Dan Cottrell catches up with John Widdowson, described by Phil Llewellyn as the coach observer he is most scared of...in a good way.

John is a Match Official Development Officer for the RFU. He is a RFU level 4 coaching qualification and has been a pathway coach and age-grade coach. He is also a World Rugby Trainer/RFU Senior Developer/ Mentor delivering a full range of CPD Coach/Referee education courses and support services. And he is currently a PhD student with the University of Edinburgh.

We discussed the following areas:

• What does the Match Official Development exactly do?
• What can coaches do better in their interactions with referees?
• What makes John's questions so "scary"?
• What can we do more efficiently on our coaching courses?
• What's the PhD research and how can we help?

If you want to drop John a line, his email is: john.widdowson@hotmail.co.uk