Dirty diamond dogs

A rough diamond shape with the ball carrier at the front means that he can offload or go into contact with confidence. The diamond does not need to be perfect and is only really close to a ruck. Get your players used to picking up this shape to enhance continuity.

Warm up time: 5-7
Session time: 8-10
Development time: 10-15
Game time: 15-20
Warm down time: 5-8

What to think about

The main difference for those who are not used to the diamond shape is the positioning of the inside support player and the player in behind. The player at the front of the diamond needs to call when he is taking the ball. The other players then fill in quickly. When the ball carrier takes the ball towards the defence, he chooses his options based on what he sees in front of him. He might use footwork to beat a defender and offload, attack one defender with a team mate latched, step and pass before contact, or simply attack the gap, go to ground with the others driving over for either a quick pass out or a pick and go (see picture 2).

set-up

1. Quickly identify who is at the head of the diamond, then get a player on the inside, outside and behind.
2. Ball carrier: Attack the line aggressively. You choose whether you are going to pass, offload, drive in, or go to ground.
3. Support players: React to the ball carrier but tell him where you are and what you can do.

What you get your players to do

Put three ruck pad holders (or tacklers in suits) in a 10m gap beside a ruck pad. Get four attackers to come around the corner and set up in a rough diamond shape (see picture 1). They then take the ball from the feeder and drive into (see picture 2, fig 1) or through (see picture 2, fig 3) the ruck pad holders ) or they can take contact and set the ball up for a ruck (see picture 2, fig 2). Keep repeating the exercise with a different player taking up the head of the diamond each time.