“To save yourself grief, you should read everything when you win and as little as possible when you lose.”
So reckoned Sven Goran Eriksson during his time as England football manager.
That said, it’s never easy to avoid hostile feedback.
“Players and coaches always get to hear if something bad is written about them,” the ex-Wales coach and centre Nigel Davies once said to this writer.
“If it’s a comment in an east Wales newspaper, a player for a west Wales club will find out about it and vice-versa, because it will be passed on by others in Wales training or whatever.”
That was before the advent of the internet.
Now those in the public eye also have a torrent of below-the-line comments on websites and remarks on social media to contend with, sometimes anonymous and occasionally savage in their criticism.
Wayne Pivac will understand.
After Wales lost to Italy in the Six Nations, the head coach and his players were torn apart in the mainstream media and on social media.
But this weekend it was someone else on the receiving end.
Pivac’s Springboks counterpart Jacques Nienaber received flak from Pretoria to Port Elizabeth and all points east and west in South Africa after his side’s 13-12 defeat by Wales in Bloemfontein. You can read more about the unseen moments in the second Test here.
Some contributing their thoughts on the Rugby 365 website were particularly unhappy with the way proceedings had panned out after the Boks, showing 14 changes from the first Test, saw their proud unbeaten record against Wales in South Africa disappear.
One poster, styling himself or herself as DJB, wrote: “What a bunch of tripe, after annihilating the best of Europe in the URC, we have a Bok coach who takes uncalculated risks and rewrites history in the process. Wow, make us all proud Nienaber and co.”
The same poster wrote of the call to choose Elton Jantjies for the first Test: “He picked Elton after not playing for 10 months. Sounds like the mad scientist has lost the plot.”
Die.Dief said: “I put this one on Nienaber. That was the most horrible rugby match I've ever watched. Wales is not a good side — fact. Our game plan is seriously outdated, we have the players to play more attacking rugby.”
And Nienaber's record as South Africa coach was brought up, with one vexed supporter saying: "Many have been fired for less."
BLKRFL asked: “These new players, did they learn to play rugby yesterday ? Or a week ago ? Or were they selected on merit ?”
And another contributor waded in: “Wales aren't good... They're scrappers, but any good side should put them away. If you allow them to stay in the fight they'll make it difficult, but they have little to offer.”
As events turned out, Pivac’s team had a bit more to offer than South Africa on the day, but we won’t dwell on that.
Others were more generous to the tourists, with one saying: “Deserved win. Wales were under the hammer for most of the match, but had the composure to score the winning try.”
Nor was Twitter a refuge for the battered South Africa coach, with Nienaber reminded that July 9, 2022, was not a day he will want to remember with fondness. “Jacques Nienaber has his own terrible piece of history. First ever coach to lose a test to Wales in South Africa.” said one poster.
What is to be said?
Ultimately, flak goes with the territory.
Rewind to the mid-1990s, and there were tales of Wales players locking themselves away in their houses for days after defeats, taking phones off the hook and even drawing curtains — anything to dodge the avalanche of criticism they knew was out there.
After a while, the reality will dawn that the only way to counter hostile feedback in sport is via results.
Always has been, always will be.
"If you win by a point your a genius. If you lose by a point it's time for you to go," the former Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan is one record as saying, not altogether inaccurately.
Nienaber will have better days.
But Wales will want to delay such times until after next weekend.
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