Tournaments are great fun, but also hard work. If you want your players to make the most of the day, you need to sweat the detail on their behalf, be organised and be ready. Here’s our survival guide.
How often have you heard: "No, yes, good, great," and then lots of sighing. Does this sound like a coach you know? And does this really seem helpful? Let's consider how we enhance our language to engage players and most importantly understand them. MORE
received these two emails within a few hours of each other, so this isn’t an isolated situation. However, I will hasten to add, it’s not a problem either. Up to the age of 17/18, boys grow at very different speeds. This is both physically and mentally. It’s likely that the more “aggressive” teams you face have a number of boys are ahead of the curve in this sense. They are more mature than their peers. MORE
Whether you were hooked or not, Game of Thrones was a phenomenal TV hit. Over 32 million viewers watched season eight. There were lots of reasons why but one which has perhaps a lot to do with the way we should be coaching rugby. MORE
Demanding games tend to be toughest on your best players because they put themselves in the action the most. Help them manage themselves to play for longer. In a tough period of games there will be many players beginning to wane after successive demanding outings. The extent of this waning will depend on their strength... MORE
For years, I've thought the most important principle to coach, both in attack and defence, is "go forward". The other principles support this, as the primary way to score is to go forward. In defence, you need to go forward to stop the attack going forward. I've changed my mind. MORE
After a warm-up game with a clear objective, let's more into a short, sharp exercise to energise the players. This gives the players plenty of touches on the ball, and a chance to execute the focused techniques. MORE