#196 - Alan Zondagh - Why Rugby Needs To Coach The Chaos

My guest this week is Alan Zondagh, a veteran coach and rugby educator whose career has taken him from South Africa to England, France and beyond. Alan has worked with players and teams at every level, including Western Province, London Scottish and Saracens, and his new book, Attack, Attack, Attack, brings together the coaching philosophy he has developed throughout his career. At the heart of it is a fascinating idea: rugby coaches can provide structure, but they also need to prepare players for what happens when the structure disappears. We talked about: • Creating chaos in the opposition defence • Why Alan starts his coaching with the individual ball carrier • Teaching supporting players to recognise what the ballman sees • The X and Y axes of attacking rugby • Why positioning can ask questions of a defence before the attack begins • Alan's 48% box-kick statistic and his concerns about the modern game • Why he believes coaching is an art rather than a fixed programme • His experiences learning from Pierre Villepreux and French rugby • His time with London Scottish and Saracens • The evolution of rugby conditioning and weight training • The rugby laws he would like to see changed • Why the scrum should be used more as an attacking platform One thing I particularly enjoyed about this conversation is that Alan doesn't simply offer another set of rugby coaching drills. He keeps coming back to the idea of developing players who can actually see the game and respond to it. That sounds simple. It probably isn't. But when it works, as Alan says, you get the goosebumps. LINKS Contact Alan at https://www.az-rugby.com/ GET STASH England Rugby Store - https://ers.pxf.io/KjV30v British & Irish Lions Store - https://bil.sjv.io/9gNaL4 BUY ME A COFFEE Coffee helps me make more and better episodes. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/amateurrugbypodcast PATREON Join The Amateur Rugby Podcast Patreon community for some extra amateur rugby goodness! (https://patreon.com/amateurrugbypodcast) SUPPORT If you would like to support the podcast in some way there are plenty of options for you on my Support the Podcast (https://www.amateurrugbypodcast.com/support/) page.