Coaching Culture with Ben Herring
Coaching Culture with Ben Herring is your weekly deep-dive into the often-overlooked “softer skills” of coaching—cultural innovation, communication, empathy, leadership, dealing with stress, and motivation. Each episode features candid conversations with the world’s top international rugby coaches, who share the personal stories and intangible insights behind their winning cultures, and too their biggest failures and learnings from them. This is where X’s and O’s meet heart and soul, empowering coaches at every level to foster authentic connections, inspire their teams, and elevate their own coaching craft. If you believe that the real gold in rugby lies beyond the scoreboard, Coaching Culture is the podcast for you.
Episodes
109 episodes
Joe Launchbury on Leadership, Culture & Accountability in Rugby
What really builds culture when results, bodies, and time are under pressure? We sit down with Joe Launchbury—70-cap England lock, longtime Wasps leader, and current Harlequin—to unpack how simple behaviors, sharp communication, and quiet owner...
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1:02:08
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What If Losing Is Where Culture Begins
A team loses a final. The microphone shows up. Most leaders reach for explanations, soft excuses, or someone to blame. We don’t. We play a short, stunning post-game interview from Gav Hickey, who coaches the Naval Academy in the United States, ...
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11:55
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Mark Jones on Leadership : Why Coaches Fail When Players Don’t Buy In.
What makes a team’s culture visible when the pressure is highest? We sit down with Ospreys head coach Mark Jones to unpack the daily habits, leadership handoffs, and language choices that turn values into actions. From Neath’s valley steel to S...
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1:02:48
Tony Shaw on Rugby Toughness & Culture: “If You Want Comfort, You’re in the Wrong Game”
If you would like to get on this tour: https://gulliver...
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1:01:18
Felipe Contepomi: When Your Greatest Strength Becomes Your Biggest Flaw
What if passion isn’t the finish line but the fuel—and only excellence keeps the engine from overheating? We sit down with Hall of Famer and Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi to unpack a coaching philosophy that’s as rigorous as it is human...
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1:00:24
The Right Music Turns A Group Into A Team
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 an...
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11:46
Ben John: Building Community And Skill In Online Rugby
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 hel...
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1:03:00
When Kids Tackle Their Dads They Learn Faster
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 l...
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10:53
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Greg Cooper: Character will beat talent.
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,...
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1:00:45
How Rugby Coach Sam Vesty Prepares A Team For A Final
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 ...
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11:57
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Gavin Hickie: What Rugby can learn from Navy Culture
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 ...
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1:00:31
Matt O'Connor: The Harsh Truths of Coaching Winning Teams
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,...
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1:00:01
Reflections: Farewell To A Quiet Architect Of Rugby
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 pat...
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12:49
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Stu Woodhouse: Leading a school rugby program and an International side
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 slog...
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1:09:15
Stu Edwards: Looking after Coaches Mental Well Being
Add to the research here:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeEaFJl2Iks5RDGq93lTXyOv3RS5SoNJsibRPVWytiQgSWarg/viewform?pli=1What if the biggest performance edge your team is missing is the well-being of the person leading it...
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57:15
Craig Newby: Losing Teaches What Winning Hides
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 rewar...
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1:10:09
Reflections: Work Rate Beats Game IQ More Than Coaches Admit.
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...
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10:37
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Gordon Tietjens: I Coach Intensity Before Tactics
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 relentles...
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1:02:00
Reflections: How to deal with Pressure
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 ta...
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14:14
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Joey Mongalo: How to Deal with the Pressures of Coaching
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 hel...
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1:19:09
Reflections: How First and Last Moments Shape Coaching
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 ...
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13:17
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Andre Pretorius: Understand And Assist
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 p...
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1:13:19
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Reflection: Learning from a master coach
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-hig...
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10:46
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Nick Evans: Removing the Burden of Outcome
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....
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1:06:23
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