Coaching Culture with Ben Herring

The fastest way to change a team’s mood might be sitting right on the gym wall: the speaker. We get into a simple coaching decision that quietly shapes everything that follows training effort, energy, and unity. When anyone can grab the iPad and throw on whatever track they feel like, the room drifts. But when the music matches the purpose of the session, it becomes a cue. Just like calm sound belongs in yoga, high-intensity gym music can help rugby players switch on, lift hard, and move with intent.

From there we zoom out to a tr...

What if online coaching didn’t just deliver drills but built a real sense of belonging? We sit down with Ben John—ex-Ospreys center and the force behind The Rugby Trainer—to explore how a lockdown idea became a global coaching platform that helps players love the craft, master the details, and feel part of something bigger than themselves.

Ben shares the simple cornerstone of his method: a ten-minute habit and a skill flywheel. Players work a focused skill alone, try it at team training, then test it in games—looping back whenever the game reveals gaps. Along th...

Watching kids train can tell you everything about a coaching environment in minutes. Are they going through the motions, or are they lit up with purpose? We share a small, practical idea that creates a huge shift in youth rugby coaching: stop leaving parents on the sideline and bring them onto the field as part of the session. After seeing a junior team in Sydney’s inner west learn tackling technique by tackling their own dads, we break down why it worked so well, how it boosted confidence, and how it made safe body position and wrapping feel unforgettable. 

Winning teams aren’t built on slogans. They’re built on agreed standards lived every day, and Greg Cooper shows how to get there with clarity, compassion, and competitive edge. From record points as a player to head coaching across New Zealand, Japan, France, and the USA, Greg walks us through the culture mechanics that actually move the needle: listening first, understanding the region and its history, then building a leadership layer of “connectors” who represent workers, pros, imports, and young players. This isn’t about tactics; it’s about vibe, frictions, and real-life pressures that derail performance if leaders don’...

Pressure doesn’t have to create panic. Sometimes it can create your best performance, if you coach the week the right way. Today we reflect on two powerful lessons from Sam Vesty, head coach of Northampton Saints, shared in our new release How to Be a Great Coach: Lessons from the World’s Best Coaches, Volume 2. If you lead a team, coach athletes, or manage people in high-stakes moments, these ideas translate fast.

First, we unpack “joy and clarity” as a finals-week strategy. Sam’s goal is freedom, not fear: bring players back to the wide-eyed kid who fell i...

Purpose isn’t a slogan at Navy Rugby; it’s the engine. We sit down with head coach Gavin Hickey to trace his journey from Ireland and Leicester to Annapolis, where a career-ending injury became the start of purpose-driven coaching. Gavin opens the doors to a culture that welcomes spouses and kids, treats athletes like “another set of our children,” and uses rugby to develop decision-making under pressure—the very skill midshipmen will rely on in the fleet.

Across this conversation, we unpack how a clear why outperforms any playbook. Gavin explains how Navy turns squads full of newcome...

Pressure makes culture visible. With Matt O’Connor, we go inside elite rugby environments to show how trust, standards, and brutally honest conversations turn potential into performance. Matt’s coached at Kubota, the Brumbies, Leicester Tigers, Leinster, and the Queensland Reds, and he draws a sharp line between glossy values and the gritty, day-to-day actions that actually win games.

We talk about social capital as the foundation for candor: when motives are team first and ego stays out, players accept tough feedback because they feel safe. Matt explains how Monday reviews get specific, fast, and behavior-focused, and why...

A quiet architect just left the building—and the story behind his work is a masterclass in leadership. We take a clear-eyed look at Chris Lendrum’s two decades inside New Zealand Rugby, showing how a behind-the-scenes operator shaped player pathways, stabilized competitions, and helped elevate the Black Ferns with a strategy equal parts rigor and heart. This is a journey through culture you can feel the moment you walk in, and performance that holds an edge without losing its humanity.

We share firsthand reflections on Lendrum’s approach to negotiation and people, and why honesty delivered with c...

What does it take for a national team with little budget and less infrastructure to climb from 71st to 40th in the world? We sit down with Stu Woodhouse to unpack a decade leading the Philippines—where family, identity, and bravery weren’t slogans but the spine of performance. This is a story of players scattered across the globe, many who never felt “Filipino enough,” finding home in a jersey and purpose in each other. It began with connection before correction: rookies and veterans sharing hard family stories, naming values like puso, and turning history into daily habits. Lapu Lapu mov...

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What if the biggest performance edge your team is missing is the well-being of the person leading it? We sit down with Stuart Edwards—defense coach for Finland and former police officer—who’s conducting one of the first deep academic dives into stress, burnout, and support systems for rugby coaches. From community volunteers to pro environments, the patterns are striking: invisible emotional labor, chronic isolation, rising scrutiny, and very few structures designed to help coache...

