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By Coach Rob Quickfall ·SAFFA RUGBY ACADEM** South Africa won the series 3–1. That is the fact. New Zealand won the opening Test at Ellis Park 33–16. South Africa responded with three consecutive victories: 33–26 in Cape Town, 29–24 at FNB Stadium and 43–28 in Baltimore. But if you only look at the final series score, you miss some of the most interesting parts of what happened. New Zealand scored 17 tries across the four Tests. South Africa scored 14. South Africa still wo

Written by Coach Rob Quickfall There's a difference between being a coach and being a coaching teacher, and it's bigger than most of us want to admit. Anyone can run a session. Cones out, players organised, drill explained, energy up. It can look busy, sharp, even professional. But that's not the question that matters. The question is: did your players actually learn something? That's the standard. Not how good the session looked, but rather whether the learning happened. I'v

Rugby is a physical game. That is part of what makes it so powerful. But physical does not have to mean reckless: and the 2026 community tackle-height laws are designed to help players enjoy the game with better technique, clearer expectations, and fewer avoidable head impacts. For youth rugby families and coaches in Colorado, the key message is simple: the legal tackle height is lower, and good coaching matters more than ever. At SAFFA RUGBY ACADEMY, this is not a brand-new

Coaching is often described through four questions: What are we trying to achieve? How are we going to do it? When does it happen? Why does it matter? There is another question that deserves just as much attention: What words are we using? A coach’s language can change how a player sees a situation, responds to a mistake, approaches a challenge, and understands their role within the team. A few well-chosen words can create calm under pressure, build confidence, and help playe

Protect the Knee. Build the Athlete. Return Better. For female rugby athletes, parents, coaches, and clubs, ACL health deserves a thoughtful, long-term approach. This article is a clinician-informed, coach-usable educational framework for female athletes in field and collision sports such as rugby. It is designed to support better conversations and better planning around ACL prevention and recovery, but it is not a substitute for diagnosis, decisions about surgery, or an indi

You can talk about scrum technique. You can draw it on a whiteboard, analyse video clips, discuss body position, review foot placement, explain binding and emphasise the importance of timing. All of that matters. But eventually, the conversation has to move from theory to reality. Players have to get in there and feel it. Because the scrum doesn’t lie. It tells you what happens when technique meets pressure. It exposes weaknesses in body position, communication, timing, conne

The question shouldn’t be: “What kind of sports parent are you?” The better question is: “What kind of sports parent does your athlete need you to be?” That shift in perspective can change everything. Most parents want to support their children well. They make the early drives to training, wash muddy kit, remember the mouthguard, pay the fees, stand in the cold, and celebrate every small breakthrough. They care deeply. They want their athlete to feel confident, prepared, and

“I’ve heard it been said that comparison is the thief of happiness.” In high-performance sport, comparison is more than a thief of happiness. It can become a thief of attention, confidence, energy, and progress. And here is the uncomfortable truth: Comparing yourself to others is a cheat code for those others. Every time your attention becomes fixed on a teammate, opponent, rival, selection decision, statistic, or social media highlight, something important happens: your eyes

Colorado rugby, it’s time to get excited. We’ve got some massive news coming out of the SAFFA RUGBY camp that is set to change the game for youth development in our region. Our very own Rob Quickfall has been officially appointed as the Head Coach for the PR7s Rocky Mountain Experts U19 Girls Academy right here in Denver! This isn't just another coaching gig. This is a pivotal moment for the growth of elite girls’ rugby in Colorado and a massive step forward in our mission to

For every coach who ever trusted a player enough to let them fail: and every player who was brave enough to try. That’s how Coach Rob Quickfall opens his brand-new book, Beyond the Blueprint. It’s a powerful dedication, and it sets the stage for what is arguably the most important conversation we can have in the world of sports today. If you’ve been around SAFFA RUGBY for a while, you know we’re obsessed with the game. But we aren’t just obsessed with the scores or the set-pi

