I moved out to Bangkok at the end of September 2023 to begin working with the Thailand Women’s Rugby team. I had met the president of the Thailand Rugby Union whilst working as Head of Strength and Conditioning with China Rugby.  It was a huge honour to be selected as the coach of a national team, particularly as it is one of my favourite countries in the world. 

I was living right in the heart of Bangkok, the thrill of driving a scooter around the busy streets felt like a mix of Mario Kart and Grand Theft Auto. To explain what living in Bangkok is like for someone who hasn’t visited is difficult, it’s a constant buzz of excitement with everything and anything available. 

Working with the girls was so much fun. Ranging from 16-37 years old, only two could speak English and it was up to our physio to do the majority of the translating. The girls all lived together so it was like one big family; plenty of support for each other and plenty of arguments as well!

My first tournament was for the Asian Games in China before taking part in the Asian series with legs in Bangkok and Osaka, China and Japan being the strongest teams. 

In the New Year, we entered into the World Challenger Series with the top four progressing to an end of season tournament against the bottom four of the the World Sevens Series. The three legs were in Dubai, Uruguay and Poland. Bangkok to Uruguay being a particularly difficult trip totalling 47 hours of travel time. 

Travel was huge for the girls as it was their opportunity to get out and explore the world. The majority were still studying at university or had roles in the military. It was fun learning about their lives and how different their upbringing was to my own. 

I absolutely loved the job. It was challenging for so many reasons, but so rewarding when we played well and saw how happy the girls were after tournaments. It’s led to some fantastic opportunities for myself and I was really proud of the work I did with the team and how they have developed.  I am no longer working with Thailand Rugby as I am going travelling for the next year, and working with different international teams.

There’s a lot of room for improvement in Thailand, particularly around the strength and conditioning elements and the professionalism around the setup of the squads. I am looking forward to seeing how well the girls progress over the coming years.

Tom Biggs (OH 1992- 2002)