Mark's Blog: Rugby Coaching Conference

Last weekend the school sent me on a coaching course in Melbourne, with Brad, the school's 1st XV coach; flights and central hotel accommodation paid for. It was run by the Melbourne Rebels, one of the Super 15 teams (the 15 club Rugby Union championship in the southern hemisphere, featuring teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Melbourne is the AFL (Aussie Rules) heartland of Australia. The Rebels are only a year or so old and finished last in last year's competition; plus with 18 professional teams competing for the city's attention - and money - they have a big job building a fan base in a city.

All their players are inevitably from interstate or overseas (Old Whitgiftian Danny Cipriani is back for a second season), whilst the other big names are household Wallaby names - James O'Connor, Kurtley Beale and club captain Stirling Mortlock. Understandably, The Rebels are going all out to build relationships with both the local community and national rugby fraternity - hence this course.

Up at 4am on Saturday morning, I was on the plane at 6am and in a cool Melbourne cafe having poached eggs and a coffee by 9. It was an intense two days - there were 37 coaches from NSW, Queensland and NZ, some state and academy coaches, as well as head coaches at clubs and top rugby schools. It was an outstanding course at the highest level - delivered by Melbourne Rebels staff including former Wallabies and a former Wallaby coach (Rod McQueen), and the sports psychologist for the Australian Cricket Team.

We were also given a tour of the coaches' box prior to the trial match between the Rebels and the Auckland Blues who brought a couple of World Cup winners with them (the new season starts here in a few weeks), and on the Sunday analysed the head coach's half time talk. There wasn't much time to see any of Melbourne, but Brad and I managed to squeeze in a pub after the game for a couple of pints. I flew back late on Sunday, in time for a quick Vietnamese meal in Newtown and up for school again this morning.