Coaching Culture with Ben Herring

A lot of people talk about “culture” like it’s a slogan. Dan Elsom lives it, by building a brand-new representative rugby team for the British and Irish expat community in Australia, then turning it into a real platform for players who want more than a club season and a few match fees. This chat gets into the real work: selection standards, coaching alignment, logistics, media, and why making something legitimate matters when you want players and supporters to buy in. 

We also dig into the bigger vision behind the Heritage Cup, a new annual fixture that pairs British and Irish Expat Rugby with the Pacific Warriors to celebrate the heritage that shapes Australian rugby every weekend. Dan shares what it means to create unity across different backgrounds, how you build a “we” fast with limited prep time, and why exposure through live streaming can be a game-changer for semi-pro talent across the Shoot Shield and beyond. 

The most human part of the story is what happens off the field: cold outreach for sponsors, self-funding before there’s proof, juggling the stress of launch while raising a newborn, and learning the hard way about the admin nobody warns you about. We close with the charity partnership with Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), honoring Dan’s mate Max Oliver, and why purpose makes the grind worth it. If you enjoy conversations on leadership, team culture, grassroots rugby, and building community through sport, hit subscribe, share this with a rugby friend, and leave us a review.
Send us Fan Mail
How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now
Support the show
Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

Watching pro rugby on TV can make school rugby look intimidating, but the truth is far more hopeful and far more practical. We’re joined by Tim Murdy, Director of Sport at Shawnigan Lake School, to talk about how a youth rugby program becomes a place where kids feel safe, challenged, and proud. Tim explains why rugby is a powerful shared experience for younger students, especially in a boarding school setting with athletes arriving from many countries and sporting backgrounds.

We get specific about how to coach beginners without overwhelming them: small-sided games, fun-first progressions, and a skills-based approach that teaches passing, catching, tackling, and decision-making for every body type. We also tackle the hard questions parents ask about contact sports. Tim breaks down how qualified coaching, controlled contact teaching, and prescriptive refereeing reduce risk, and why it’s essential not to compare 13-year-olds to professional athletes.

From there, the conversation widens into coaching culture and leadership. Tim shares his definition of excellence: preparation and performance for competitive pathways, and an excellent experience for every student. We explore fundamentals under pressure, training intensity, using wrestling as a safe tool for body control, and the long-term impact of opening your school’s doors to visiting teams and national programs.

Subscribe for more conversations on coaching culture, share this with a coach or sports parent, and leave a review with the one idea you’re taking into your next training session.
Send us Fan Mail
How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now
Support the show
Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

A lot of people talk about “culture” like it’s a slogan on a wall. We wanted something more real, so I sat down with Campese Maafu, a three-time Rugby World Cup prop and 63-test Flying Fijian, to hear what actually holds teams and people together when pressure hits. For Campese, culture is values plus standards, fueled by faith and the responsibility of “upholding your name” for your family, your community, and everyone watching you from back home. 

Campese’s journey is just as gripping as his definitions. He walks us through representing Fiji with Tongan roots, the family pride that comes with international rugby, and the unforgettable moment of debuting against his own brother in the scrum. Then the story takes a turn most fans don’t expect: he retires, becomes a plumber, finishes his apprenticeship, and learns how coaching shows up in everyday work through patience, communication, and repetition with apprentices who all learn differently. 

That repetition mindset becomes the engine of his coaching career, from schools and clubs to one-on-ones and pathways, until he gets the call to join the Fijian Drua as a professional coach. We dig into what the Drua means for Fijian rugby, why young players see rugby as a path out of poverty, and the hard shift from village-style rugby to professional behaviors like nutrition, recovery, strength and conditioning, and set piece pride in scrummaging and mauling. 

If you care about rugby coaching, leadership development, and building a high-performance culture without losing your humanity, you’ll take a lot from this one. Subscribe, share it with a coach or player who needs it, and leave a review, what’s one standard you want your team to live by this week?
Send us Fan Mail
How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now
Support the show
Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

Winning is loud. Development is quiet. And in school rugby, the noise can crush the very kids we are trying to help. I sit down with Roddy Dean, one of Scotland’s leading schoolboy rugby coaches and longtime Director of Rugby at Merciston Castle School, to unpack what actually builds a lasting coaching culture, especially when expectations, parents, and tradition all pull in different directions.

We get into Roddy’s Borders upbringing and how being surrounded by elite players and strong community values shaped his discipline, humility, and leadership. From there, we dig into what he calls a real coaching superpower: observation. Not “watching film” observation, but noticing the kid who is off, the teammate who is acting out, or the player who needs an arm around the shoulder before it becomes a bigger issue. Roddy connects emotional intelligence, relationships, and standards with a simple test: how do you behave when you think no one is watching?

Then we go practical. Roddy explains the “golden triangle” that aligns coach, parent, and player, why multi-sport development beats early specialization for most young athletes, and how tours and community experiences can educate for life, not just rugby. We also break down how Merciston shifted from chasing trophies to focusing on process and pathways, and why fun is not a bonus but the foundation for performance.

If you coach youth sports, lead a school program, or parent a young athlete, you’ll leave with frameworks you can use this week. Subscribe, share with a coach who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show.
Send us Fan Mail
How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now
Support the show
Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.

A packed stadium, free entry, a brand-new team built across borders, and a cold email that ends with Northampton Saints landing in Colombo. We talk with Saabir Cader, the founder behind the Asian Pacific Lions, about how Sri Lanka rugby became the perfect home for a world-class showcase and why belief matters more than permission when you’re trying to build something that doesn’t exist yet. If you care about rugby culture, sports leadership, and what it takes to create opportunity, this story hits hard. 

We dig into the side of Sri Lanka that many rugby fans never see: a school rugby ecosystem drawing thousands of supporters, a proud 147-year rugby history, and a national culture that unites through adversity. Then we get honest about the bottleneck after schoolboy rugby, where huge participation doesn’t automatically become club rugby, professional pathways, or high performance systems. Saabir shares what changed after COVID, how corporate backing affects player development, and why smarter structures are essential for Asian rugby and Pacific rugby to keep more talent in the game. 

From there, it’s the nuts and bolts of making a major event happen: securing sponsors, earning trust without a track record, assembling players from Japan, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, and beyond, and building a team culture in weeks. We also talk about bringing in legends like David Campese, what World Rugby could do differently to support developing rugby nations, and Saabir’s long-term plan to connect education with elite rugby opportunities so even one young player can break through. 

If you enjoyed this, subscribe to Coaching Culture, share this with a rugby mate, and leave a review so more people can find stories about building the game the right way. What part of Saabir’s approach would you copy first?
Send us Fan Mail
How to be a great coach Book Vol 2 is out on Amazon now
Support the show
Subscribe and Share, it makes a massive difference! Appreciation in advance.