The trouble with self-imposed principles

As a player Dean Ryan, 49, the current Director of Rugby at Worcester Warriors, was a tough, rock-hard, uncompromising, sometimes belligerent, Number 8 good enough to have won 6 caps for England – in other words, a top class forward but not a world-class one.

When his playing career was over, he rapidly proved to be a top-class coach and rugby thinker, as became apparent via his media and punditry work. This transition is a well-known phenomenon in most sports – for example, many a current elite footballer manager never quite made the grade in their playing career.

Here’s a link to a perceptive article that he has written on the subject of elite rugby academies, as appears today on the website of – THE GUARDIAN