If you walk onto a rugby pitch on a Saturday morning in Colorado, you might see the scoreboard flickering, parents cheering, and kids running hard. It’s easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment and think the goal is to hoist a trophy at the end of the day. But at SAFFA RUGBY, we see things differently. For us, the goal of youth rugby isn’t about winning championships at age ten. It’s about something much deeper. It’s about creating a safe, enjoyable, and age-appropriat

Let’s be honest for a second: most rugby coaching is a bit... boring. You know the drill. Line up in a neat little row. Run toward a bag. Hit the bag. Reset. Repeat until your brain turns into a lukewarm bowl of oats. We spend hours perfecting the "perfect" scrum or the "perfect" lineout, only for the actual game to start and everything to go completely sideways within thirty seconds. The ball squirts out of a ruck like a wet bar of soap. A pass goes astray. A turnover happen

The image of school sports as a pure, innocent afternoon of amateur camaraderie: where the final score matters far less than the lessons of character and teamwork: is increasingly becoming a relic of the past. If you’ve spent any time on the sidelines of a Friday night game in the Centennial State lately, you’ve seen it: the professional-grade cameras, the scout clips being uploaded in real-time, and the undeniable hum of a high-pressure economy. Today, Colorado high school s

Ask any rugby player about their first game, and they won’t just tell you about the score. They’ll tell you about the nerves in the tunnel, the ringing in their ears after the first big hit, and the inexplicable bond they felt with the person standing next to them: even if they’d only met a week prior. At SAFFA RUGBY, we live for the game. But more importantly, we live for what the game does to a person. In Colorado, where the air is thin and the kids are tough, we’ve seen fi

Let’s be real for a second. You’re standing on the sidelines at George Washington High School, watching a sport that looks like a beautiful, chaotic mix of a wrestling match and a 100-meter dash. You see people tossing a ball backward to move forward, leaping into the air like NBA centers, and hitting with the intensity of a middle linebacker, all without a stitch of plastic armor. Your first thought? "That looks incredible." Your second thought? "I have absolutely no idea w

Colorado has always been a hub for grit, outdoor passion, and a "get after it" attitude. But today, the sports landscape in the Mile High City is changing. We aren’t just adding another club to the roster; we are igniting a movement. Welcome to the SAFFA RUGBY ACADEMY , the new home of the SAFFA PHOENIX . We are thrilled to announce that SAFFA RUGBY is officially launching its youth and high school academy program right here in Colorado, centered at our brand-new partner loca

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve spent your Sunday morning hauling tackle bags, your Tuesday nights under dim floodlights, and your Wednesday lunch breaks answering emails from parents about carpooling. Coaching rugby isn’t just a hobby; for most of us, it’s a calling. We do it because we love the game, we love the kids, and we love seeing that "lightbulb moment" when a complex set piece finally clicks. But let’s be real for a second. Coaching is hard. It’

Listen, we all know that feeling. It’s a Saturday morning in Colorado, the air is crisp, the mountains are glowing, and you’re standing on a pitch with a group of eager players ready to soak up everything you know about the greatest game on earth. But here’s the thing: as rugby continues to explode across the Front Range, "just winging it" doesn't cut it anymore. If we want our local clubs to produce players who can compete on the national stage: or even just ensure our kids

Every rugby club talks about culture. Respect. Discipline. Teamwork. Integrity. These words get painted on locker room walls, printed on team shirts, and repeated at every parent meeting. But here's the truth most coaches won't tell you: words don't build culture. Actions do. At SAFFA RUGBY, we live by a simple formula: Culture = Values + Behaviours Values without behaviours are just nice ideas. Behaviours without values are chaos. But when you connect the two? That's when yo

Rugby is growing fast in Colorado. From Denver to Boulder to Glendale, more kids are discovering the sport, and more coaches and clubs are asking the same question: how do we build something that lasts? This guide breaks it down. Five clear steps to create a youth rugby pathway that actually works, plus 50+ proven strategies to get more players on the pitch and keep them coming back. Let's get into it. The 5 Steps to Building a Youth Rugby Pathway Step 1: Structure Age-Appr