FORMER detective Mike Cron will provide eagle-eyed inspiration to Ben Franks when the two-time World Cup-winning Kiwi launches his full-time coaching career at Scarlets.
Franks’ appointment as scrum coach surprised many Scarlets fans, but his relationship with head coach Glenn Delaney goes back over a decade, while his Test career was forged predominantly at the hand of All Blacks scrum guru Cron. Northampton prop Franks, 36, told The Rugby Paper: “Outside of my dad, ‘Crono’ has probably been the biggest influence on me rugby-wise. I worked with him when I was at high school, when he was one of New Zealand’s resource coaches, and he spent a lot of time with the young guys when I was in the academy at Canterbury, drilling our ‘front row club’.
“And then with the All Blacks, he always had a hand in pretty much everything I did and coached me the whole way until I left in 2015. My rugby beliefs come from a lot of stuff I did with Crono in that time.
“In his life before rugby Crono was a detective and that came through in his eye for detail and his levelheaded approach towards problem solving, so I’d love to strive to be that style of coach one day.”
Franks added: “As soon as I got this opportunity with the Scarlets, Crono was one of the first people on the phone and we’ve already had a few lengthy conversations.
There’s going to be a lot more as I’ll have a ton of questions for him.”
Franks’ potential as a scrum coach was identified by then-Nottingham coach Delaney during an All Blacks series against Wales in 2010.
He explained: “Glenn was visiting New Zealand to spend a week with our coaches and watch us train. He played for the Linwood club in Christchurch, the same club as me, so we kept in touch and he brought me to London Irish.
“Coaching-wise, you find yourself getting more involved as you get older and start looking at the whys and wherefores of how things are done. Even before I left New Zealand, I’d had a fair bit to do with the scrum at the Crusaders and Hurricanes and when London Irish were in the Championship, I coached our scrum along with David Paice.
“As an older player at Northampton, I’ve had a hand helping Matt Ferguson and I’ve always known I wanted to go into coaching – that was part of the reason for coming here. “The All Blacks coaches have all spent time in Europe and I wanted to follow that pathway. I’ve tried to upskill myself as much as possible and when Glenn asked if I’d be interested in the Scarlets, I was excited by the challenge.”
While Franks’ playing days at Saints are now over – he joins Scarlets on July 1 – he believes the club are well placed to fight for silverware under Chris Boyd.
He added: “They’ve got a good group of coaches and the foundations are being laid for a successful future. They’ve also got a very good group of front rows, with guys like Ehren Painter and Paul Hill. There’s been a big shift at the club over the last 18 months.”
The best betting sites
