Andy Friend

Andy is the current head coach at Irish Province, Connacht. His coaching career began in 1995 at the Australian Institute before Andy took up assistant coaching positions at Super Rugby teams, New South Wales Waratahs, and the Canberra-based Brumbies as skills coach under Eddie Jones. Andy worked within the Wallabies setup during the 2002 Tri Nations and the 2003 Rugby World Cup and led Australia’s U21 to a World Cup Final in 2005. Andy then joined English Premiership team Harlequins as head coach for three seasons before moving back to the Brumbies as head coach. After two seasons in charge, Andy moved to Japan as head coach of Canon Eagles and head coach of Suntory Sungoliath. In 2016 Andy was appointed head coach of the Australian Mens Sevens team taking them to the Rio Olympics and winning the 2018 Sydney 7s finishing 4th in two of the three seasons in charge. In 2018 Andy was appointed head coach of Pro 14 side Connacht.

Topics discussed: Andy's background and influences; vision and philosophy; viewing failure as an opportunity; how he has overcome challenges; character development; building relationships and culture within a team environment; advice to young players and coaches.