Ruck smash tackles

Your players need to be aggressive and accurate at the same time – especially at the breakdown. Unlike a tackle, the ruck target is pretty static, so use this exercise to improve your team’s ability to legally “smash” away the ruck debris.

Warm up time: 5
Session time: 6-9
Development time: 6-9
Game time: 15-20
Warm down time: 7

What to think about

Legal rucking is the key to this session. If your players are flying off their feet when they drive in, you will only give away penalty after penalty. The trick is for players to find the edge at which they can “smash” into the contact and stay on their feet. They must use their arms to engage in the contact area, pulling themselves into the player they want to clear out. Shoulder charges are not only dangerous and illegal, they mean the player is likely to lose his balance and become less effective.

set-up

1. Drive into the ruck fast, impacting with shoulders and arms.
2. Smash the threats out of the way.

What you get your players to do

Put a ruck pad holder in a 2m square of cones. Put another player 5m to the side in a press-up position at a right angle to the square. Shout “GO” and the player has to rise and drive the ruck pad holder out of the square, but making sure they both go out of the back of box (meaning he must be square-on at contact). Have the ruck pad holder keep the pad low, forcing a low contact. Check that the contact is legal and the player stays on his feet while pushing through the box.