Hosts Dallen Stanford & Robin MacDowell are joined by legend Spiff Sedrick for #RugbyHive Episode 34.

Sedrick is an American 7s player from Salt Lake City, Utah, who has represented Team USA on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series since 2021 and competed at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games winning a Bronze Medal. She scored one of the most iconic tries in rugby sevens history this year, with an 85-meter solo effort in the final play of the Bronze Medal match against Australia, then kicked the conversion to win the first ever medal in sevens for Team USA! It was a pivotal moment for rugby in North America, resulting in trailblazing businesswoman and investor Michele Kang immediately donating $4 million to the USA women's sevens team.

Sedrick debuted for the USA Eagles at the 2021 Dubai Sevens, placed 4th at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town and won Gold at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. She also won the Premier Rugby Sevens title with the Northern Loonies in 2021 and in 2023 won the United Championship with the Rocky Mountain Experts.

In this episode we talk about how Sedrick found rugby at Herriman High School, her journey playing the sport collegiately at Life University and winning the prestigious MA Sorensen Award for the top collegiate women’s rugby player in the country. We talk about her time playing in the Premier Rugby Sevens including two years being coached by Robin with the Northern Loonies. We delve into “that iconic match-winning try” plus the whole 2024 Paris Olympic Games experience including the record crowds for women’s sevens rugby! Sedrick also reveals more about being on Team USA with sensation Ilona Maher and how she will do on Dancing with the Stars!

We hope you enjoyed listening or watching The Rugby Hive, plus catch us on The Rugby Network 📺

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Hosts Dallen Stanford & Robin MacDowell are joined by legends Kieran and Nicole Crowley for #RugbyHive Episode 33.

Kieran played in the backline for the All Blacks from 1983-1991 (19 Caps) winning the 1987 Rugby World Cup on home soil. He was also part of the New Zealand team that won the Bledisloe Cup in 1985, 1990 and 1991. Kieran played 199 times for club team Taranaki, scoring 1,723 points, and later coached Taranaki from 1998-2007.

Kieran spent eight years coaching the Canadian Men’s 15s team, taking them to the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups. He then spent five seasons with Benetton in Italy, which is when this interview was recorded during 2020. Since we spoke, Kieran was named Coach of the Year while at Benetton Rugby guiding them to a Pro 14 Rainbow Cup Championship (2021), before being selected as the Head Coach of Italy in May of 2021. He led Italy to a 22-21 win over Wales in the 2021 Six Nations, and then recorded one of the biggest upsets to date for the Azzurri by defeating Australia 28-27 in the Autumn tours of 2022.

Kieran’s daughter, Nicole, also grew up New Zealand until she moved to Canada with her family at 12 years of age. She played for Team BC in 7s and 15s, captaining them to a National Championship. At just 18 years old while completing an internship at Rugby Canada, Nicole got the opportunity to become Manager of the Canada Women’s 15s team. From there she worked on contract with Rugby Canada while finishing her Business degree at the University of Victoria, where she was also a member of the UVic Vikes rugby team. Nicole managed the Women’s 15s side through their 2017 World Cup campaign as well as the Women’s 7s team to the Pan American Games, HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and Olympic Qualification.

Since our interview, Nicole moved North with her partner (who works in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police), living in the remote sub-Arctic in the Northwest Territories, in a town of only 450 people and with no roads connecting it to other towns. Nicole is the Director of Recreation for the municipality where she is highly involved with Special Olympics NT and Sport North, where she works to help disadvantaged and remote kids from communities like hers, access sporting opportunities.

In this episode we talk about Kieran and Nicole’s rugby backgrounds, their accomplishments in the sport, and how they both used rugby as a vehicle to live and work in different countries and experience new cultures.

The Rugby Hive Podcast is brought to you by Gilbert Rugby Canada, Bru’s Biltong, Biltong Canada and EnduroSport.

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Hosts Dallen Stanford & Robin MacDowell are joined by legend Kelly Griffin for #RugbyHive Episode 32.  

Griffin signed a full-time training contract in 2011 with USA Rugby, and along with 7 other teammates to became the first group of professional women’s rugby players in the United States. She played on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series from 2011 to 2016, leading the country in tournament appearances, and was the only athlete of the "original eight" to have remained in residency throughout the four-year in the build-up to the 2016 Olympics.  

Griffin was part of the USA team that medaled at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens, going undefeated in pool play, and claiming the Bronze Medal by beating Spain in sudden death overtime. She also competed as part of Team USA at the Pan American Games claiming a Bronze Medal. Griffin made history by captaining the USA Women's Olympic rugby team, which competed in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, the inaugural Olympiad to include women's rugby.  

She has transitioned to a successful coaching career at the University of Santa Barbara, and also the Premier 7s Women’s Loonies in 2021/2022, leading them to the Inaugural Championship title in Memphis, Tennessee!   In this episode we talk about the development of the women’s game in the USA, the Olympic Games, and various dream team players that Griffin played alongside and against. We also look at the Premier Rugby 7s in North America, coaching the game to newer players, and that famous rugby tattoo!  

The Rugby Hive Podcast is brought to you by Gilbert Rugby Canada, Bru’s Biltong, Biltong Canada and EnduroSport.

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Hosts Dallen Stanford & Robin MacDowell are joined by legend Siviwe ‘Shakes’ Soyizwapi for #RugbyHive Episode 31.

