What if rugby didn’t have to choose between performance and protection?

In this opening episode of the @ForceField Podcast, I introduce a different kind of conversation, one that sits in the space between two ways we often talk about injury in sport. Sometimes not enough, and sometimes in a way that creates concern.

Rugby is a game that shapes people. It builds resilience, connection, identity. But alongside the pride and passion, there is often something unspoken. Those moments on the touchline, the quiet concerns, the injuries that don’t always make it back into the way we train and prepare.

This podcast is about changing that.

Not by criticising the game.

Not by softening it.

But by asking a better question:

👉 How do we build athletes who are not only powerful but protected?

In this first series "Where Performance Meets Protection", we explore:

• Injury prevention in rugby (from grassroots to elite)
• Concussion awareness and brain health
• The role of strength, mobility, and recovery in performance
• Mental readiness, focus, and the nervous system in contact sport
• How coaches, parents, and players can work together to reduce risk

You will hear from people across the rugby ecosystem—players, coaches, parents, medics, and high performers—sharing honest, practical insights grounded in both experience and evidence.

Because performance and protection are not opposites. They are partners.

And when we start to see them that way, everything changes.

This is more than a podcast. It is a shift in how we think about rugby, youth sport, and long-term athlete development.

🎧 If you care about safer rugby, better performance, youth athlete wellbeing or the future of the game …you are in the right place.

👇 Subscribe and be part of the conversation.