Christian Leali'ifano is an Australian professional rugby player. He currently plays for the Brumbies in Super Rugby and Toyota Jido Shokki in the Japanese Top League and his usual position is inside centre or fly-half. In this episode we cover:

• Chrisitan's role in dictating how he has led both the Brumbies and the Wallabies around the park and how to navigate the pressure of international rugby as a game driver
• His experiences with some of the Wallaby greats and his first experiences alongside Stirling Mortlock and Stephen Larkham
• What it looks like to overcome adversity both physically and mentally from physical illness to selection pressure

This is the first episode of the podcast that will soon be free to view on Rugby Bricks Detail website and as a result, we've made a special clip which you can watch on YouTube to get a better grasp on everything we cover in this episode. Enjoy this one because it's deep and carries a huge amount of information.

Lastly, this episode is bought to you by the new Rugby Bricks kicking journal. For the next 3 days, only you'll be able to get a free Rugby Bricks kicking tee of your choice. All you need to do is enter RBFREETEE at checkout when you add both a journal and a tee of your choice to the cart.

Dan Carter, Jonny Wilkinson, Hayden Parker and hundreds of others are keeping a journal about their kicking experiences and you should too. This is your chance to get not just a journal but a chance to keep a record of your journey as a kicker.

Take advantage of this deal to not only get a journal that's been two years in the making but a kicking tee used by some of the best players on the planet.

Mike Harris is a professional rugby player for Toshiba Brave Lupus in Japan's Top League. He has also been capped ten times for Australia.

Harris began his career in 2007 with North Harbour in New Zealand's ITM Cup before moving to Australia in 2011. He played for the Queensland Reds and Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby and then joined French club Lyon for two seasons from late 2016.

Mike is an eternal student of the game and in this podcast, you learn why. This podcast covers some real intricacies when it comes to goal-kicking, how to navigate selection pressure and the development of his own technique. Here's the highlight reel:

• Mike's personal goal kicking journey and slotting a penalty with 80,000 spectators on the international stage

• Mike's personal rituals when it comes to game day preparation

• His experiences playing for the Wallabies and how role clarity allowed him to excel professionally

• His mental game and how he used "Jingles" to increase his rhythm during his goal kicking

As always we dive into the details in this Rugby Bricks podcast. In terms of goal kicking, we've not had a guest go as deep as Mikey does in this one. If you're looking to perfect your strikes this episode for you and if you're a coach pass it on to anyone who is looking to convert more.

Lastly, this episode is bought to you by the new Rugby Bricks kicking journal. For the next 10 days, only you'll be able to get a free Rugby Bricks kicking tee of your choice. All you need to do is enter RBFREETEE at checkout when you add both a journal and a tee of your choice to the cart.

Dan Carter, Jonny Wilkinson, Hayden Parker and hundreds of others are keeping a journal about their kicking experiences and you should too. This is your chance to get not just a journal but a chance to keep a record of your journey as a kicker.

Take advantage of this deal to not only get a journal that's been two years in the making but a kicking tee used by some of the best players on the planet.

Just like Matt Dunning's 2003 drop goal that left him in the rugby halls of fame as the first prop to slot a drop goal from 30 metres out this podcast delivers as much value if not more. Peter dives into the Rugby Bricks archives to find the top 10 pieces of passing advice from previous guests. From the world's best number 9 Aaron Smith through to Olympic Gold Medalist coach Ben Ryan and everyone in between this is the best podcast we've made yet.

Here's what we're tackling:

• 10 guests in one episode each sharing their best insights into their passing games you'll hear from Aaron Smith, Ben Okeefe, Tony Brown, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Perry Baker, Ben Ryan, Stephen Larkham, Matt Toomua, Mike Cron and Will Greenwood
• What I look for when I'm coaching and how to use the advice that these players share throughout the episode
• The principles that I believe govern a great passing game and how to implement them inside of your own coaching and playing style

This episode is simply the best we've done because it takes some of the best in the world and puts them all in one place.

Just like Reece Hodge's 60 m kick on the weekend against the All Blacks in the Bledisloe, this podcast is near perfect. Strap in and start learning.

Will Greenwood is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequins and played 55 tests for England and was the centre for the 2003 World Cup-winning team and is our first repeat guest on the Rugby Bricks podcast. Will is a Sky Sports commentator and sports journalist for The Guardian having written over 1.5 M words for the publication on the game of rugby. He's in the midst of publishing and writing his own book with his co-author Ben Fennell.

Will is a virtuoso in all things business, narrative direction, writing and exploring the world around us. Just like our first episode, this one has so many threads and resources that you could spend months on just following up on what Will shares. Here are some of the highlights from the episode:

• Will shares how David and Goliath was actually an incredibly unfair fight for Goliath and how this relates to rugby
• How Jonny Wilkinson spent there World Cup Final practising goal kicking and dropkicks while the team was in a huddle before going into overtime against Australia
• Will talks about he learns with his own personal reading and listening time and how COVID has helped him to improve
• How to stay in the game and find success as a player in the current professional era

We don't often associate wisdom, understanding and persistent learning with rugby players but Will Greenwood is the living embodiment of this. I love catching up with Will not only because I learn about rugby but because I come away with a better understanding of the world around me.

Do some homework on this podcast and listen to the episode least a couple of times because there are so many gems in this one.

Mike Cron first began working fulltime with the All Blacks in 2004 and after many years as the All Blacks Scrum Coach, moved into a wider role as the Forwards Coach in 2012. Mike has been coaching since 1982 and is recognised as one of the most innovative and respected coaches in the world.