Soyizwapi is the South African 7s (known as the Blitzboks) Captain, who has represented his country on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series since 2016, winning the prestigious Series title in 2017, 2018 and 2021. He captained South Africa to a Gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, with the Blitzboks defeating Fiji 31-7. At the time of this recording, Shakes has scored over 130 tries on the Series, the 4th highest try scorer in history for the Rainbow Nation, behind Fabian Juries (179), Cecil Afrika (179) and Seabelo Senatla (230).

In this episode we talk about Soyizwapi’s family, his time in the Eastern Cape at Dale College, and rising in the rugby ranks through the Kings, Stormers and eventually the successful Blitzbok 7s side. We talk about hosting the recent Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town, and Head Coach Neil Powell’s final event after 15 years inside the South African 7s setup.

Soyizwapi reveals his South African 7s Dream Team, plus the best opponents he has ever faced, and cracks us up with some hilarious pranks on tour!

The Rugby Hive Podcast is brought to you by Gilbert Rugby Canada, Bru’s Biltong, Biltong Canada and EnduroSport.

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Hosts Dallen Stanford & Robin MacDowell are joined by legends Jerry Tuwai and Ben Gollings for #RugbyHive Episode 30.

Tuwai is a two-time Gold medal winner with Team Fiji, having won the first ever Olympic medal for Fiji at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 event. He then captained Fiji 7s to their second Gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. He is the current top try scorer of all-time for Fiji on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series with 134 tries, and was named World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year in 2019.

Tuwai comes from humble beginnings in Suva, and credits his parents for his achievements, and cites them as his main motivation to perform and achieve accolades in rugby. When he was young, Tuwai’s father and mother saved enough money to buy him his first pair of rugby boots. As his mother handed them over she said to him “ this is your knife and fork".

Gollings, who still holds the record for most points scored on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, is the new Fiji 7s Head Coach. He represented England 7s from 2000 to 2011, amassing 2,652 points.

In today's episode we chat with Jerry Tuwai about his two Gold medal experiences, growing up in Fiji, and his new player/coach role alongside Ben Gollings. We also find out about his ability to avoid a fitness test, and how Fiji's preparations are going ahead of the Rugby World Cup 7s, Commonwealth Games and remaining stops on the Sevens Series. 

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Hosts Dallen Stanford & Robin MacDowell are joined by legend Andrew Swain for #RugbyHive Episode 29.

Swain began his career in sports broadcasting working for Triple M in Brisbane, Australia, whilst also playing grade rugby for the famous Brothers Rugby Club.

He moved to Sydney to work for Fox Sports News in 2007 covering everything from Ice Hockey to SuperCars to Rugby World Cups. Whilst honing his commentary skills, he won a Judd Cup for local club Colleagues. He started calling rugby at club level, and moved on to calling Super Rugby, Test Rugby, Sevens, U20s to become one of the most respected play by play commentators in world rugby.

In today’s episode we talk about his extensive broadcasting background, rugby in Australia, and the next generation of Women's 7s stars from his country. Please note this episode was recorded back in 2020, and our first podcast where our guest recorded in his car.

We hope you enjoy and follow us on these platforms!

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Hosts Dallen Stanford & Robin MacDowell are joined by legend Sean Holley for #RugbyHive Episode 28.

Holley is a TV Rugby Analyst for BBC Wales Scrum V, does work for BT Sport, Sky Sports, S4C and hosts the Sony Award winning ‘Rugby Nation’ weekly show on Nation Radio. He writes technical coaching articles for several publications and has a regular monthly column in the World’s largest selling rugby publication, Rugby World.

Holley was Head Coach for Ospreys Rugby where he spent nine Seasons – over 250 games. He has worked with British Lions, Grand Slam winners, All Blacks and Springboks including the likes of Shane Williams, Gavin Henson, Adam Jones, Ryan Jones, Tommy Bowe, Justin Marshall, Jerry Collins, Scott Gibbs, Mike Phillips and many more. He has also worked as a Coach for the Welsh Rugby Union at all levels including the National Team in 2005 and 2009. Holley was the longest serving and most successful Welsh Regional Coach helping the Ospreys to win 5 titles and 3 Heineken Cup Quarter Final places. In 2013 he was appointed Head Coach for Bristol Rugby where in his first season Bristol finished top of the English Championship scoring a record number of tries and points. He left in 2016 have helped Bristol gain promotion to the Aviva Premiership.

Holley has a great deal of experience in education, teaching, lecturing and developing a range of further and higher education courses. He wrote and developed the first ever ‘Rugby Studies’ Course through BTEC and established the fore-runner to the now Scarlets Rugby Academy at Coleg Sir Gar. He also is the creator of the exciting new iBroadcast program in collaboration with Aspire2Be.

He is also much sought after by Businesses and Governing Bodies to speak about a range of topics including:-‘Developing High Performance Teams’; ‘Winning Teams’; ‘Modern Professional Coaching Environment’ amongst others.

Holley works as an Ambassador for Venatour Travel, Velindre Cancer Centre and Rugby For Heroes where he helps to raise money to assist servicemen and women in their transition back to civilian life.

In today’s episode we talk about his vast background, including several brilliant stories about some of the great people he has worked with throughout his career.

We hope you enjoy and follow us on these platforms!

The Rugby Hive Podcast is brought to you by Wintergreen.

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