Taunton Rugby Club's head coach starts new podcast

However for those that don't know Tony has scored over 3,000 points in Premiership, National League and Cup rugby, most of which came from the boot.

Alongside his role at Taunton Rugby Club, Tony has been a kicking coach for many years and is regarded as one of the best coaches in the business.

So it should come as no surprise that with the help of his good friend Charlie Beckett, the pair have begun a podcast dedicated to give insight and guidance to young kickers across the world.

'Only Kickers Know' is the name of the new show and each week Tony and Charlie will speak to some of the best and most established converters in the rugby world, both on the men's side of the game and the women's.

"This podcast has been something Charlie and I have wanted to do for a while and we are so exciting it is up and running," Tony Yapp said.

"Each episode lasts about forty minutes and we just want to use that time to help young players out there learn some new skills or gain some insight into the kicking world.

"We are really enjoying it, when I grew up there was always a lack of resources for kickers to develop their skills and there still is to this day so that is why the podcast is important."

For anyone wondering where Charlie Beckett comes into this as a kicker, the Ampthill RFC lock provides some quick wit and excellent hosting skills.

In episode one of the new show, Munster rugby legend, JJ Hanrahan joined the pair to chat about his career as a kicker in rugby, some of his best moments and also some of his lows.

JJ played 141 times for Munster in the United Rugby Championship and the European Champions Cup and hearing his story on growing up as a kicker really made for a good piece of listening.

In episode two, the team was joined by Women's Rugby World Cup Winner and 2019 World Player of the Year winner Emily Scarratt.

In her 95 games for England, Emily has scored 640 points and again the most of which coming from kicks.

Emily truly is an England rugby legend and her story of playing rugby as a girl growing up was amazing and how she developed her kicking skills was interesting as well.

Tony Yapp said he and Charlie Beckett want to bring on guests in the future who will be good role models for young kickers out there as he says having a role model is so important.

"As a kicker, there are highs and lows, and we think hearing from people who have played at the top speak about the lows is important in highlighting you are not alone.

"Everyone needs a role model and to be able to provide a quite personal style interview to our listeners is a real goal of ours."

Tony credits his rugby career to hard work and his teammates along the way but does say he would not be where he is without one role model in particular - Dave Alred.

The man who coached Johnny Wilkinson his whole career and was perhaps an unsung hero for England's 2003 World Cup win.

"Dave has helped me throughout my entire career and is still a close mate now, all young kickers need someone like that to work with and we hope our podcast can help in some way give young kickers the same.

You can listen to the 'Only Kickers Club' podcast now on Spotify and to stay up-to-date with future episode guests be sure to follow them on Twitter and Instagram.