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
Why defence won South Africa the World CupUltimately it was defence which proved to be South Africa’s trump card for a third time at the 2019 RWC. Analyst Nick Bishop details the nuances of South Africa’s Rush defence that proved so effective
England vs. New Zealand – what a difference a week makes!Only seven short days separated the All Blacks’ attacking success against a rush defence versus Ireland and their failure against England’s version. Analyst Nick Bishop explains how the Speed and accuracy of the analytical process helped England learn and adjust their defence to blunt the All Black’s attack.
How the All Blacks are looking to beat the rush in JapanAll Blacks Attack coach Ian Foster had a point to prove against an Andy Farrell coached defence, and to his credit, he proved it. Analyst Nick Bishop examines how he did it.
How to cross the finishing line in the modern gameThis week Analyst Nick Bishop explores how the notion of the corner-flag no longer being ‘in touch’ has opened up the idea of acrobatic and spectacular three-dimensional try-scoring for the finishers in the RWC.
How Japan are finding an edge at the World CupJapan use the full width of the field on attack more consistently than any other side in the tournament. Analyst Nick Bishop highlights how it is not a matter of swinging the ball aimlessly from one side of the field to the other; rather, of accurate inter-passing between backs and forwards in midfield designed to exploit overloads in the wide channels.
Angling for an advantage: scrum & maul at England vs. USAIn round two of the World Cup group match between England and USA, the American tight forwards outweighed their English counterparts by an average of over 2 kilos per man. In the event, it was nonetheless the England tight five who clearly dominated the power-based set-pieces of scrum and driving maul. Analyst Nick Bishop explains how and why in this week’s article.
All Black tournament preparation for the BoksPreparation for opposing teams on a one-off basis is relatively easy. The process of preparing for teams you play regularly, or those you are playing in a series of matches or in a tournament, can be far more complicated.
In those situations, you may not want to put all the cards in your hand on the table at once, but keep some secrets up your sleeve.
Analyst Nick Bishop details one of the key secrets New Zealand held back for their heavyweight clash with arch-rivals South Africa at the group stage of the current World Cup in Japan.
How the All Blacks made the ‘twins’ click at Eden ParkWhat is this ‘it’, the magic ingredient on a professional rugby field? Analyst Nick Bishop takes a look at ‘whether the new 7s ’twins’ are the All Blacks ‘it’ after last weekends Bledisloe cup match in Auckland.
How to set up your short-side defence – the All Black wayDefence of the short-side demands a keen sense of anticipation and vocal communication skills in the defenders allotted to the task.
Analyst Nick Bishop explains why and who is key in his latest article.
Why defence does not begin or end with a line-breakOne of the main measures of the effectiveness of your defence, was simply to count the number of times the opposition broke your line when they had the ball in hand.
Although that remains a useful statistic, it is no longer the be-all and end-all of defensive measurement. What happens after a line break has been made is equally important as Analyst Nick Bishop details in his latest article.
