Not every set piece works out, and this session looks at some simple recovery strategies. It mainly involves one player retaining the ball, staying strong and then his team mates coming back to help him.
A physical activity to develop ways to mop up errors. MORE
Though you aim for perfection, you know perfectly well that there will be times in the game when your team have to clear up the mess from a scrum or lineout. So, it’s worth devoting some training time to develop strategies to deal with these situations. MORE
Lineout training should be based around getting the basics right first. When Gary Gold was coaching the South African team with Victor Matfield and they were the best lineout in the world, he used to say: "They know where the ball is going, but Victor will always beat them into the air."
But a lineout is not just about the jump/lift. It's also about what happens afterwards. Here are four activities to develop different aspects of this set-piece situation. MORE
Get your ball carriers used to running forward to score tries. This session can be run as a warm-up or as a proper tackling session as well.
Often players fail to run forwards even when they know the try line is that way. This session should encourage them to attack a space in front them and go for it. MORE
Your side will have its fair share of stars, good players and not-so-good. Keep all the players involved and happy, and make each one feel they are a world-beater. MORE
Use this blocked attack game (one team attacks for a period of time) to challenge players to apply the principles of play under pressure. The attacking team get extra “lives” for good support when they score tries. MORE
Scenarios offer a great way of engaging your players in games. By putting the players in a specific point of a well known match, they get the opportunity to develop their game management. For younger players, scenarios give them the opportunity to be their favourite players of their favourite teams. For older players, scenarios give them the opportunity to challenge their decision making with regards to the score-line and also how to deal with specific threats or weaknesses in future opposition. MORE
Give your players the mental and physical edge at scrums by being the first to be ready to scrummage. Make them set themselves quickly and also bind effectively and efficiently. In a match, they will be arriving at each scrum tired, so this session aims to replicate these moments. MORE
Defensive organisation is a core unit skill. From second phase, players need to understand their defensive roles and, more importantly, work together to pressurise the attacking team. You can use this session and its elements throughout your season to achieve this. MORE
Don’t let your team waste quick ball at rucks because they have taken the wrong decision. Forwards have to decide whether to “keep on going”, that is pick up the ball and drive on, or leave it for the scrum half. This session focuses on players having to make their decisions as they approach the breakdown. MORE
Here are four great warm-up games to energise your players while working on skills and decision-making.
Notice that I'm keen to showcase player-led activities for warm-up games. This is a good chance to build more cohesion amongst the players, while you are still providing a certain amount of control on the direction of the session. MORE
This week's guests: Andy Plimer host Rugby Coaches Corner podcast, PE teacher and Concordia University Women's coach and Luke Cromer, host of The Coaches Club podcast, English teacher and basketball coach.
The team pick out the key takeaways from each piece of great content and discuss how it can be applied to coaching.
This week’s content
Any Given Team – Ray McLean
The Coaches Guide to Teaching Study Guide – Luke Cromer MORE
Bird and LJ talk to Lynne Cantwell, the first high performance manager for the women’s game in South Africa.
Lynne is Ireland’s most capped (86) female rugby player. She was appointed to the South African role in February 2021. She has been a member of Sport Ireland’s board since 2019. She is also a qualified physiotherapist. MORE
Host Phil Llewellyn with guests review some of the many great podcasts, books, articles and webinars from the last week. This week’s guests: James Hamilton Director of Rugby at Nottingham High School and Andy Drummond Head of Athletic Development at Nottingham High School The team pick out the key takeaways from each piece of great... MORE
In my previous article, I outlined how I set up my Veo for games and training.
I've now had a greater opportunity to use it for recording games.
Again, I come at this without much recent experience of using video analysis software. I don't have much time to sit down and code games. Instead, I will mainly use the footage to pick out some key points to help inform my coaching and to share moments with the players. MORE
There are so many elements to passing, which ones do you concentrate on first and how do you train them?
Here are a bunch of the priority skills you need and then great ways to train them. MORE
The RFU has brought forward plans to reduce the tackle height at age grade rugby to below the armpits.
Talking to experienced school coaches in particular, they don't see much change in the impact on the game as a whole. However, it is an excellent opportunity to reexamine your tackle technique training. MORE
If our players communicated more effectively, then the ball carrier would know when to pass or when to take contact.
Create more opportunities for this to happen by making it matter. The best exercises provide chances for players to see the value in calling for the ball.
Here are four good activities to use. 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.”
