Rugby Coach Weekly

Send us Fan Mail Dan chats to Sean Phelan, the brains behind Fill Your Boots , the way that players and clubs can connect to fill the gaps on a Saturday. In the podcast, they discuss: How Fill Your Boots works Why clubs struggle to find players and creative ways to solve this How clubs can welcome players How can the women's game grow now How do we help retain volunteers If you want to find o...

Send us Fan Mail Dan chats to Kris Stafford, Rugby Development Officer at Leeds Beckett, MSc in Sports Coaching, U.K Coaching award winner, and host of the @bigbreakdownhq podcast. In the podcast, they discuss: Making sure the players are valued and integrated into the coaching process How to genuinely engage with the players outside their sport How to have entire team conversations What a positiv...

Send us Fan Mail In this short podcast, Dan speaks to  Gary Townsend, head of rugby at Switch Rugby with a focus on developing young players, coaches and clubs.  He is former RFU National Player Development Manager and Bristol Bears Junior Academy manager. They discuss how you make a U12 player more skilful and what that might look like in training. To find out more about this podcast and many oth...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the coaching knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Callum Adam, Currie RFC Senior Mens Assistant Coach and Edinburgh University Women’s 2nd XV Head Coach. Focusing on defence we are going to cut to the root on what comes first, tackling or defence As well as coaching with Currie Mens and the Edinburgh Uni women, Callum has coached wit...

Send us Fan Mail Dan welcomes Dr Kimberly Berens, founder of Fit Learning  and CEO of Fit Learning Online and author of Blind Spots: Why Students Fail and the Science That Can Save Them. Fit Learning is a powerful system of instruction based in behavioural science and the Technology of Teaching, and it aims to transform the learning abilities of children, which it does in the US, Canada, Europe an...

Send us Fan Mail Dan quizzes the Myths of Sports Coaching editors around how we deal with some of the muddling thinking coaches believe is true. Dr Amy Whitehead is an Associate Professor at Liverpool John Moores University, and Jenny Coe is the Performance Well-Being Lead for the Women's Professional Game at the FA. Their first edition was so good that they’ve been persuaded to do a second e...

Send us Fan Mail Dan chats to Telegraph sports journalist Fi Tomas about where women’s rugby needs to go next.  Fi has worked on the paper since 2019, was number 11 on 2023 BBC Women's Hour Power List and recently nominated for the 2023 British Sports Journalism women’s category. She is a keen advocate for a stronger voice in female sports. In the podcast, they look at: Why women want to play...

Send us Fan Mail Ralph Knibbs, Head of Human Resources at UK Athletics and a Bristol rugby legend, chats with Samba Ceesay, Broad Plain RFC’s captain. In an extraordinary podcast, Ralph first describes his journey as a black player from a non-traditional rugby background, why he turned down playing for England twice and how his children made him more self-aware about being a role model. He then as...

Send us Fan Mail This podcast is dedicated to the memory of one of the guest's daughter, who passed away suddenly a few weeks after the recording. The Peel family have set up a donation page for Katie in support of FarmAbility. Here's a link. https://www.justgiving.com/page/katiepeelfarmability Please listen to this inspiring journey of three coaches providing something amazing. It needs...

Send us Fan Mail Dan chats with Dr Rachael Jefferson about fundamental movement skills and how to introduce them effectively into our coaching sessions. Rachael is a lecturer in human movement studies and creative arts, and author of Fundamental fun: 132 activities to develop fundamental movement skills. You can get a copy of her book here . In the podcast, we explore: What is meant by fundamental...

Send us Fan Mail Dan chats with Chris Dossett, chair of the Professional Association of the Directors in Sport, and very experienced DoS himself. In the podcast, they talk about: How a good director of sports supports their less-experienced staff Connecting with the players Making the less-able teams enjoy rugby as much as the top-flight What equality looks like in sports in a school environment H...

