Dan Cottrell chats to Mike Ford. Mike has been coaching at the top of the professional game for over twenty years, with stints at England and Ireland rugby, Saracens, as head coach at Bath, plus coaching with the British and Irish Lions and RC Toulon.

He also runs his own performance consultancy, which you can find out more about on his LinkedIn profile here.

I really enjoyed Mike's clarity, especially around how he had to convince players and stakeholders about their approach at Bath.

We discuss the following areas:

• The sacrifices of being a professional coach
• How to build a system of play
• What player-led coaching really looks like
• Mentoring your own children (George as an international, Joe and Jacob as young coaches with championship team Doncaster and National League team Bury St Edmonds respectively)
• What detail matters as a coach