EXPERT SESSIONS AND ADVICE FROM QUALIFIED AND EXPERIENCED GRASSROOTS RUGBY COACHES
07/20/2018 | Mini tag
Use simple “house” rules in training and games to help reduce the chance of selfish players dominating your team’s possession and preventing you scoring more tries. MORE
07/22/2018 |
Ensure your players have the right detail in the contact area to make sure, if they are tackled, they can win the contest and present the ball back cleanly and quickly. MORE
07/18/2018 | Attack
Create chaotic starts for the attack and defence so they have to play heads-up rugby, make decisions, connect and win the situation. MORE
06/29/2018 |
Use this quick attack-defence-evasion game to improve your players' awareness and speed. It can easily be developed to include other elements like self-organisation and decision making. MORE
06/3/2018 |
Encourage players to run forward and still avoid oncoming obstacles. There's no turning back! MORE
05/29/2018 |
Challenge the attackers to come up with ways to score three tries without being touched. They have three try zones, and different rules to keep them thinking. MORE
07/8/2018 | Small-sided games
Game-sense activities put players under pressure to perform skills. The players learn by doing, and enjoy themselves at the same time. Here’s how to make it simple to run. MORE
06/20/2018 |
See-saw rugby changes the dynamic of a game of touch rugby by overloading and unloading teams on a regular basis. MORE
06/12/2018 |
Challenge your players to realign quickly in attack and defence with this touch game played inside a modified pitch in the shape of a triangle. By Dave Beal, experienced grassroots coach, founder and director of DB12 Foundation MORE
07/16/2018 | Passing & Handling
07/15/2018 | Passing & Handling
07/13/2018 | Rugby drills
07/12/2018 | Passing & Handling
07/9/2018 | Tips
07/7/2018 | Kicking & Catching
07/17/2018 |
Make your players look for a target to run to while taking a pass. They cannot exploit space unless they run hard into it. Use this small-sided game followed by a match simulation to improve spatial awareness and decision making. Their target is virtually unknown until they almost get there - like heading to Mars! MORE
07/16/2018 |
This simple session develops players’ core strength and scrummaging position by making them control their body shape as they move. Scrummagers work together, so it makes it a co-operative session and not a competitive one. Good for all scrummaging positions. MORE
07/10/2018 |
Clear, concise and accurate communication is a vital element in support play, whether in attack or defence. This session helps your players establish some of the language they should be using in games. MORE
08/15/2017 |
In this warm-up game, passing and catching are important, but vision and awareness are paramount. When the player is lining up to run, he needs to know who is going, when he needs to go, who he’ll receive from, who he’ll pass to and where he’ll line up next. MORE
08/15/2017 |
This simple game is an excellent warmup exercise that will get your players thinking about their core skills, communication and, most importantly, decision-making. It’s also great for getting players to feel alert and focused at the beginning of a training session. MORE
08/15/2017 | Warm Ups
This is a good warm-up game for a large group of players. It gets their minds and bodies moving and helps to sharpen up their core skills of handling, passing and catching. MORE
07/20/2018 | Tips
The other week I was watching another coach set up what I can safely say was a drill: 10 cones evenly spaced in front of two lines of players, no decision-making and off they went. The players ran out with the ball, put it down, ran to another cone, ran back and picked it up. They passed it to a team mate who repeated the exercise. MORE
07/19/2018 | Pre-season
We can all remember an inspirational figure in our sporting lives, someone who has made a difference. Now you are a coach yourself, you have the chance to be that figure for someone else. What a privilege. Also, what a responsibility. That means that good coaching and management comes from hard work and choosing the... MORE
07/12/2018 | Pre-season
Think straight and think clearly about what you can achieve from pre-season to make more use of the valuable time before the real action begins. MORE
07/11/2018 | Podcast
Dr Andy Abraham is an experienced researcher and teacher in sports coaching. He's also been a novice coach in rugby union, starting his journey with his own son in the north of England. Now, having coached at this level for 5 years, it seemed a good moment to find out what he had learned from this experience. MORE
07/5/2018
The basic principles of defence are: Go forward Provide support Apply pressure Regain possession As you can see, they don't explicitly say tackling. So, if we really want to improve our defence, we have to look at the whole, not just one of the parts. MORE
07/3/2018
Excellent technique in the scrum often outdoes a larger opposition team. Add to that a cohesive effort and your scrum should deliver clean ball when it matters. MORE
06/28/2018
Great kicking can score tries. It takes awareness. And if you can create plenty of scenarios in training where players can test out their kicking, they improve both their tactical and technical prowess. This goes for kicks in open play and kick-offs. MORE
“The boys have really enjoyed the drills from Rugby Coach Weekly. It's been great having them at my fingertips and every training session this season we tried new things, which I believe helped keep the boys interested and enthusiastic.”
Phil Hopkins, Perigueux, France
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