Mick Byrne is the head coach of the Fijian Drua. Hear how Mick made the transition from playing AFL to rugby, to AFL coach, rugby assistant coach, and now Head Coach of the new franchise in the Super Rugby competition, the Fiji Drua. We dive into the lessons Mick has learned over his extensive career, and why he chose to enroll in a psychology course to address his own ideas when his coaching wasn’t being acted on. Find out what differentiates a great coach from a good one, and why team...

After his very recent retirement from playing Rugby, like many players, life after professional rugby can be difficult. Sam Wykes’ experience was no different at first.  However, with some determined resolve,  he has created a wealth of opportunities for himself, from commentating to coaching and even corporate recruitment.  We hear what Sam’s transition from the life of a professional athlete to a desk job  has been like, and how he has continued to give back to the rugby community.  We...

Developing Rugby India with Nasser Hussain Most nations that play rugby also play cricket. One notable exception is India, where rugby is still a fledgling sport currently categorised under ‘other sports’. Today, we talk to Nasser Hussain, the CEO of Rugby India and the man responsible for putting the game on the map in India. Tune in to find out how Nasser himself got involved in the game and why he felt it was important to become an accredited world rugby trainer. We learn about the two...

#A Day In Union is about uniting and connecting the rugby community globally.  The initiative  of Greg Mumm and John Anderson, A Day In Union aims to bring rugby back to its grassroots and shift the narrative to a more positive one., uniting all. We discuss where the idea came from, how everyone can get involved, and what different clubs around Australia are doing to celebrate it. We also find out what John has been up to as president of The Rugby Club of Victoria, and how he's making the...

Today’s guest, Robbie McRobbie, is a Scottish-born, British-educated, former police officer who is currently the CEO of the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU). Furthermore, he is a recipient of an MBE award for the role he has played in changing the lives of at-risk youth through sport, as well as the work he has done to advance UK/Hong Kong relations.  HKRU was the only national sports association to have a charity component, and we hear about the success of HKRU’s Community Foundation.  Robbie's...

On the 14th of January 2022, disaster struck Tonga and its surrounding islands in the form of a submarine volcanic eruption deemed to be hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. For a country that is reliant on farming and rainwater, this incident has had devastating impacts on the Tongan people. In today’s episode, Peter Harding and Toutai Kefu, the CEO and Head Coach of the Tongan Rugby Union respectively, join us to share what the situation looks like on the ground at the...

Sport, rugby in particular, formed the foundation of Nick Leah’s childhood. Walcha where he grew up,  had several Ex-Wallabies and aspirational Wallaby trialists namely Peter Fenwick – who captained the Wallabies & Andrew Laurie who both along with his Dad drove  a lot of the sport in the town & coached Rugby and Cricket. His dad also coached NSW Country and various zone representative teams, and heavily involved in reviving Junior Rugby in Country NSW during the late 70’s and early...

Geoff Parkes is the author of ‘A World in Union - The Global Battle for Rugby Supremacy, published in 2017 to critical acclaim. He also writes for Australia's leading interactive sports website The Roar in his weekly column on rugby, 'The Wrap'.  He has published almost 450 articles, with almost 2 million views.  I chat to Geoff about Rugby, the writing he does for the sport, his views on where the game is at, and his views on the global game and its future  Geoff talks about his journey with...

Lolesio Sione played rugby union in his youth in Samoa. He and his family came to Australia in 2017, and settled in Melbourne.  He has been ear marked as a grassroots gun, and a promising young talent in rugby union. He is now part of the Victorian Rugby Academy and developed his game at Wyndham City Rhinos.  The Backrower has also been recently asked to join the Rebels for preseason training with the club. He was also named in the junior Wallabies.  He discusses training at the Rebels, the...

Kerry Chikarovski is a former NSW Liberal Leader and was the first woman to lead a major political party in New South Wales. She is also the Founder and Director of Chikarovski & Associates, a governmental relations, community engagement and stakeholder relations consultancy, which she founded in 2003, whose expertise spans a wide range of industries including financial, government, community, property and technology start-ups.  Kerry holds a number of non-executive board roles including,...

Andy Lockwood grew up in PNG and the UK.  In 1999 he travelled to Perth to play some rugby and managed to get selected for the WA U19s.   On return to the UK he attended University before starting a career in the British Army.  Rugby playing was put on hold for various periods as deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan were on the cards.  In 2015 Andy started a part-time internship at Bath Rugby Academy within the Performance team.  At the end of the internship in 2018 he was left with no...

Your mission with head safe and neck safe is ultimately to eliminate or reduce preventable neck and head injuries. Do you have any current information specific to sport in Australia around the number of head and neck injuries occurring in sport each...

Will Grant lives in Rouchel (pronounced 'Roo Kill' he tells me) - a small town in the Upper Hunter, and was introduced to Rugby Union when he started as a boarder at the Kings School in Sydney. He played his junior rugby as a rugby league player in the...

In the first episode of the 2021 season of Rugby KO, we talk to the talented Nick Piper, owner and producer of Onion TV.  His prolific sports documentaries have a combined almost one million views and he is now into the 7th series of The Season, his...

With so many styles of play on offer, adaptability has become a necessary skill for the international and modern rugby coach. Today we speak with Curtis Bradford, one of the youngest national coaches in World Rugby, whose career has taken him to...

From knowing your opponent’s key stats to studying their star players, preparing your team’s defence is as vital as their offence game. Today we speak with Wallabies defence coach Matt Taylor about his life, career, and what he does to develop a dogged...

High-calibre play and healthy interschool rivalries make school rugby a key battleground for developing the next generation players. Today we speak with ex-Wallaby Tim Wallace about school rugby and his work in rugby development at the Shore School in...

For many, rugby has been an incredible outlet where people have found friendship and camaraderie. For Toutai Kefu — arguably the best number 8 that the Wallabies have ever had, transitioning into coaching was a natural step that allowed him to stay...

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 18% of Australians live with a disability,. With great resilience, and after a 2008 rugby accident resulted in quadraplegia, Mark Tonga has advocated for the rights of people with...

The pandemic has shifted Australian rugby, causing it to focus on the aspects of the sport that matter the most, including fellowship, player engagement, and rugby’s ability to foster communities. All of these are hallmarks of grassroots rugby. Today we...

Far from being a “dirty word,” fundraising is a critical part of supporting rugby. Importantly, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Today, we speak with former Olympic rower and Executive Director of the Australian Rugby Foundation, Peter Murphy, about the...

Trae Stevens is a Bermudian local who began his rugby career in his final year of high school and has not looked back. He was selected in the U19 Bermuda squad, and today plays tight head prop for the Bermudian Mens national side. Last year they won the...

Never underestimate the strength of a small but motivated rugby team. The first episode of our new Going Global format, today we hop over to Bermuda’s tropical beaches to chat with Jamie Barnwell, head coach for the Bermuda men’s national rugby...

Before Phil Thomson took over as CEO, the Brumbies were facing difficult times. They had posted a financial loss for both 2015 and 2016. Today, they boast a tidy profit and increased membership despite the pandemic. In this episode, we speak with...