What do you do when the scoreboard won’t budge? We sit down with Cambridge head coach Craig Newby for an unfiltered look at leadership, culture, and performance in the middle of a 14-game winless run—and why this stretch might be the most rewarding of his career. Craig breaks down the simple, sturdy framework that keeps his team aligned: “Fit, Tight, Fight” as non-negotiable standards, and three big rocks—set piece, transition, and collisions—that shape every meeting, practice plan, and review. Instead of chasing every problem, he shows how focusing on controllable performance goals, GPS-informed training, and clear weekly...

What if the fastest way to a stronger culture isn’t a better speech but a better session plan? We take a hard look at Gordon Tietjens’ legendary methods with the All Blacks Sevens and unpack why brutal fitness, unbendable standards, and purpose‑driven training turned talent into titles—and teammates into family.

We start with the heart of Tietjens’ philosophy: the harder you work together, the closer you become. In sevens, effort is public and undeniable—everyone sees the chase, the clean, the reload. By holding stars and rookies to the same physical demands, he stripped away hierarc...

What if the hardest session you’ve ever done became the moment your team truly bonded? We sit down with Sir Gordon Tietjens, the architect of All Blacks Sevens dominance, to unpack a culture built on honesty, humility, discipline, and relentless work—and why those values still win when talent alone can’t.

Tietjens takes us inside his selection philosophy, revealing why character outruns hype in a sport decided by inches. He breaks down his traffic‑light model—greens who self‑drive, yellows who drift, reds who divide—and shows how clear standards, from nutrition to conditioning tests, create...

Pressure isn’t a detour in coaching—it’s the road itself. We open up about the weight leaders carry, from constant decision-making to public scrutiny, and why stress doesn’t signal failure but commitment. Instead of wishing problems away, we talk about building the muscle to walk through them, drawing on research-backed ideas about process-focused mindset shifts that shorten the emotional downtime after hard calls and tough losses.

From there, we get practical. We lay out how to build a clean on-off switch so coaching mode doesn’t follow you through the front door. Think small, deliberate...

Ever feel like your work is judged on the tiniest slice of time while everything that matters happens in the shadows? We sit down with Sharks coach and leadership consultant Joey Mongalo to unpack how identity, conviction, and a clear model help leaders thrive under pressure—on the field and in the boardroom.

We start with the uncomfortable truth: people judge coaches on 80 minutes. Joey explains how he anchors himself by revisiting his track record to counter noise with facts, then shows why the strongest coaching rooms share pain, not blame. From there, we dive into the po...

A surgeon’s simple habit changed the way we coach. We dig into how the first and last moments of any experience anchor the emotion, memory, and meaning people carry forward—and how that insight can turn ordinary sessions into powerful learning events. Starting from an unexpected colonoscopy analogy, we translate a soft start and a calm finish into practical tools for rugby and any team environment.

We walk through three levels of application. At the season level, we show how a strong opening meeting and a thoughtful closing ceremony frame the story your players remember, even when...

A late-night training, a tired team, and a coach who missed the real story—that’s where everything changed. Andre Petorius shares how a single moment of misread effort led him to apologize, “break the chain” of how he was coached, and build a people-first approach anchored in three words: understand and assist.

We dive into a definition you’ll remember long after the episode ends: culture as your team’s immune system. Andre shows how small daily behaviors—inviting young players into extras, how you leave a gym, the way you speak after errors—either strengthen or weaken that s...

Pressure without panic. That was the standout energy we brought home from the Brisbane youth rugby coaches forum, where we watched Mike Cron turn complex coaching into something calm, sharp, and deeply human. We open up our notes on how sky-high standards can thrive without fear, why fewer cues and more silence often produce better reps, and how the right tech can transform players into self-directed learners.

We talk through Cron’s approach to culture: make the standard crystal clear, keep the environment steady, and put responsibility on our delivery first. From there, the focus shifts to di...

What if performance starts with belonging, not tactics? We sit down with Nick Evans—All Black fly-half turned Harlequins attack coach—to unpack how culture, clarity, and a few well-chosen words can change the way a team competes under pressure. From honoring ancestry to owning identity, Nick shows why connection is the foundation that makes hard conversations possible and results sustainable.

We trace his journey from player to coach, including the painful lesson of a 28-slide attack deck that put half the room to sleep—and the pivot to short, sharp meetings that land one idea and get th...

https://www.coachingculture.com.au/Bens_Culture_Playbook Download

Ever notice two teams run the same drills with the same energy, yet one takes off while the other stalls? We dig into the invisible factor that decides that split: culture. Not the poster on the wall or the pregame speech, but the lived behaviors you tolerate, the way mistakes are handled, whose voice carries, and what gets ignored. Drawing on years of coaching across countries and age groups, we share a practical Culture Playbook designed to help you start quickly and build deliberately, so you’re not stu...

