughts on Netflix and the Six Nations

I had to say, ‘This is a deal breaker for me. You can get a new coach. I’m not having a TV camera in team meetings, where things are said and things happen that I’m not going to look back on and be totally proud of’.

We’re not there to make movies, we’re there to win games of rugby. If you want to be in the movies, go to Hollywood, but if you want to coach a rugby team, get on with doing that.

The game has got to be really, really careful. I’ve seen other sports doing it and I can see why. People say we’ve got to sell the game better and I accept that. But at the top level, if you’re a head coach and you’re being paid to win, it’s an environment that is not perfect, shall we say. Things are said sometimes that you might look back on and regret. And you don’t want players to start thinking they’re playing to the camera. That will happen.

This year’s tournament will be the subject of a warts-and-all series called Maul or nothing

I feel for the coaches, because I know I wouldn’t allow it. If I had to do it, I’d feel really uncomfortable. I’d say to anybody, ‘Would you want a TV camera in your office 24/7? You wouldn’t like it’.

I’ve not seen too many fly-on-the-wall documentaries go well. Living with the Lions in 1997 was the exception, but they got away with it because they won. If they’d lost those Test matches, those coaches and players would have been portrayed in different ways.

So the game has to be careful. There’s so much negativity in rugby at the moment — and I just don’t want any more negative stuff coming through from this Netflix series, but that could happen.

Danny Cipriani: I think the opposite. If I was a coach and Netflix were coming in, it is going to sieve out the bull****, because the amount of cliches and nonsense that gets said in changing rooms, or by coaches, is phenomenal. It’s continued to go down that route for so long, because no one can correct it. No one can address it.

Eddie Jones got away with saying everything he got to say for so long. Do you think if he was a football coach or a basketball coach that would have continued? It never would have.

If I was a coach, and I was being filmed, I’d have no issue. It’s going to be the best thing for rugby, because coaches who have got away with speaking in a certain way to players won’t be able to. It will lighten the game and create more fan engagement — people watching the game more.

Our sport, unfortunately, has been in decline for the last 10 or 15 years. Something has to change. Something has to break. For me, it’s the perfect time for this to happen. It might be difficult and it might be challenging but, in doing this, we’re going to end up creating change within the game, for a positive reason.

Look at the characters within basketball, NFL — in American sports where they’ve been doing this for the longest time, letting cameras into their changing rooms. You see authenticity in all the interviews. They’re not trying to say something to sound right or control the message, they are just being themselves and in doing so, you get players on the field being themselves, too.

That’s a fearful thought for a coach because they want control; they want players to deliver their message. But guys like Pep Guardiola and Steve Kerr (head coach of the NBA team the Golden State Warriors) recognise what’s needed and let their players go and do what they do, within the framework of how they see the game. Having these cameras behind the scenes will make more people approach it like they do.

Woodward: I’m not so sure. I think players will start acting like movie stars. They’ll be playing to the cameras. If you’re Warren Gatland or Steve Borthwick, you’re paid to win a game of rugby, not make a movie.

Cipriani: But how do they get the money, Clive?

Woodward: Are we really saying they need Netflix to pay the coaches? I just think this leaves people wide open to saying things under a lot of pressure that should be behind closed doors. It is taking the mystique out of the game and out of the changing-room environment, which is a very dangerous path to go down. Why don’t we film every Cabinet meeting or every meeting with the Prime Minister?

Cipriani: Because people don’t pay to watch that on television on Saturdays.

Woodward: You need privacy and space to say what you want to say and make decisions. I have said things behind the scenes I’m not proud of and I wouldn’t want them to be seen or heard.

Cipriani: I’m the same, but it’s part of the growth of the sport. We want authenticity and that’s good, bad, ugly, swearing, everything. We can’t shy away from the emotion of the game. If we keep trying to control it, the game is going to stay still with a ceiling above us.

My feeling is: let’s see it all. Let’s see what it looks like. Then it will sieve out the nonsense and show people the game that you love, the game that I love — and the amazing characters and emotion that’s in it. I have no fear of that, I’ve got faith and excitement that it’s going to be great.

Woodward: As a fan, it’s fantastic. As a coach, I hate it.

Cipriani: I just love it!

Maul or nothing: Netflix will follow all six teams

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