Defence
How to set up your short-side defence – the All Black way
Defence of the short-side demands a keen sense of anticipation and vocal communication skills in the defenders allott...
Contributor
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
Defence
Why defence does not begin or end with a line-break
One of the main measures of the effectiveness of your defence, was simply to count the number of times the opposition...
Attack
How to use ‘joined-up thinking’ in your game-plan
How do you find a clear plan of action on a rugby field? Analyst Nick Bishop in his latest article outlines the ‘thi...
Tackling
Is it time for Ardie Savea to start for the All Blacks?
Will the All Black selectors follow Wales coach Warren Gatland’s very successful approach and field 2 No 7s in the lo...
Set Piece
How to mix backs and forwards at the set-piece!
Backs can help the forwards in the tasks that used to belong solely to the pack – but only if they understand what th...
Attack
How to find mismatches against the single-line defence
Arguably the biggest change in Rugby’s professional era occurred when the game started to import defensive coaches fr...
Leadership & Management
How Warren Gatland won the preparation war in Cardiff
Warren Gatland’s knowledge of the game in the UK and Ireland is anything but one-sided. He has coached in Ireland, W...
Defence
How to play the ‘libero’ like Faf de Klerk
The ‘libero’ is an evocative term in the Soccer vocabulary. It describes the free role played from a defensive positi...
Coaches Corner
What attention to detail at the cleanout really means
Ireland’s Joe Schmidt already coaches with the same values as his All Black counterparts, Sir Graham Henry and Steve ...
Defence
Getting your defence right: when to ‘dig’ and when to ‘wrap’
It is probably no accident that the teams with Farrell-coached defences only lost two of the six Tests they played ag...