Want to know why the “hot coach” from a powerhouse program often struggles at your club? We sit down with Ben Darwin of Gain Line Analytics to unpack the data behind coach hiring, culture, and the compounding power of cohesion. The conversation challenges easy narratives and asks harder questions about why stability, system fit, and patience routinely beat short-term fixes.

We break down a striking contrast from the NRL: assistants leaving the dominant Melbourne Storm win far less elsewhere than the small group of coaches who’ve departed the West Tigers. That flips common wisdom, and it makes...

Download Bens free Culture Playbook here: https://www.coachingculture.com.au/Bens_Culture_Playbook

A 20-year anniversary felt like the right moment to unpack how love, family, and coaching actually work together in real life. I share five lessons that kept our marriage strong and made me a better pro rugby coach: trusting instinct, choosing adventure together, building a home that tells the truth kindly, parenting with intent, and staying fit to protect connection and clarity. It’s the honest version—fast decisions that paid off, moves across continents that stretched us, and late-night debriefs that turned into...

What if the most important part of coaching isn’t the playbook, but the five-minute chat before training? We sit down with Zane Hilton, assistant coach of the Queensland Reds, to unpack a career built on process, simplicity, and relentless human connection—despite never having played professionally. Zane’s story spans Italy, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, and Australia, revealing how culture becomes real only when it shows up in behavior under pressure.

We dig into his coaching methodology—train well, understand the game’s detail, embrace aggression as mindset, and work hard—and why the order of care, connect, the...

A dusty bookshelf turned into a wake-up call. While sorting old favorites, we found a box of Tuesdays with Morrie—and that rediscovery became a fresh look at how culture, love, and emotion shape the way we coach and lead. What starts as a short memoir about weekly visits to a dying professor unfolds into a clear-eyed syllabus for living with purpose when the world keeps pushing speed, status, and more.

We walk through the story’s simple structure—Tuesdays as classes—and pull out the lessons that stick. First, the culture you inherit is not the culture...

What if the toughest conversations are actually acts of care? We sit down with Andrew Hore—veteran leader across the Crusaders, Ospreys, New Zealand Rugby, and the Blues—to unpack how culture really works when the stakes are high and the calendars are relentless. Andrew doesn’t sell slogans; he shares systems. From the iceberg of unwritten behaviors to the moments a leader must step back and let the team “color in” the framework, he shows why ownership beats oversight and why challenge, delivered well, strengthens trust.

We trace turning points across teams and regions: the Crusaders’ academy foun...

A year can teach more than a stack of textbooks when you commit to showing up every week. We look back on a season built on a simple promise: open a door to world-class coaching minds so any coach, in any town, can learn directly from people who are in the arena. Along the way, we learned new crafts—audio, video, messy garage setups, timezone chaos—and hit 100,000 downloads, a milestone that matters only because it means ideas landed when people needed them.

Two conversations shaped our thinking the most. From Tony Brown came a line that won’...

Pressure doesn’t invent behavior; it reveals it. That’s the heartbeat of our conversation with behavioral strategist Warren Kenor, who brings three decades of coaching across elite rugby, cricket, golf, and Olympic equestrian. We dig into why “snaps” are almost never sudden and how the minutes leading up to a mistake hold the clues coaches overlook. Warren shows how to decode patterns with robust profiling, translate data into action, and make leadership choices that are calm, strategic, and effective.

We confront the emotional rollercoaster head-on. Cheering and yelling aren’t sins; they’re tools—if they’re used to creat...

Want a team that shows up, leans in, and stays connected when it matters most? Start with one small tradition. Ben shares a simple holiday story—a family beep test before Christmas lunch—and turns it into a clear playbook for leaders who want stronger culture and steadier performance. From youth to grandparents, everyone takes a role, and that shared ritual becomes a model for belonging, clarity, and care that any sports team or workplace can borrow.

We unpack why traditions work so well: they make people feel like they truly belong, they turn big words like work...

What truly turns a collection of talented individuals into a team that outperforms its parts? Chris Lendrum, GM of Professional Rugby and Performance at New Zealand Rugby, reframes culture with a striking idea: ten times eight can equal 60, 80, or 120 depending on the environment you build. From there, we unpack the daily leadership work that makes the “120” possible—where psychological safety meets accountability, and where connection fuels relentless standards.

We get practical about selection and development. Chris explains why technical skill is table stakes and how to hire for drive, openness, and alignment at scale. He shares how to ass...

