Chris Boyd and the Art of Coaching

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Chris Boyd
D.O.B. – 21 July 1958
Place of Birth – Wellington.
School Attended – Tawa High School
Current Position – Head Coach, Hurricanes (Super Rugby Champions 2016).

While sitting on the tenth floor of the Kingsbury Hotel listening to Chris Boyd answer a question in his easy laconic style about the number of players needed in a ruck, one feels that rugby is really quite a simple game. The science of rugby coaching, the how and the why, is covered by Boyd during the next three hours but it is the when that he believes is the art of coaching rugby; when to train and when to rest, when to talk and when to be silent but for me I know that when Chris Boyd talks, it is time to listen.

His relaxed appearance betrays the sharp rugby mind that sits atop a t-shirt, a pair of shorts and slippers. Such is his casual way of breaking down our game into accessible sound-bites that decision making about sending players into contact can become as easy as this question for the players, “Can I make a difference at this particular breakdown, yes or no?”. Getting the right numbers into breakdown situations is a key component to Boyd’s attack and defence and the right number of players into the breakdown is actually the smallest number possible. “Identifying the threat, making the correct decision and then being effective,” Boyd says, “is the key to getting players into the defensive line or attack instead of into the breakdown. Then we can put real pressure on the opposition.” It all seems so simple.

Chris Boyd began his coaching career in 1989 with Tawa Rugby Football Club, a suburban rugby club in Wellington, New Zealand. He spent nine years there honing his craft until he was given the honour of coaching the Wellington 2nd XV in 1998. He then became assistant coach to the Wellington Lions in 2003 before moving to join fellow New Zealand coach John Plumtree at the Natal Sharks as his assistant in 2006. Boyd graduated to head coach of the Wellington Lions in 2011 after a stint as the defensive coach for the Tongan national rugby team at the 2011 World Cup. Previous to taking up his current position as head coach at the Hurricanes Super Rugby franchise, Boyd was in charge of New Zealand’s U20 ‘Baby Blacks’.

“Time management is vital to good coaching,” Boyd continues,” and what you think is most important to the team is what we must spend the most time training.” That seems so obvious now but I have been in teams that spend 20 minutes every practice on counter attacking while we could not hold on to the ball in contact. And that is what happens often with young coaches, they feel like their team must be well drilled in all areas of the game. Such a daunting task for a coach because there are just so many pieces in the puzzle that is rugby.

Fun and enjoyment get a strong endorsement during Boyd’s presentation and he points to these as precursors for a good team culture. “Culture creates itself, the coach just facilitates,” says Boyd “If you make it fun and it’s well organized then you can let the thing grow by itself.” He goes on to mention that emotional and/or spiritual connection between players helps too but the coach should not think he is too important. The culture will grow regardless of what the coach does. “Find the team leaders and then make them your disciples”, says Boyd, “Key players are the drivers for your culture so you must have them on-board with what you have planned for the team”.

Boyd points out that often coaches should let the team learn and grow without interfering too much. This is echoed again when he relays a story about a training drill that was going horribly wrong. “If you don’t step in straight away with the skill correction the players will eventually work it out”, Boyd says, “and then they will hold that learning for longer, the players will own it.”

That is a continuation of the art, or when, of rugby coaching. And Chris Boyd the artist creates an easy laid back beauty that is accessible to all rugby fans. His teams play a simple and direct style of rugby. A lot like how I found the man himself. Uncluttered and engaging, clear and direct. A man who can breakdown the complexities of our game into small details that we can all comprehend and then build it back up to an attack plan that seems almost impossible to stop. But it is when he stops talking, and I have time to contemplate what I have just been part of, that I get a similar feeling to when I see extraordinary art. One feels calm and excited at the same time, somehow smarter but also with the knowledge that there is more to learn.

We wish this fine artist all the best as he heads back to New Zealand to defend the Super Rugby title he won with the Hurricanes and thank him for coming to our shores to spread the gospel.