With the contact rugby not far away, you will be planning some form of tackling practice to fit into your training sessions.
In these unusual times, you might find yourself almost reteaching tackling for some players. Even for more experienced players, they will need time to rediscover the safe, efficient and effective techniques and skills.
To start with, you might consider a Scaffolding approach to tackling. Based on the work of Nick Hart, I show you how to build support around players as they can learn or revise tackling so they can become confident and competent.
If the tackler can get in front of the ball carrier just before the tackle, it’s easier to make shoulder contact. Young players in particular will benefit from this skill.
This session develops simple defensive tracking skills so the defender gets in front of the attacker to make a two-handed touch. If they can do this, they should be in a good position to make a full tackle. MORE
Inspired by the work of Nick Hart, a headteacher and author of the blog,Thisismyclassroom, here is a “scaffolding” approach to teaching tackling. Scaffolding is where you build support around a task as it is introduced and built up. You then take away the scaffolding as the player becomes confident and competent. It was first coined... MORE
Because ball carriers make every effort to avoid being tackled, a defender might find themselves struggling to tackle them…to begin with. It’s how you finish that matters, according to Les Kiss, head coach at London Irish. Dan Cottrell explains… A lot of tackle coaching can be static. The key points are head position, shoulder contact,... MORE
For the first few years of contact rugby, you will be introducing or re-introducing tackling. Your approach is a key part of maintaining your players’ learning momentum and desire to become better tacklers. Here’s a graduated approach. MORE
I’ve been talking tackling to plenty of coaches in the last few weeks. That’s not unusual. Therefore, I wanted to share with you one of my favourite tackling “drills”: High pressure tackling reactions. I say drill because it’s a 1 v 1 exercise. MORE
Get your players used to making side-on or front-on tackles with this high-octane exercise. The tempo will keep the players moving quickly into position and making choices on which tackle to employ. MORE
Even the top teams recognise they don’t practise side-on tackling enough.
Use this session to work on quick-to-ground tackling, against a dynamic attacker. MORE