Mike has now retired from coaching the All Blacks forwards and is now focusing on creating a mentoring platform for young players and coaches who are coming through the ranks. This is the first time Mike has appeared on any form of media outlet for a long-form interview and the value in this episode over-delivers. We cover:

• Mike's ability to learn from a range of different professional sports including the NBA, NZ Royal Ballet, NRL, sumo-wrestling, shotput and many more
• The two core contact points of your feet and shoulders in the cleanout, maul, ruck and scrum and how to transfer power through these points to maximise dominance in the game
• How to explain and deliver drills to athletes and gain their buy in when teaching new concepts and foster questions around why these drills are being taught and creating a safe environment for questions
• What Mike teaches players when entering the scrum for greater body awareness and simplifying the scrum in a way where all eight bodies move in the same direction cohesively to gain dominance upfront

There are so many more gems in this episode that these four highlight points barely scratch the surface. I've said this before but this is our best podcast yet and for me, it was one of the greatest learning experiences I've had as a coach.

If you're a forward, back, coach or admirer of the game of rugby this episode will blow you away. I've listened to it four times since recording it and I'm still getting new insights. Listen, learn and repeat.

SPONSORS

Rugby Bricks - Detail

The Detail website is all about giving you access to the insights, tools and tactics that the worlds best are using to get better at the game of rugby. Long form episodes, Passing, Goal Kicking and a Workbook Program for only $8.99 the value in this is crazy. We have always tried to over deliver with content and we 100% have here too. www.rugbybricks-detail.com.

Abby Gustaitis is an American rugby union player. She debuted for the United States against France in 2016. She was selected for the squad to the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland.

Abby is currently working on her game during COVID-19 as she looks to the possibility of the Olympics Games in Tokyo, next year. Similar to Abby this episode had everything, here's what we covered:

• How Abby is making the most of lockdown and the core skills she's been developing when you're not allowed at parks or grounds
• Abby has a Bsc in Physiology and Neurobiology and this has helped her develop world-class habits and breaking down poor ones
• How Abby focuses on her sleep and how this is directly related to skill development
• How the Eagles have shifted their culture from secrecy to an open culture where everyone focuses on sharing their knowledge to improve as a group as opposed to individuals

This episode was a special one as it highlights the level of detail world-class athletes are willing to go to practice their trade even when everything is against them.

If you're looking to build a culture that revolves around science, skills and better habits this episode is our best one yet for it. Get into it and take some notes.

Otere Black plays as a first five-eight for Manawatu in the Mitre 10 Cup, Blues in Super Rugby Aotearoa and Maori All Blacks and someone I had the opportunity to play at the end of my playing days.

Otere is currently leading the top of the table Blues around the park as the starting first five-eighth and has been a standout this season. Just like Otere, this episode was classy and here's what we cover:

• How Otere learns from Dan Carter and how this has allowed him to view the game
• Leading the Blues in the COVID pre-season against Beauden Barrett
• Otere's game process and how he handles game driving of the Blues team
• His process around goal-kicking off of the Wolf + and how his kicking has evolved over time

This episode was insightful as I got to really dig deep on the details and learn from Otere and what's influencing his success at the Blues this season. If you're a Kiwi this episode is a special one for you and if you're from anywhere else in the world - you'll hear from how some of the best players in the world do what they do. Get some pen, paper and get ready to learn from this episode with Otere Black.

Will Greenwood is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequins and played 55 tests for England and was the centre for the 2003 World Cup-winning team.

Will is now a Sky Sports commentator and sports journalist for The Guardian having written over 1.5 M words for the publication on the game of rugby.

This episode was just class. Will is an excellent storyteller, succinct copywriter and master craftsmen when it comes to communication. In this episode we cover:

• Will's playing career and his love of NZ rugby including his own insights on the first weekend of Super Rugby Aotearoa
• How Will thinks about writing, communication and using this to capture viewers and readers attention and how to apply this to rugby
• Will's story about Jonny Wilkinson in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final overtime and his attention to detail and practice
• Will's insight into the difference between Northern and Southern hemisphere rugby in the early 2000's

You know a great speaker when you hear them speak and in this episode, Will embodies that. I loved every minute of this episode and if you're even a fringe fan of rugby you will too.

Go train, do some housework or simply get some pen and paper and takes notes on this incredible episode of the Rugby Bricks podcast with Will Greenwood.

In this episode, we go deep on the upcoming Detail series that is coming Rugby Bricks followers and a fireside chat with Aaron Smith.

One of the missing links I've found in rugby is the attention to detail. Some of the best in the world are making half centimetre adjustment to their hand position or ball drop and as a community, we've been missing this. This is where our new long-form content series "DETAIL" enters the picture, we're creating a subscription site that is based on bringing you the micro-skills that will help you perform better at the breakdown or just rapidly distributing the ball. In this podcast episode, I cover:

• What the DETAIL series will cover
• My most recent podcasts with Stephen Larkham and Devin Markle
• A 10-minute fireside chat with Aaron Smith

Enjoy this DETAIL episode of the Rugby Bricks podcast.

In this episode, we go deep with Australian Wallaby utility back Matt Toomua. Toomua is an Australian rugby union player who has played over 35 times for Australia since 2013. He plays for the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby and his usual position is at fly-half or 2nd-five. He has previously played for the Brumbies and for Leicester Tigers in England's Premiership Rugby.

In this episode we cover:

• The business of rugby and Toomua's representation of Union players in the restructuring of Australian Rugby
• His attention to detail and how these micro-skills amplify your overall in-game performance
• The selection decisions that drove issues within the Wallabies squad during the previous Rugby World Cup
• How Super Rugby needs to be restructured so that there is a better offering for fans to get to the game

This episode was special, Matt is insightful, well versed and someone who is thinking about how the micro affects the macro inside and outside of rugby.

Grab a pen, grab a note pad and start looking at how you can implement the gems that were dropped in this episode.