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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
When is the tip-on pass most effective?The art of attacking is the art of creating and utilizing space. Pushing the ball ever wider to find the space is therefore, no longer as effective as it once was. Analyst Nick Bishop looks at how teams have started instead to look at ways to create small pockets of space in which to attack in the middle of the field, without using the whole width of the pitch.
Where is the sweet spot for the box kick?In most instances the touchline is usually the defence’s best friend’. However, as Nick Bishop points out there are specific situations where the touch-line is most definitely not the defence’s friend. Most of these are connected with the kicking game especially the box kicking game off number 9 (a common feature of exit strategy in the modern game).
Why you have to go long in order to get wideBefore the start of the ground-breaking Super Rugby Aotearoa competition in 2020, a host of stringent new breakdown protocols were introduced at the breakdown. The shape of the new game is still emerging, but Analyst Nick Bishop shows there is strong evidence that the smarter attacking teams are working out how to create an advantage under the new rules.
Red Zone Kicking adds to No 9 RoleThe new breakdown laws have resulted in more kicking especially from the No 9.
This week Analyst Nick Bishop looks at how this No 9 kicking has spread to the Red Zone’ at ruck time.
How to attack the short zones from restartsLike the Receiving team, the Attacking team can also take advantage of the kick-off ‘hang time’ as Nick Bishop highlights in this week’s Analysis and the ‘Race for the Space’.
How to cure the blight of scrum penalties in modern RugbyWhy have today’s scrums resulted in more penalties and less usable ball than in amateur rugby days. And it is not due to a lack of technique as Nick Bishop explains why in this week’s analysis.
How to expose the ‘spare man’ in defenceLocating the spare defender is the short-hand for deciding the direction of attack on the next play. In this week’s analysis, using a recent European Cup game as an example, Nick Bishop looks how an attack can exploit defending team’s ‘receiver’ role at Lineout time.
How to create breathing space on restartsThe concept of hang-time can be used as a strategy by both the kicking and the receiving team on restarts as Nick Bishop highlights in this week’s analysis.
Identifying weaknesses from restartsRestarts are one of the biggest momentum-changers in the game of Rugby. In the recent Tri-Nations series in the games between Argentina and Australia, the Pumas enjoyed a lot of ‘pay’ out of their restarts. Analyst Nick Bishop, reconstructs some of the thinking behind their choices.
