How to get a Professional Rugby Union Contract

The journey from amateur to promising semi-professional to Fulltime professional rugby player isn’t always a straight forward one. Of course for some people it is. Play for your national schools team. Go straight into an academy and within a year of training you make your professional debut and you are now a professional rugby player. But what about those guys stuck at the promising semi-professional level.  How do they crack it?To be honest with you I don’t have a definitive answer but after nearly a year of working with semi-professional players all the way through to the worlds best professional rugby players I have a few observations about what I believe it takes to make the jump from promising to professional. 

 The best keep working on their skillset. 

For me as a young prop coming through I was heavily influenced by the old school guys I was around at the time. Scrummaging was all props did. I now believe that this was entirely the wrong approach. Yes scrummaging is important, but so are all the other skills in rugby. Providing value around the field with a high work rate, good quality carries, turnovers, dominant tackling are all things that can make you stand out above your opposition and are things the best players constantly try and improve. I see your core skill as getting you paid and what value you offer around the field as how much you get paid. Always look to improve your skillset. 

You can always be stronger, faster and fitter.

Your fitness might be at an elite level, but what about your speed or strength? Can you be better. How is your upper body strength, how is your core strength, can a little less fat make you more mobile. Would putting on a couple of kg make you more dynamic. You can always be stronger, faster and fitter.

Invest in yourself.

The best players I have seen invest in themselves. Whether its with extra training, recovery equipment, nutrition, training gear, mental coaching, extra skills coaching or whatever it is. I think that having a mindset where you will invest in your career helps players tremendously. 

Believe in yourself.

I have played rugby with some tremendously talented guys that regularly run all over there more fancied professional counterparts. For years I wondered if this guy is way better then the other guy, why is the other guy getting contract after contract. I believe the answer lies between ones ears. If you don’t truly believe in yourself then why would anyone else. I’m not talking about being arrogant or delusional. I’m talking about a quiet self-assuredness that comes through hard work and proven performances. 

Stand out.

This seems obvious but it really isn’t. I have done a number of highlights reels where I’m not sure who the guy or girls reel I’m supposed to be doing is. Stand out physically (beard, hair, headgear, boots or whatever) but also stand out in terms of skillset. Line denting carries, securing turnovers and good dominant tackling are the best way to stand above your peers.  

Do something else

I also believe its really important to be sure that a career in professional rugby is right for you. It is an incredibly brief and brutal career and only very few people make significant money out of it. Yes you can have some incredible experiences and do some things that many young people will never get to do but you have turned playing a game into a career and from what I have seen not everyone deals well with it. You are judged on a daily basis and it can be incredibly tough for young people with no real life skills to deal with. The best players I have seen look at their rugby career as a very serious hobby. They don’t purely rely on their contract for income, they invest, they start business, they coach, they use their social profile to ensure that whenever their career ends they have something else going on. In my opinion this is very important