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Dan talks to Abingdon School's director of rugby Matt Gold.

We discuss his own experiences of speaking to a stellar cast of coaches in his own lockdown podcast series, Goldy's Rugby Podcast. We reflect on the lessons he learned from speaking to coaches like Ben Ryan and Sir Gordon Tietjens, especially on resilience and dealing with pressure.

We then explore how he developed an all-embracing season plan at Abingdon. Matt tells how he and his team of staff introduced the plan, the importance of a team approach and how he sold it to the players and the rest of the staff.

We delve into the detail of a session. I challenge Matt on how his team of coaches allow for a differentiated environment and what a typical session might look like.

One of the main lessons from the podcast must be that while the sessions might look rigid on paper, the coaching group is actually adjusting it all the time to suit the players.

We also discuss when and how you empower your players. His story about a particular crucial half time team talk brings into shark relief the power of this approach.

Matt is always delighted to chat with other coaches. Catch him on @gold_matthew or email him at [email protected].

The link for his podcast is: Goldy's Rugby podcasts

To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly

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