PLAYER COACH

YOU MAY have spent your career turning out for your village side on a soggy pitch with cold showers or on a pristine carpet of grass in front of 80,000 people, but at some point you have to retire. For amateurs the change is less jarring, but for pros there is not only the time commitment but also the financial implication of finishing work in your mid-30s. Some find jobs in the real world, some go into broadcasting, but others stay in the game through coaching.

To find out what the transition is like, Rugby World spoke to five former players turned coachesÉ

BERNARD JACKMAN

Jackman had spells playing at Connacht, Leinster and Sale, as well as with the Irish national team, but by the time he retired in 2010 he had plenty of coaching experience. “When I was 23 I was contracted at Connacht and got asked if I could help out Tullow, my home club,” he says. “Geographically it was a nightmare, it was taking me three hours to get to training, but in Ireland there is a Gaelic football mentality and you go back and help out your club.”

Jackman got Tullow promoted and