Let's Talk Coaching: Andy Friend

The United Rugby Championship will take begin next season and will become the new competition for PRO14 teams. Adam Redmond is Head of Broadcast & Communications for the PRO14 and soon-to-be United Rugby Championship. Adam took the time to sit down with me to discuss the new competition and answer questions about the new competition from The Loose Head patrons. It is shaping up to be a fantastic competition and I’m really looking forward to it next season. Have a listen and if you have any other questions about the competition, send them in and I will pass them on to Adam for answering.

Tackling the World is the latest podcast series from The Loose Head's Jeff Neville. In this series, I talk to players about their RWC experiences, discussing everything from selection to mental health and from the competition to the aftermath. In this episode, I talk to Ireland international Jean Kleyn about the 2019 RWC. We discuss his highs and lows, social media, the competition itself, and the environment. If you enjoy it, please feel free to rate, review, and subscribe. You can also find The Loose Head on Twitter by using the handle @thelooseh.

Olympic and World Sevens gold medal winning coach Ben Ryan joins me to discuss his time with the Fiji Sevens team, the importance of open-mindedness in coaching, moving on after achieving your goals, and the influences of other sports on his coaching. This is an earlier episode of the podcast, put into the second series of Let's Talk Coaching as the content is relevant to the series. As always, a massive thank you to Ben for taking the time to come on the podcast and sharing his experience. If you would like to hear more of The Loose Head podcast you can catch it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please feel free to follow, review, and rate.

On this series of the podcast, I speak with guests whose careers were impacted through injury. We’ll discuss the injuries themselves, the mental side of them, and if those injuries have left any effects today. But as well as that, we’ll be chatting about the highs they enjoyed too, the games that stick out most in their minds, and their best memories on the pitch. On this episode, former Canterbury, Crusaders, and Munster player Tyler Bleyendaal discusses the injuries he suffered throughout his career, as well as the injury that forced him to retire. But we also discuss the highs he enjoyed while playing: the best players he played with, his best memories on the pitch, and which games he’d like to play in again. A huge thanks to Tyler for taking the time to come on the podcast and if you enjoyed it, please feel free to share it and subscribe.

This season of the podcast is focused entirely on the coaching side of the game, discussing topics like creating a positive environment, focusing on the process, overcoming ego, various aspects of player management, and dealing with the euphoria of the wins and disappointment of the losses. On the final episode of this series, Jerry Flannery joins me to discuss why he coaches, specialisation in rugby vs football, learning from other coaches, Rassie and Axel, avoiding preconceptions, managing the workload, creating relationships, and how his coaching has developed. As always, a massive thank you to Jerry for taking the time to come on the podcast and sharing his experience. If you would like to hear more of The Loose Head podcast you can catch it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please feel free to follow, review, and rate.

Connacht Head Coach Andy Friend joins me on the first episode of “Let’s Talk Coaching”, a podcast series focused entirely on the coaching side of the game. On this episode, Andy and I discuss how to create an environment, what he looks for when recruiting a player, the importance of “the why”, player management, giving players both autonomy on the pitch and bad news off it, overcoming tough periods or celebrating good times, and his own mental health. A huge thanks to Andy for taking the time to come on the podcast for the second time and for sharing his wealth of experience.

Squidge Rugby discusses the difficulties facing content creators, life on social media, Rassie's private parts, and Richie Mo'unga: the modern fly half. A fun conversation that is a bit different from the other episodes. 

Leinster and Ireland player Lindsay Peat joins me on this weeks podcast to discuss her injury rehab during the Covid lockdown, her love of sport and time with Ireland so far, the development of women's rugby, and what can be done to help improve that development further. Peat came late to rugby, after playing international soccer and basketball and winning an All-Ireland medal with Dublin, and her first international cap was only her 8th game of rugby. 

On Saturday, June 13th, Jeff Neville, Daithí Ó Ruaidh, and Stiofán Ó Fearaíl walked 100,000 steps each (over 81km) to raise money for Self Help Africa.  Hear how they got on, their highs and lows, and why they wanted to help Self Help Africa.

Jamie Cudmore describes his early career in Canada, Wales, and New Zealand, and gives an insight into nearly 20 years of playing and coaching in France.  Fights, eye-gouging, and backstabbing; this one has it all.