{"id":130207,"date":"2025-09-11T15:34:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T15:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/130207\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T15:34:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T15:34:22","slug":"the-man-behind-irelands-line-outs-and-the-infamous-jukebox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/130207\/","title":{"rendered":"The man behind Ireland’s line outs and the infamous \u2018jukebox\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s well-documented that Alex Codling is \u2018obsessed\u2019 with line outs.<\/p>\n

In fact \u2013 it\u2019s almost as well-documented as the 3,500 of them he stores on his now-infamous \u2018jukebox\u2019: a meticulously-categorised library of the things \u2013 delineated according to formation, outcome, delivery, options elsewhere on the field, and a host of other criteria. He coded it himself, and is grateful every day for how much easier it makes his craft than the VHS tapes he used to collect.<\/p>\n

Between the cap \u2013 perched a good 6\u20195 from the floor \u2013 and the thick silver chain he wears: the cogs are always whirring. \u201cEvery minute of every day\u201d, Codling is navigating a lifelong game of battleships, \u201ca fascinating tactical and technical battle\u201d- up against opposition set piece, current and future.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sEimear Corri Fallon\u201d width=\u201d1024\u2033 height=\u201d683\u2033 \/> Ireland\u2019s lock Eimear Corri Fallon claims the ball from a line out during the Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> pool C match between Ireland<\/a> and Spain<\/a> at Franklin\u2019s Gardens, Northampton, central England, on August 31, 2025. (Photo by Glyn KIRK \/ AFP) (Photo by GLYN KIRK\/AFP via Getty Images)\"VideoPortia Woodman-Wickliffe receives Women\u2019s Top 50 award<\/p>\n

New Zealand Women\u2019s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women\u2019s Top 50 award this week. <\/p>\n

View Top 50<\/a><\/p>\n

\"VideoPortia Woodman-Wickliffe receives Women\u2019s Top 50 award<\/p>\n

New Zealand Women\u2019s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women\u2019s Top 50 award this week. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re looking for opportunities of your own, whilst pre-empting how they\u2019re trying to exploit you \u2013 and with so many variables. Lifts, jumps, throws, the connection between the nine and backs \u2013 and what\u2019s coming your way across the gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a massive amount to unpick, and I genuinely believe it\u2019s why I\u2019m on the planet. The obsession\u2019s got worse and worse.\u201d He chuckles from the sofa we\u2019re perched on at Ireland\u2019s team base, and checks himself. \u201cPerhaps I should say stronger and stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infatuation \u2013 fixation \u2013 is no bad thing: \u201cpassion can be infectious, and that\u2019s how you help players get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reigning champions\u2019 grins grew wider and scores more outlandish, as they surfed stylishly home on the underdogs\u2019 own green wave.<\/p>\n

Given that Ireland\u2019s line out functioned at 61% during the Six Nations<\/a> before his arrival, was up to 86 the following year, and has remained at that level so far in this World Cup (they\u2019ve also managed three steals) \u2013 it\u2019s safe to say he\u2019s done exactly that.<\/p>\n

In fact \u2013 if you discount the \u201clittle wobble around our process\u201d the girls in green suffered in their opener \u2013 it\u2019s tracking at 92%, and their ability to tighten things up in just a week post-Japan<\/a> was immensely satisfying for all involved.<\/p>\n

Had their trick play \u2013 moments after that hackle-raising Haka stare-down in Brighton \u2013 come to fruition, you have to wonder how differently things might have played out against the Black Ferns. As it was, we witnessed 80 attritional, leg-sapping and confidence-bruising minutes \u2013 Ireland asking the same questions over and over without a solution to be found \u2013 whilst the reigning champions\u2019 grins grew wider and scores more outlandish, as they surfed stylishly home on the underdogs\u2019 own green wave.<\/p>\n

The clash had been billed as the pick of the pool stage: a rematch of that fever-pitch WXV battle royale \u2013 in which emerald trumped black courtesy of two late points in off the sticks and unquantifiable grit. What was delivered was a robust reminder of the fact that you can\u2019t win a rugby match going backwards, and even fairytales require a certain amount of world class muscle.<\/p>\n

Never once does Codling use Ireland\u2019s injury list as an excuse, but \u2013 when he enthuses about their big-name absentees \u2013 Sunday makes a little more sense.<\/p>\n

Dorothy Wall has \u201cbecome one of the best line out callers in the game,\u201d Erin King<\/a> is \u201ca simply incredible athlete,\u201d and Aoife Wafer<\/a> is \u201ca complete player and person: diligent, caring, and with an instinctive understanding of all the little pieces required to be a professional.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DorothyCORK, IRELAND: APRIL 12: Dorothy Wall<\/a> #5 of Ireland wins a line out during the Ireland V England, Women\u2019s Six Nations Rugby match at Virgin Media Park on April 12th, 2025, in Cork, Ireland. (Photo by Tim Clayton\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

They\u2019re individuals \u201cwith moments in them to win games on their own,\u201d and \u2013 right as they were ruled out of this World Cup \u2013 figures just as talismanic scythed their way from sevens into 15s down in the Land of the Long White Cloud. The team sheets were drastically different to last September, and so was the outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re big losses, and were really looking forward to this tournament. Fortunately \u2013 their time will come again, and \u2013 with their loss \u2013 comes opportunity for others.\u201d He name checks the \u201cexceptional\u201d Fiona Tuite<\/a>, the impact of both co-captains \u2013 Edel McMahon<\/a> and Sam Monaghan<\/a> \u2013 upon their return from injury, and the ferocious, standards-driving competition between Neve Jones<\/a> and Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald.<\/p>\n

