Talk the talk

This session makes oral communication a feature. It forces the players to be accurate, concise and urgent when they are without the ball – both in attack and defence. You will see the difference when you take the communication option away.

Warm up time: 5-7
Session time: 10-12
Development time: 10-12
Game time: 15-20
Warm down time: 5-7

What to think about

When players say they need to communicate more, challenge them to be specific about what they should say and when they should say it. Poor communication requires immediate feedback, just like dropped passes or missed tackles. You can do this by treating poor communication as an infringement in a game situation, leading to a turnover ball. Or you can have a communication timeout zone in training, where guilty players have to go and say the alphabet backwards before returning.

set-up

1. Use accurate and concise communication throughout training. Train as we play.
2. Attack space and listen for support players to move the ball into space.

What you get your players to do

Place two pairs of ruck pad holders in the channel as in the top picture. Have a player feed two attackers who run towards the first set of pads. When the first pass is made, the ruck pad holder at the back of the first pair steps out to cover the support runner. The support runner moves into space and shouts for the ball. If the pass is successful, the three attackers advance to repeat the move with the second pair of pad holders. If there is no communication between the attackers, the attempt ends.