Articles
Nick Bishop Here's what Nick thinks...
About Nick Bishop
Nick has worked as a rugby analyst and advisor to Graham Henry (1999-2002), Mike Ruddock (2004-2006) and latterly Stuart Lancaster (2011-2015). He also worked on the 2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia and produced his first rugby book with Graham Henry at the end of the tour. Since then, three more rugby books have followed, all of which of have either been nominated for, or won national sports book awards. The latest is a biography of Phil Larder, the first top Rugby League coach to successfully transfer over to Union. It is entitled “The Iron Curtain”. Nick has also written or contributed to four other books on literature and psychology.
“He is currently writing articles for The Roar and The Rugby Site, and working as a strategy consultant to Stuart Lancaster and the Leinster coaching staff for their European matches.”
Nick Bishop's latest articles
How to use the new scrum guidelines to free your attacking #9Nick Bishop outlines how new rules for the defending 9 at the scrum have created more 8/9 attack options.
How to make a point with your 5m driving maulA positive ‘red zone number’ relies on an effective 5m lineout drive. Nick Bishop explains what it takes to execute one successfully.
How to implement the ‘double jackal’ on DNick Bishop details how under the 2020 breakdown guidelines the ‘double jackal’ has become an important antidote to the production of ‘LQB’.
Why a counter-intuitive kick can be the red zone panaceaUsing last weekend’s France vs Wales 6 Nations match Nick Bishop illustrates why it is important to open the mind and keep all options open, including kicking, to overcome the ‘Offensive claustrophobia’ as it can it can offer the cleanest outcomes.
How to work a modern pod system with LQBModern pod systems have been transformed by the new breakdown guidelines. Nick Bishop looks what effects they are having on on current attack structures.
Why the new ‘escort’ rules will revive contestable kick-offsNick Bishop examines how the ‘no glove’ kicking defence has revived the interest in contestable kick-offs again.
Why more access to the high ball makes for a better game of rugbyRemoving the ‘glove defence’ results in a much cleaner and quicker development of the play, as evidenced by Nick Bishop in this week’s analysis.
How to shuffle the deck close to the goal-lineAnalyst Nick Bishop illustrates how the ‘use it or lose it’ mindset now applied (under the new law), to “The ball is played or taken into in-goal by an attacking player and is then held up”, is promoting more attacking innovation.
How to exploit the ELV on defensive scrum-halves [from scrum] – part 2Nick follows on from his earlier article on how the scrum has now became a favourite weapon of attack and the short-side was the red-hot area target zone.
Why the ‘Dupont’s Law’ change really makes a differenceThe ‘Dupont’ law tweaks have already had a concrete impact on the value of the kick return, one which totally belies the relatively small scope of the word ‘tweak’ as Nick Bishop illustrates.
