Simon Middleton explains four lessons since exiting England role

Former England women’s head coach Simon Middleton has revealed what he has been doing since stepping away from that role following his country’s 2023 Six Nations Grand Slam win. Having been an assistant for the 2014 Rugby World Cup win in France, Middleton became the English team’s head coach in 2015 and his time in charge was immensely successful. 

On exiting the RFU he considered retiring from coaching. However, he instead set up his own consulting business and has been working with World Rugby across a number of different countries to help improve standards across the board. 

Fourteen months on from his England exit, he has now paused for breath to reflect on what he has gotten up to. Posting to LinkedIn, Middleton wrote: “Never say never! So, it’s literally 14 months to the day that I stepped down from my role with England, and what a 14 months it has been.

England Women’s coach John Mitchell on the Red Roses squad

England Women’s coach John Mitchell on the Red Roses squad

“Stepping away from England, the RFU, a job and a company I absolutely loved, I had two clear objectives: One was to create new challenges and the other was to find new experiences. I think you would call the last year and a bit a good start!

“I started my own business, MHP Consulting Limited, and teamed up with World Rugby to work across different unions, visiting seven different countries in the process.

“Alongside that I have delivered keynote speeches and presentations on subjects ranging from ‘leadership’ and ‘creating and maintaining high performance environments’ to ‘preparing for success’, across the education and business sectors. I have even thrown in some after dinner speaking (love doing those!)

“‘So what’?… as one of the fantastic coaches I have had the opportunity to work with always challenges at the conclusion of her sessions… What she is pointing towards is, what does that mean? What does that tell us? How can we learn from what we have experienced? And how can we grow from it? Here is a few of things I have learnt:

1. Never be afraid of change, change is what you make it. Be fearless in your outlook.

2. Don’t be afraid to reset and embrace what that feels like. Working in high performance is very tough and very attritional. At some point we all need to come off it or at least step back a little, regroup, and create head space to decide on ‘what’s next’. I considered retiring from everything after the World Cup in 2022. Two years later, I know that was categorically not the right decision, but it took me a few months of processing where I was and what I wanted to get to it.

3. If you have the appetite and energy to learn and grow, you will learn and grow. At 58, I’m learning and growing more now than at any other point in my career.

4. ‘Never say never’, as the truly amazing Nicky Ponsford once said to me. Treat each situation, scenario and decision on its merits. Consider as much information and look at it from as many angles as you can. Most importantly bear in mind, just because something may not feel like the right decision now, it doesn’t mean it may not be the right one further down the line.

“Tomorrow I’ll share a few more of my learning and summarise and conclude where I’m up to on my journey at present…”