Commentating on each of Ireland\u2019s pool stage matches has provided an ample window within which to ask players about their towering but softly-spoken line out guru \u2013 and the warmth which comes back instantaneously tells you all you need to know.<\/p>\n

When you spend as much time together as we do, you can\u2019t allow things to become too serious or regimented: that\u2019s a waste of energy. When we\u2019re on: we\u2019re on. When we\u2019re not: it\u2019s important to relax, and have a bit of crack.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always joking \u2013 you never know what Codders is going to say next,\u201d Claire Boles<\/a> laughs. \u201cUntil it\u2019s about line outs, and then he keeps the messaging so simple. He\u2019s honest, he\u2019s collaborative, he\u2019s creative \u2013 and we really appreciate all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was an inauspicious start \u2013 he got players\u2019 names wrong in his very first meeting \u2013 but, fortunately, the wise cracking Londoner is quicker than anyone to scoff at himself, and has enjoyed the last year as much as his charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you spend as much time together as we do, you can\u2019t allow things to become too serious or regimented: that\u2019s a waste of energy. When we\u2019re on: we\u2019re on. When we\u2019re not: it\u2019s important to relax, and have a bit of crack.\u201d<\/p>\n

He clearly believes this on a human, emotional level, but adds \u2013 still speaking at the sort of speed usually reserved for Amee-Leigh Costigan in full flight \u2013 that there are reams of cognitive behavioural studies to prove that people take on information better when in a positive mindset. It\u2019s becoming increasingly apparent that there are few people in the game more cerebral than Codling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to be authentic,\u201d he adds, \u201cand not change who I am based on the environment I\u2019m going into. I\u2019d not coached women before, but I went in with the same mindset as I would anywhere, and just got to know them as people: who they are, how they learn, and how they handle different situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

This part could\u2019ve been written before our conversation took place. The biggest contrast between men and women? The number of questions, of course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey take everything literally, and are so keen to learn. If men have a bad session, they forget about it and get on with their lives \u2013 whereas this group need clarity and confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PeterLimerick , Ireland \u2013 14 January 2025; Peter O\u2019Mahony<\/a>, left, with forwards coach consultant Alex Codling during a Munster Rugby squad training at the University of Limerick in Limerick. (Photo By Brendan Moran\/Sportsfile via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

So, whilst their World Cup build-up has included a real focus on the ability to adapt and improvise \u2013 \u201crather than have a conversation about it, when you can\u2019t change any outcomes, on a Monday\u201d \u2013 he still invests swathes of time into reviews, and contextualising process. No doubt, post-Black Ferns, it\u2019s been a busy week already.<\/p>\n

Somehow, around the analysis, the Mickey-taking, and the inventive sessions featuring fishing nets and various objects to hit with darts \u2013 Codling\u2019s been switching hats, and from national green to Munster\u2019s provincial red \u2013 where he\u2019s been a forwards consultant since November.<\/p>\n

The girls are more inquisitive, but both groups are \u201ctight-knit, and immensely driven to get better\u201d \u2013 and he\u2019s been astonished by how many drills and ambitious plays he\u2019s been able to execute with them. He uses clips of the women in his sessions with the men, and visa versa \u2013 which has only reaffirmed his mantra \u201cto push them hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be very honest: I never thought we\u2019d do half the stuff we\u2019ve done, and that\u2019s a credit to them \u2013 and how they\u2019ve embraced every challenge. I\u2019ve really stretched them, and they\u2019ve just flown.\u201d<\/p>\n

He points to their rocket from tenth to fifth in the world in just 12 months, whilst taking care to note that they\u2019ve not hit their straps yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a young group \u2013 in terms of life itself, and in our professional rugby lives,\u201d and their meteoric ascent comes with pressure they\u2019re still learning to handle. Sunday will be a first World Cup quarter final for every single member of the squad, and \u2013 for all the talk of how they want the expectation and exposure which comes with building their \u2018Green Wave\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019ll be the sternest test of many of their careers to date.<\/p>\n

The game is growing exponentially, and I\u2019d definitely look to come back. I\u2019ve loved every minute \u2013 and always talk about this group with a massive smile on my face<\/p>\n

Head coach Scott Bemand has pointedly discussed Ireland\u2019s tournament as a six-game campaign \u2013 aka one which culminates in Twickenham \u2013 but, whether he has one, two, or three match days remaining with this group, Codling is determined to cherish every moment, before he and his jukebox turn their undivided attention to Munster, where he\u2019ll be their new, full-time forwards coach \u2013 and tasked with spinning slightly fewer plates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a mad few months, and I probably wouldn\u2019t repeat it,\u2019 he admits. It\u2019s perhaps an \u201cau revoir\u201d, though \u2013 as opposed to a \u201cgoodbye\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game is growing exponentially, and I\u2019d definitely look to come back. I\u2019ve loved every minute \u2013 and always talk about this group with a massive smile on my face,\u201d he says \u2013 having proven his own point for the past 20 minutes. As if to underline things further, Denis Fogarty and Neve Jones wander past, and things are briefly \u2013 and entertainingly \u2013 derailed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always want to leave the jersey in a better place,\u201d Codling continues \u2013 turning back \u2013 \u201cand to have an impact on people on and off the field.
That\u2019s been a two-way street in this job: we\u2019ve experienced so much, faced such challenges, had a load of laughs, and grown together along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s well-documented that Alex Codling is \u2018obsessed\u2019 with line outs. In fact \u2013 it\u2019s almost as well-documented as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-130207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}