Send us a textDan 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?We cover:What do the forwards want to doDo we need to have position-specific rolesHow to use decision-rich training, both drills and gamesEncouraging players to ruck, and also encouraging the ball carrier to be active at the ruckChanging habits by manipulating the drill To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach WeeklyAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textWelcome 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 worldFocusing 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 better referees, no matter what level that may beYou can contact him on rugbyreferee.net or keithlewisrugby on Twitter To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach WeeklyAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textWelcome 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, winning 6 Six Nations titles, 3 for them as captain. She has written the award-winning book ‘Mud, Maul, Mascara’. She is a patron of the Tag Rugby Trust, and she is CEO and founder of Inspiring Women. Currently, she is teaching sociology and RE at a secondary school in Kent.You can contact her on Catherine@inspiringwomen.co.ukOr on Twitter: cathspence8 To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach WeeklyAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textWelcome 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 and was previously Head of PE & Games at Leicester Grammar School & Head Coach at Nuneaton.Philosophy: I believe in leaving no stone unturned in order to help everyone in my environment be as good as they can possibly be.You can contact him on Twitter:@daviesGDDor GDDCoaching To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach WeeklyAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textWelcome to the coaching knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Bradley Busch, director of Inner Drive and psychologist.Focusing on how we ask questions, we are going to cut to the root on where coaches go wrong when they try to engage their learners. He works in education, sport and business, helping them improve how they learn, think and perform under pressure.Within sport, he has worked mainly in football, with clients from Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham and athletes who have medalled at London 2012, Rio 2016, and Tokyo 2020.He is the co-author of the best-selling book ‘The Science of Learning’ and has written regular blogs for The Guardian, featuring regularly for The Telegraph, the BBC 5 Live, Men's Health and BT Sport.He also has a new book called ‘Teaching and Learning Illuminated’You can contact him at innerdrive.co.uk To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach WeeklyAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textWelcome to the coaching knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Chris Cushion, Head of Coaching, England Netball and Professor of Coaching & Pedagogy at Loughborough University.Focusing on what good coaching looks like, what do coaches get wrong about using direct instruction?Director of Sport Integration, he also worked extensively in top level football with teams like Chelsea and Fulham, as well as rugby with Bath. He has worked for many sports governing bodies and is a UEFA qualified coach.You can contact him on Twitter @CoachC1 To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach WeeklyAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textWelcome to the coaching knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Andrew Watson, president and founder, Translate the Brain. Focusing on getting kids or even adults to concentrate, we are going to cut to the root on how you gain and keep someone’s attention.  Andrew is an experienced English teacher and former dean of faculty. He is an in-demand conference speaker, travelling the world. He also written three books: Learning Begins, Learning Grows, and The Goldilocks Map.His philosophy is: The more teachers and coaches know about the function of the mind and brain, the more effectively we can help our students learn and improve. Research-informed insights, of course, must always be reshaped by the teacher or coach to fit the specific learning circumstances.You can contact him through:Website: translatethebrain.comTwitter: @AndrewWatsonTTBBlog: www.learningandthebrain.com/blog To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach WeeklyAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textWelcome to the Coaching Knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Owen Eastwood, Performance Coach for team culture and leadership, and author of Belonging, the Ancient Code of Togetherness.Focusing on building better teams, we are going to cut to the root on how to use belonging with your group.Owen Eastwood is one of the world’s top performance coaches. He worked alongside Gareth Southgate as England prepared for the Euros, and Team GB ahead of the summer's Olympics. He's also worked with the Scotland rugby squad, the South African cricket team, as well as the royal ballet school and the command group of NATO.His philosophy is to build healthy environments to unlock the full potential of others.You can contact him on LinkedIn.  And read his book Belonging! To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach WeeklyAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textWelcome to the Coaching Knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Nick Winkelman, Head of Athletic Performance & ScienceHead of Athletic Performance & Science Irish Rugby Football Union and author of The Language of Coaching., The Art & Science of Teaching Movement.Focusing on how coaches can affect training outcomes we are going to cut to the root on what is meant by cueing.His primary role is to oversee the delivery and development of strength & conditioning and sports science across all national (Men and Women | XV’s and 7’s) and provincial teams (Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and Ulster). Before working for Irish Rugby, Nick was the director of education and training systems for EXOS (formerly Athletes' Performance), located in Phoenix, AZ. Nick completed his Ph.D. through Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions with a dissertation focus on motor skill learning and sprinting.His philosophy is the pursuit of being engaged utterly in the moment.You can contact him at info@thelanguageofcoaching.com  Instagram @nickwinkelman To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach WeeklyAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!

Send us a textWelcome to the Coaching Knife when we cut to the root of the matter. In this episode, we speak to Martin Robinson, author of Curriculum Revolutions and education consultant.Focusing on curriculums, we are going to cut to the root on what the hell that word means and why we should have one.Formally a drama and English teacher for over twenty years in London, he is an in-demand conference speaker and has published four books, Trivium 21st century, Preparing young people for the future with lessons from the past, Curriculum: Athena vs the Machine, Trivium in Practice and Curriculum RevolutionsHis philosophy is education for freedom.You can contact him on Twitter Trivium21c  or go to his website, trivium21c.com. To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach WeeklyAlso, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!