EXPERT SESSIONS AND ADVICE FROM QUALIFIED AND EXPERIENCED GRASSROOTS RUGBY COACHES
When you return to rugby, there will be a long list of areas you need to do to rebuild your team’s skill levels and understanding.
Here are four games that can cover a range of outcomes, building in complexity, moving towards the full game.
Warm up with Passing Skeet. This is an ideal starting game, because the players can play this as they arrive. There’s not much to set up and you can use any type of ball.
Then move over to Tom Brocklebank’s Dens. It involves lots of movement and chaos. Because of this, it’s a safe space to make mistakes and reconnect as a group.
The next two games are closer to the real game. You might introduce these in week one, albeit briefly before expanding in the next few weeks.
Find the bib comes from former Leicester academy coach, Antony Allen. Players are challenged to exploit defensive weaknesses and requires a bit more tactical brainpower.
Finally, the Giant ladder game is more expansive still. With plenty of adaptions, Elliot Blackmore’s activity helps you focus on different attacking outcomes.
in Email Newsletters, Scrums & Lineouts
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
in Email Newsletters, Rugby drills
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
in Email Newsletters, Tackling
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
in Attack, Email Newsletters, Rugby drills
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
in Email Newsletters, Rugby coaching
Did Warren Gatland pick the right players for the British and Irish Lions summer tour to South Africa? His team of selectors will have been looking at balance and the style that they want to play. They might not pick the best players but more likely combinations that will complement each other. MORE
Against an organised defence, you can use closely packed groups of forwards to dent the line and then attack the recovering, disorganised defence. Often known as pods, this requires organisation, especially around the roles of the players in terms of carrying the ball and supporting that ball carrier. In its simplest format, after a set-piece like a scrum or lineout, the forwards who were not involved in winning the ball back after the first tackle, realign to take the next pass. This is in the expectation that the backline doesn't penetrate the line the first time. MORE
