EXPERT SESSIONS AND ADVICE FROM QUALIFIED AND EXPERIENCED GRASSROOTS RUGBY COACHES
Being a rugby coach means more than knowing how to execute a particular rugby skill, run a rugby drill, or set up a formation. The rugby coaching advice in this section highlights the important issues facing coaches and shows you how to approach them to become a better coach. These articles look at issues such as playing against sides that cheat, coping with problem players, getting a winning mentality and much more.
Get advice and support from experience grassroots rugby coaches, here’s a few quick links to get you started:
in Rugby coaching, Rugby drills
Having players queuing up to do a training drill isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as the “inactive” time is restricted. Here’s how to keep sessions moving so you strike the right balance. MORE
in Ask Dan, Attack, Rugby drills, Tactics
Subscriber question: Is there a session I can use to bring the full back in on the narrow side after a lineout? MORE
in Attack, Girls/Womens, Passing & Handling, Rugby drills
Use this introductory exercise to improve depth in realign, and then accurate passing. The random starting points makes the players think more about their roles in relation to the first receiver. MORE
in Blog, Rugby coaching
There’s a powerful school of thought that tells us we should be coaching more through games than drills. Let’s for a moment see why that makes sense. MORE
in Rugby coaching, Team Management
We know that parents are the biggest influence on their children’s lives and character, but coaches have such a key role to play in the creation of effective sporting environments and setting the tone to allow parental engagement to flourish. What do we mean by setting the tone? Well this can range from anything as to how coaches behave at training or on match day or the dialogue and messaging that we give both our parents and our players. MORE
in Email Newsletters, Refereeing
Whether you are refereeing in training (a good thing!) or have to referee your team on a Sunday (not such a good thing!), you will probably find yourself refereeing in some capacity this season. You will need to be confident that you can apply the laws as a coach to satisfy referees who take charge of your team. And if you do find yourself reffing, then it's far more than that...game management, crowd control, position, language, whistle control and signals. MORE
Jack Pattinson, academy and DPP coach at London Irish, in the South of England, talks to me about how he plans his coaching and what principles drive his sessions. I challenge him about the balance between skills training and game training, what the future player needs to know and how he measures success. MORE
in Rugby coaching, Team Management, Tips
During a session, you’ll often want to keep feedback to a minimum until you have more time to speak to the individual. Use this range of phrases to add value to your on-the-spot praise… MORE
Q: “We’re good at winning our set-piece ball but often struggle with the ensuing phase. Can you suggest a move we could run from the set piece?” MORE
in Podcast, Rugby coaching, Team Management
In this collaborative podcast, Dan Cottrell talks to six coaches across the grassroots spectrum. He asks them about the new regulation for teams up to U18s in England, where all match day squad players must play at least half a game. MORE
