Rugby Coach Weekly

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What does real toughness look like in rugby?
In this episode of the Rugby Coach Weekly podcast, Dan Cottrell is joined by Jack Heald, Director of Rugby at Barnes RFC and rugby professional at Felsted School, to unpack what toughness truly means in modern coaching environments.
Drawing on over 15 years of experience across school, club, and national league rugby, Jack challenges the idea that toughness is about bravado or confrontation. Instead, he reframes it as consistency, resilience, and the ability to turn up and perform week after week, often while balancing full-time work, study, and life pressures.
The conversation explores how tough, competitive training environments are created without tipping into chaos, how feedback should be handled to build confidence rather than erode it, and why core skill development is still the most overlooked driver of long-term player success.
Key takeaways for coaches
Toughness is about consistency and resilience, not bravado or aggression.
Competitive training environments must be intense but controlled.
Players need psychological safety to make mistakes and keep learning.
Feedback works best when it is individual, contextual, and proportionate.
Core skills like catch, pass, and running straight underpin everything else.
Long-term development matters more than short-term physical dominance.
The most coachable players often outperform early physical standouts over time.
Instagram: @jhealdcoaching
LinkedIn: Jack Heald
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What do you stabilise first when you inherit a team at the bottom of the table?
In this episode of the Rugby Coach Weekly podcast, Dan Cottrell speaks with Ross Bundy, Head Coach of Leicester Tigers Women, about leading a rebuild in a high-pressure, semi-professional environment.
Ross shares an unfiltered account of what really matters when results are hard to come by. Rather than chasing quick fixes, he explains why values, defensive standards, contact dominance, discipline, and law understanding became the foundation for long-term progress. The conversation explores how to be brutally honest while keeping belief high, how to simplify systems without lowering standards, and how to measure improvement when the scoreboard does not reflect the full picture.
This is a grounded, practical discussion for coaches who are building from a low starting point and need clarity, patience, and conviction.
PS, Ross is one of the youngest pro-coaches in the game right now - only 26!
Key takeaways for coaches
Stabilise culture before tactics: Values on and off the pitch must be clear, protected, and visible, especially when results are poor.
Honesty builds trust: Players respond better to clear, direct feedback than vague reassurance, as long as progress is recognised.
Defence and contact set the floor: You cannot compete consistently without collision dominance, defensive connection, and discipline.
Discipline is a technical skill: Many penalties come from passive contact and poor post-tackle behaviour, not ill intent.
Law understanding creates advantage: Coaching the laws deliberately leads to smarter decisions and fewer “cheap” penalties.
Simplify to accelerate learning: Fewer systems, executed well, beat complexity when time together is limited.
Progress is more than the scoreline: Improvements in behaviours, effort, and standards often appear before results do.
Small wins matter: Tackles made, penalties reduced, values shown, and cohesion built are all markers of momentum.
Catch up with Ross on LinkedIn 
Or Instagram
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In this episode, Dan Cottrell is joined by Phil Kearney, Associate Professor at the University of Limerick and co-founder of an organisation focused on developing a positive community of practice in skill acquisition
Together, they challenge one of coaching’s most ingrained habits: starting session design with drills, outcomes, and end goals rather than with how players actually learn. Drawing on skill acquisition research, coach education, and applied examples from grassroots to performance sport, the conversation reframes what effective practice really looks like.
Key points covered:
Why engaging sessions can still produce very little learning.
How coaches often mistake activity, enjoyment, and busyness for improvement.
What skill acquisition actually tells us about how players learn and retain skills.
Why starting with outcomes can distort session design and decision making.
Practical principles coaches can use to design practices that transfer to the game.
The best ways to engage with Phil are:
University of Limerick (professional email):
mailto: [email protected]
LinkedIn:
Active in sharing work on skill acquisition, coaching practice, and applied research. Suitable for professional introductions, collaboration requests, and podcast or event invitations.
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In this Rugby Coach Weekly podcast, Dan Cottrell sits down with Darren Rea, John Peel, and Gareth Lewis to explore how inclusive SEND rugby has grown from a few Sunday sessions into a powerful community movement known as KatieFest.
Together, they share how simple, values-led coaching has created safe, joyful, and challenging rugby environments for players with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, while also bringing parents, carers, coaches, and clubs closer together. The conversation goes beyond drills and sessions to unpack confidence, belonging, routine, and why rugby is uniquely placed to adapt without losing its essence.
From mash-ups with mainstream teams to national recognition and the ripple effect spreading across clubs and counties, this is a story about coaching with empathy, ambition, and belief. It is not about doing something “special,” but about making inclusion normal, visible, and lasting, and showing how rugby can genuinely be a sport for all.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1477604696958236/
https://checkout.justgiving.com/c/3830429
https://www.ukcoaching.org/news/uk-coaching-awards-winner-darren-rea-captures-hearts-with-‘katie-peel-haka’/
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In this Rugby Coach Weekly episode, Dan sits down with Emily Pratt, Strength and Conditioning Coach for the England Women’s U20s, to unpack the brand new U16 Foundational Athletic Development and U18 Athletic Development programmes reshaping the female pathway.
Emily explains how England Rugby is shifting the landscape for young female athletes. She and Dan explore:
How potential is identified beyond “ready-made” athletes
Why movement competency, aerobic fitness and training age matter more than lifting heavy
The balance between school sport, club rugby, other commitments and recovery
How to help girls build confidence around body image and training
Why injury rehab should be seen as an opportunity rather than a setback
How coaches can approach conversations around the menstrual cycle
Why the entire development programme has been made freely available to all players, not just those in the pathway
Emily also emphasises that strength training is never about changing how girls look, but about helping them become fitter, faster, more resilient rugby players.
If you coach girls rugby — at club, school, college or county — this episode is packed with practical guidance, player-centred insights and a clear breakdown of what “good” athletic development looks like.
You can find the full programme, including videos and week-by-week sessions, on the England Rugby website:
This link is to the U16 Foundational athletic development section of the website 
https://www.englandrugby.com/play/parents-guardians/player-pathway/foundation-phase-girls-pathway#foundational-athletic-development-
The next link is specific to the U18 Athletic Development at PDG. 
https://www.englandrugby.com/play/parents-guardians/player-pathway/development-phase-girls-pathway#foundational-athletic-development-
To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly
To find out more about our Partner Club offer
CLICK HERE

Also, 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!