The Rugby Coach's Corner Podcast

Jake Schuster is an American strength coach who is currently completing his PhD in New Zealand. He is looking at how to best train speed in 7's and worked very closely with the New Zealand women's 7's team, the Black Ferns.He has worked with Cressey Performance in the U.S. and the Netherlands Olympic Federation, as well as various other roles in the Germany and the U.K.Jake is the host of the Well Traveled Wellness podcast and can be be found via @W_T_Wellness and @CoolHandJakeGS

In this episode, I continue my conversation with Keir about pre-season programming. He discusses in detail blocks 2, 3 and 4 and we explore some concepts around triphasic training at the end.

This episode is based on a consultation call that I did with Keir to programme the S&C needs of a representative side that I coached this year. It's not your regular podcast but provides a good theoretical blueprint for those interested in the field, as well as the solo head coach who needs to be a Jack of all trades.

Jocelyn Barrieau is the head coach for Rugby Quebec's Women's 7's programmes. She’s a stalwart of rugby in that region and has assisted in the development of countless female rugby players. Having played 7’s for Canada in 2007 when the programme was initially set up, she has continued to play and coach both 15’s and 7’s, with the primary goal being to help young women represent their country. Check out #LeanInTogether which is mentioned in the interview.

Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, where he played and worked for Currie RFC in Scottish Premier Division, Graeme moved to Canada in 2010 to be Director of Rugby for the Calgary Hornets, spending 4 seasons with the club. He then moved into his current role of Director of Rugby for Rugby Alberta. He is the head coach of the Prairie Wolf Pack, who are the current CRC Champions and has had roles with Canada as U20 Assistant coach, Senior Men’s skill’s coach at the 2015 RWC and attack coach Canada in 2016 Americas Rugby Championship.

Ben Darwin played Super Rugby with the Brumbies and is a former Wallaby who received 28 caps before retiring after a neck injury. He's had coaching roles with Northern Suburbs in Sydney, Western Force, Shining Arcs and Suntory in Japan, and the Melbourne Rebels.After coaching, Ben went on to start the company Gain Line in 2013 which is involved in developing predictive models and understanding why some teams not only win, but win consistently.http://www.gainline.biz/

Michael Cheika is the head coach of the Wallabies and became a coach after a successful playing career with Randwick, where he played over 300 games, including 7 Shute Shield victories and a few stints in Europe. He started his coaching career in Italy and then returned to Randwick for several seasons before heading to Leinster for a very successful 5 years, guiding them to their first ever European title in 2009. After a period of time at Stade Francais, Michael took over the head coaching role at the NSW Waratahs, who won the Super 15 title during his second year in charge. He’s currently preparing the Wallabies for their upcoming encounters against England and the 2016 Rugby Championship.

Joe Payton is the Player Development Manager for the Hawkes Bay Rugby Football Union in New Zealand. Having been in the role for over 7 years, Joe is also involved as the defence technical adviser for the Hawkes Bay Magpies in the ITM Cup. On top of this, he’s one of the key people involved in the Hawkes Bay Rugby Global Academy. He’s had numerous coaching and analyst roles with the NZRFU, Hurricanes Development, Samoa, NZ U20 and more.For more information on the academy go to http://www.rugbyacademy.nz/

Tyler is based in Toronto, Canada, and is head coach and director of the academy Upright Rugby. He played rugby for 15 years in Canada and Australia, as well as some time with the Canadian Classics. He started coaching when he was 20 and has been involved in school, club and university rugby ever since. He now dedicates his time to Upright Rugby and its player development programme, where he specialises in skill acquisition assessment and refinement.

David Joyce is a sports physiotherapist as well as a certified strength coach. He has had roles lecturing on the Masters of S&C at Edith Cowan University, Australia, as well as the Masters of Sports Physiotherapy course at the University of Bath, UK. Previously, he was Chief Physiotherapist and Performance Specialist for the Chinese Olympic Team, Head of Athletic Performance at the Western Force in the Super Rugby competition and is now the Head of Integrated High Performance Unit at the AFL club, Greater Western Sydney Giants.