Should you keep coaching secrets?

"I don’t mind sharing what we do because we know we will do it better," Gary Gold once told me.

He was the forwards coach for the Springboks, in the era of Victor Matfield, and they were rarely dominated at that set piece.

Wayne Smith, recognised as one of the world’s best coaches, is also happy to tell others about what they are doing. “It makes us work hard to better," he has said.

Of course, they won’t be sharing tactics. But, they were delighted to welcome coaches to see how they trained and delivered their skills and development coaching.

I think this takes some degree of confidence that you are right, and won’t be bested when the games really matter.

No Springboks or All Blacks fan would thank them for that. But that misses the point.

The best coaches will be using pretty much the same drills that you might see on a wet Thursday evening with a club team.

The difference will come with their attention to detail, and when to push, pull or let go.

Gary told me his lineout sessions eventually left out one of their best players, because he quickly became bored and potentially disruptive. Quite extreme, but an illustration of the art of coaching people.

When Jack Pattinson invited me to watch an U18s academy session at Saracens, I knew they’d be very comfortable sharing all they did.

On paper, and from a distance, the session was simple enough.

However, behind every word, every instruction, and every activity, there were multiple layers of intentional detail. This doesn’t happen overnight, or just by watching the latest TikTok video.

I want to thank Jack and his staff for their time. They were patient enough to answer my questions.

I hope you can gain even a tiny part of the extraordinary processes that are going on in North London.