#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