Send us Fan Mail Dan chats to Jess Hayden, author of The Red Roses: Behind the Scenes with the England Women's Rugby Team. Jess, who was previously a sports journalist at The Times and The Sunday Times, is the editor of Contested, a new social app for sports fans. In writing the book, she was able to get exclusive access to the England Women's team, known at the Red Roses, plus speak to...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Dan chats with Sean Lindersmith. They discuss how he created a coaches’ coffee club, and how he made it a genuine place to learn and support each other. Sean is the Vice President of Operations at Premier Rugby Sevens and Silicon Valley Rugby - defence and forwards coach. His past roles include University of MN Head Coach, US Coast Guard Sevens Head Coach, St Augu...

Send us Fan Mail Dr Jocelyn Solomons joins Dan on the podcast to discuss her research on how dance can improve rugby players. Based at the world-renowned Stellenbosch University in South Africa, she is a lecturer in strength and conditioning. She has a PhD in women's rugby development and an MSc in Sport Science focusing on rhythmic movement and rugby. In the podcast we explore: How you persu...

Send us Fan Mail Mike Penistone is a global rugby coach, starting his coaching career in the 80s with Trent Poly and then Cambridge University rugby league as head coach. He went on to GB Student's head coach before moving to Leicester Tigers Academy via Nottingham. He did a stint at NSW Waratahs and then Eastern Suburbs in Australia. He is now a rugby coach consultant. In the podcast, we cov...

Send us Fan Mail Dan Cottrell chats to author and coach, J.P. Nerbun about his latest book, The Sports Parent Solution, Proven Strategies for Transforming Parents from Obstacles to Allies. We explore how coaches can get the most out of their relationships with parents. Sometimes they are super-supportive, and sometimes not! How do you get them onside to start with, speak to them, involve them and...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Coaching Knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Tom Chaloba, Manager of Get Into Rugby Zambia. Focusing on volunteering we are going to cut to the root on how to build a group of volunteers and retain them. Tom is a coach and match official educator at Zambia Rugby Union, as well as working with the Tag Rugby Trust. He is the found...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Coaching Knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Professor Kevin Till, Professor of Athletic Development at Leeds Beckett University and Strength and Conditioning Coach at Leeds Rhinos RLFC academy. Focusing on warm-ups, we are going to explore how they are used to prevent injury and give us performance gains. Kev has worked in stre...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Coaching Knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Craig Gunn, coach, teacher and motivational educator, and founder of Gunn Engagement. Focusing on why high-performance sport is dangerous for grassroots, we are going to cut to the root on why we need to break the brooms of the All Blacks. Craig is an experienced PE teacher and former...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Coaching Knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Ian Costello, Head of Rugby Operations at Munster Rugby. Focusing on talent, we are going to focus on how that term might impact the way we approach coaching. Ian has had a busy coaching career, with stints as assistant coach at Munster and Wasps, the Munster Academy manager, as well...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Coaching Knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Grant Doorey, performance coach @Mobicoach Australia and passion projects Rugby ATL, Queensland Rugby and Australia Rugby. Focusing on the power of purpose in coaching and life, we are going to cut to the root on how we can turn thoughts into action. Before becoming a consultant high-...

Send us Fan Mail Dan chats with Gary Townsend, the Bristol Bears Junior Academy manager about a question from Will Jones, an U15s coach from Cardiff. He asks: The backs are doing the forwards' work when it comes to the breakdown. Plenty of forwards are way too lazy and not bothering to clear out and secure the ball. Do you have any good drills we could use to get them switched back onto this?...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the coaching knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Keith Lewis, founder of rugbyreferees,net, the leading online community for rugby referees across the world Focusing on the refereeing the new tackle height laws, we are going to cut to the root of what referees will be looking for next season. Philosophy: Helping people to become bet...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the coaching knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Catherine Spencer, author, speaker, and former England women’s rugby captain. Focusing on coaching women’s and girls’ rugby, we are going to cut to the root on what men need to know about coaching women.  Catherine retired from international rugby in 2011, with 63 caps, 18 tries, winn...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the coaching knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Geraint Davies, Rugby Coach & Content Creator, GDD Coaching. Focusing on improving performance and learning, we are going to cut to root on what training sessions should look like.  Does training need to look like rugby for them to learn to play rugby? Geraint is an academy coach...