Martin's Rugby Coaching Archive

How Scottish bagpipe music pulled me into rugby! History Years ago, I played Korfbal, the Dutch counterpart to Netball. Our sports complex hosted soccer, hockey, tennis, and one rugby club Hilversum. Because of my Saturday games and Sunday rugby in the Netherlands, I hadn’t encountered much rugby. That changed during a training session when we…

In Scotland this time and exploring the Bill McLaren Exhibition at the Hawick Museum: Journey through Rugby’s Iconic Voice Who does not remember his commentary? For me it was very special to be with my Hilversum Sevens team in Jedburgh and to get interviewed by this iconic commentator. He sensed I was nervous about it…

How to apply a tactical training approach in rugby

Where I learned my future is in the Front Row Club In Cork for that enjoyable Munster v Crusaders game and instead of following the Crusader to Bristol decided to stay in Ireland and drive up the coast a bit. First stop: Limerick and the new Rugby Experience. In the tunnel The experience starts in…

Working on Open Play with a Girls Under 12 team

It has finally started, take-aways from the RWC The anticipated opener, France had a nervous start, early injury concern and a crazy break by Rieko with a kick pass to the wing by Beauden for a shocking early score (why put Beauden on 15?). In the end it all came good for the home team…

I asked ChatGPT to design a scrum training This is what it came up with: Scrum training according to ChatGPT Setting up a training session for Scrum in rugby union involves focusing on key aspects of scrummaging technique, individual skills, and team cohesion. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you organize a productive training…

Is it: “Lucky, they made mistakes”? It is always interesting how we frame a loss. Like in “We just lost the final, but it was close”, but how do “just” and “close” translate to what is needed to win next time? HSBC Sevens Toulouse Men’s Final This was an exciting final with Argentina leading the…

“Merci Beaucoup!” Set the scene Okay, England has a new coach and the home game against France. Everybody eager to see how the English rugby team will be ‘en route’ to the RWC and what a better test than against the number 2 site in the world: France! It turned out that the French felt…

Do we want thinking players? Reading my posts you will understand I like the Adaptive Game, I love to see players react to situations with creative and sometimes surprising solutions. When I discuss these situations a lot of coaches seem to think that this is due to the natural talent of these players, you either…