Rugby Pickem

As professional rugby intersects with the information age, statistical trends and historical data are crucial to the success or failure of a professional team. At the test level, coaches and selectors are handed a treasure trove of information about their player pool. All of this comes to life on the back of a talented rugby analyst. Matt Johnston (Aussie by birth, but currently morphed into a global ambassador for footy) is one of the most knowledgeable rugby analysts I had ever met to date. Better yet, he was patient and kind enough to walk me through some of the areas about rugby video analysis where I was completely clueless. In a couple weeks time, he instilled the confidence in me to start flying the drone myself and biting off an additional role in the U-23s fall camp. To top it all off, he's a class bloke and one of the more easy going human beings I've met. Here's a snap shot of what we covered in the conversation. How does World Rugby design a player pathway? It's not just getting into the righ