One sentence can tell the truth about a team: small players want to tackle and big players want to run. We took that line apart and found the blueprint for a culture that turns comfort zones into competitive edges and effort into belonging. Across the mic, we share stories from the 10–7 connection, why the jersey’s history pulls more weight than any motivational speech, and how visible acts of courage and generosity become the signals that set standards without shouting.

We dig into three pillars. First, meaning bigger than self: players who feel the weight of the colo...

A team list can teach you more than a scoreboard. Ben opens up about growing up in New Zealand rugby culture, missing A teams year after year, and how that sting forged a durable kind of resilience that later powered a professional career and a life in coaching. The story tracks an unlikely path from D team disappointment to Super Rugby, through concussion and identity loss, and into a craft that puts people at the center of performance.

We dive into three formative gifts: learning to live with setbacks without letting them define you, discovering the freedom...

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A golden Sydney evening sets the scene, but the real heat in this conversation is Mike Catt’s blueprint for durable, high-performing teams. We go far beyond tactics to unpack why love for the game, genuine care, and trained calm turn individual talent into collective results. Mike traces a remarkable journey from South Africa’s hard-edged competitiveness to Bath’s winning heyday, through Italy’s tough rebuilds, Ireland’s detail-rich evolution, and now the Waratahs, where skill development meets identity and purpose.

We dig into the idea that calm is a skill, not a mood. Mike explains how “think...

A 70-point demolition tells one story. The way South Africa kept shape with cards, shuffled roles without panic, and attacked with conviction tells the real one: culture, clarity, and coaching aligned. We trace that edge back to Tony Brown’s fingerprints and the mindset that flips good teams into ruthless, resilient units.

We start with the simplest signal that changes everything: show up as a rugby person first, a coach second. That posture earns trust fast, respects the jersey, and helps a leader amplify the team’s identity instead of importing a foreign system. From there, Brown’s hall...

If culture is just words on a wall, it won’t survive a 30‑game season. We sat down with Northampton Saints Director of Rugby Phil Dowson to unpack how a top Premiership club actually lives its values: clear behaviors, blunt but caring feedback, and a sense of humor that makes hard work sustainable. From academy integration to senior leadership, from recruitment to mindset, Phil shares the frameworks and small rituals that keep Saints connected and competitive.

We trace Phil’s pathway from player to DOR and why long-standing relationships can be a strength—so long as you keep the...

Coaches love big ideas until pressure hits and the ideas melt. Today we share our drafted chapter on Eddie Jones and pull out the hard, usable lessons that survive heat: culture as behavior, observation as a craft, and high standards delivered without resentment. After nearly 50 interviews with elite rugby minds, Eddie’s lens still cuts the clearest path from theory to team habits you can see and measure.

We start by redefining culture as what people correct in each other when it’s awkward. From Leicester’s “we don’t do it like that here” to Springbok players push...

What if the best culture in your team is hiding in plain sight—in the way players clean a table, put plates away, or stick around for a coffee that really means connection? We sit down with Nathan Gray—Wallaby, defense specialist, and now director of rugby—to map the behaviors that make standards visible and repeatable under pressure.

Nathan pulls back the curtain on selection and reveals the trait he hunts that tape often misses: intent. He explains why toughness is both physical and mental, and how to coach it without crossing into chaos. We dive deep i...

Ever feel like two practices a week can’t possibly cover skills, systems, set piece, and fitness? We unpack a practical blueprint that turns time pressure into sharper sessions, starting with the one choice that clarifies everything: define your team identity and let it set the plan. From there, we lean into a DIY fitness culture that takes conditioning off your training clock and puts ownership in your players’ hands, using simple prompts and social accountability to make extra work normal and even fun.

We keep set piece clean and efficient. Instead of a binder full of line...

What does a team feel like when the culture works? Players show up early. Coaches look for solutions when it rains. Conversations flow before and after practice because care and connection aren’t slogans—they’re the system. We sit down with Sean Graham, long‑time Director of Rugby at St. Joseph’s Nudgee College and founder of the Youth Rugby Coaches Forum, to unpack how he builds environments where kids can’t wait to train and coaches keep raising the bar.

Sean explains why the coach is the single biggest factor in a player’s experience and the two tr...

Pressure doesn’t invent character—it reveals it. When the game tightens and the season bites back, many of us slide into sarcasm, shut people out, or bury ourselves in busywork that feels safe. I unpack those dark traits head-on and share how elite coaches identify them, speak them aloud, and build systems that keep emotion from hijacking the facts.

Drawing on insights from Mick Byrne, John Mitchell, and Steve Hansen, I break down what happens when stress narrows perspective and why the first step is simple awareness without shame. Then we go further: refusing to justify the...