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High Performance Players' and Coaches' Courses
Radio Network excerpts from interviews with Graeme Moody
July 2006
Francois Steyn, Played for South Africa at the World Under 19 Championships
"I came to IRANZ on a Tanalised scholarship and this course is really going to help boost my career. One of the crucial areas of improvement will be my on-field communication. Stephen Bachop and Dave Ellis really worked hard with me on that area - how to organise and talk to those around me. That's a big part of a first five’s job."
"We've been working hard for seven hours a day - and I honestly couldn’t think how they could improve the course. It must just stay the same. It's really remarkable for young guys to have access to these top players and coaches of world rugby."
"I would recommend to guys back home to attend this course, but more important would be for South Africa to set up a course based on IRANZ. We should try to establish an academy like this because it's awesome."
"It's (IRANZ) been better than I expected. I thought I'd come here and train in wet weather, and I thought the people in South Africa had already taught me what I needed to know. But as a result of this course my passing, my communication ..... everything is better. I know I go home a much better rugby player!"
Keith Tait, Prop from Dublin, Ireland
"My club back home in Dublin sponsored me to the course, and I'm very grateful."
"The experience has been priceless; it's invaluable what you learn in such a short period of time."
“There’s been so much to take in from the best coaches in the world including John Kirwan, David Nucifora and many others."
"I'm a tight-head prop. Richard Loe was brilliant in the position-specific coaching sessions. He's all heart, he's all in the mind and his experience is unbelievable. I was a bit star-struck to be in the same room as him. He passed on a few Richard Loe tricks!"
"David Nucifora's attention to detail was amazing when it came to scrummaging."
"You think you've been doing things right until you listen to these guys. Probably mental toughness is one of the key factors I'll be working on."
"Sharing time and views with the other players from around the world has also been special. The South Africans singing, the English boasting about the World Cup and the Aussies just being Aussies!"
"The food was great, one of the better things about the course in fact. Going grocery shopping and putting down the hangi was fun. IRANZ has been an awesome experience."
Inaki Basauri, Lock from Mexico
"This is my second time on the course. I came over when I just started rugby after shifting from Mexico to the United States."
"I took a huge amount from that first course being coached by such stars as Andy Haden. But now, having played a few more seasons, I realised I'm in a position to make even better use of what IRANZ has to offer. I returned home from that first visit to IRANZ to be selected for the US under 19's and now I’m playing professionally for a second division club in France. That opened my eyes to the fact that I am now equipped to make even better use of the expertise and professionalism on offer at IRANZ."
"Ian Jones, Richard Loe and David Nucifora taught me amazing techniques and skills this time around - and I'll go back and show the Frenchies how to play Kiwi rugby."
"Yeah, I'm probably the only professional Mexican rugby player in the world."
"My aim is to play in a future World Cup for the United States and play in the top division of pro rugby - either in France or down here in the Southern Hemisphere."
Steve Bradshaw, Lock from Hutt Old Boys Marist RFC, Wellington, New Zealand
"Being one of the few Kiwis on the course it's been a wonderful experience mingling and learning about the different rugby cultures from the boys who are here from all over the world."
"I've just come from playing basketball to take up rugby and working with Ian Jones one-on-one has been great. It's been a big chance to learn from all the greats coaching at the course."
"The first week of fitness was pretty hard stuff but it got all the boys together and it was satisfying to get through. That was an accomplishment for all the boys."
"It's really helped me learn where I'm at and where I have to be to succeed in pro rugby, covering everything from the physical, the mental and the nutritional side of things."
"The big message I take away is not to be afraid to work hard and push hard for your goals."
Brady Engert, Halfback from Sydney, Australia (Tanalised Australia Scholarship)
"I won a Tanalised Scholarship offered on the tele programme "Inside Rugby” that we have in Australia. My mum applied and got me through. It's been unreal, great."
"I'm playing halfback in first Colt’s grade in Sydney and hope to play professionally one day. This course has filled me with the confidence to give playing pro a good crack."
"I had Nick Farr-Jones working with me in the one-on-one position specific sessions. It was great, he's so influential. My dad told me Farr-Jones is an Aussie legend but I have never seen him play."
"It was really good to meet him and get his insight into the half-back job. He talked more of mental, positional and tactical matters rather than too much of the technical stuff. Plus of course a few extra little things I should be doing."
"It's an unbelievable experience - not just the rugby, but meeting all the boys as well. All the different characters and cultures and there's some really funny blokes. The guy from Ireland was funny - but the South African was the real crackup."
"I'd recommend this course to anyone lucky enough to have a chance to come here."
Watene Waenga, Centre from Waikato (Adidas Scholarship Player)
“I got here on an adidas Scholarship and I'm pretty happy about that."
“Probably the main thing for me has been the mental toughness side of things. I didn't really think mental toughness was very important, but I do now. It's something I'm going to have to work on."
"I'm playing club rugby and training with the Waikato Academy at the moment and hope to be able to make the pro-ranks."
"I'm a centre and worked one-on-one with Frank Bunce who talked to me about the little things that will improve my game if I go away and work on them which was good. Like how to improve passing, positional play, the way to move in defence and how to go into body contact. These were all areas we discussed."
"I didn't expect to meet so many boys from all around the world, to meet people from so many cultures and countries. That was wonderful."
"The course has filled me with knowledge to go away and work on. If I can go back to the Waikato and put it all in to practice, it will hopefully build my confidence."
High Performance Coaches’ Course
Stanley Rubenheimer, Coach from South Africa (Tanalised South Africa Scholarship)
This wasn't Stanley's first trip to New Zealand. He toured here with the Western Province side in 1993 and as a member of the Bulls Super 12 lineup in 1999 and 2000, and is now into his fourth year of coaching in South Africa.
He says "the IRANZ course has been an eye-opener and I'm on cloud nine. The quality of people I've been been exposed to has been unbelievable!"
"John Kirwan was one of the outstanding lecturers in terms of the information he gave us, his enthusiasm and attitude. He talked of the mistakes he made as a coach and the information he shared with us in general was unbelievable."
"I'll be changing my coaching approach dramatically; in fact I'll have to change everything (laughter)."
"Nick Mallett, who was here before me, said I had to come on this course purely to improve my technique of coaching. This was a total eye-opener in terms of the information coaches should give players. We were taught to look at the total game but now I've learnt to take it down to the simple basics. For example you have to coach the guys how to do basic things like going into contact, what position their legs, arms, neck, shoulders should be in. In other words, look for those specifics. Back home we were never taught to look at the specifics before you look at the whole game."
"We need such a course in South Africa. It's a necessity, and there'll be strong emphasis from me to push the need for something like IRANZ to be established to help coaches at home."
Peter Walton, Coach from Newcastle, England
"I was sponsored on the course by my club Newcastle, who've previously sent players and a coach to IRANZ and were impressed with what was on offer. I got promoted to coach the first team last year and they decided I should come over."
"I'm very pleased with what the course has provided, and it has given me a lot more confidence about what I'm doing. To get alongside legends of the game like Ian Jones and Nick Farr-Jones and share their knowledge is something you don’t get a chance to do in normal club circumstances."
"I'll go straight back into pre-season work when I return home, and I'm already quite confident what I’m going to do in the buildup to that. We've been working a lot with John Boe and he's very much down to concentrating on working on the attitudes and the basic skills of his players. If you get the attitude and basics right it can bring success at the top level. Boe and the other top coaches on the course have proved that."
"The course reinforced my coaching beliefs and gave me confidence in what I'm doing."
"I've had a great time meeting and sharing ideas with coaches and players from around the world, and I'll fully recommend it to other coaches back in the UK."
