Focus avoids confusion

The session Turbulence, starts in quite an ordered fashion.

Yet, get to the developments and there is plenty of unstructured action. 

If you watched a well-seasoned club side try this out, they would probably fall into some attacking shapes. Less experienced players, however, would look bewildered.

The session works for all levels. This is because you can set the speed of the session by introducing a different ball when they start to look comfortable. The key is that they go back to the principles of rugby.

The first principle is to go forward. To do that, players need to keep realigning based on where they are in relation to the ball carrier and nearest support players. 

There are no hard and fast rules for this, because things change so quickly. 

However, if the players have a principle they need to keep to, they will start to feel when and where they should be. It also works much better with leaders on the pitch.

With younger players, you might have a designated ’pivot’ player. I call them that because they are not the player who is going to run with the ball. Instead, the attack will pivot around them, receiving a pass.

Any player can be a clearing passer – that is, the player who passes the ball away from the tackle. The pivot may call for the ball to be passed to them, or to a runner coming closer to the action. 

The pivot could be allowed to run a few paces, but must pass the ball. Every couple of plays, swap in another player as the pivot player. 

Initially, the session is run without a defence. That is not an ideal situation, because players should be adjusting according to the pictures in front of them. 

Yet, in this case, you are creating a different sort of pressure because of the speed of delivery. And you want the players to have lots of goes in a short space of time. There is a compromise at this stage.

Eventually, you need to put in defenders. This changes the realignment dynamic – instead of just running onto the ball, the players will be looking for holes in the defence. 

What happens now isn’t always very pretty. The defence offers a visual, as well as a physical, barrier to run forward. This is where you must encourage your players to keep going forward.

Initially, if they do, they will still meet the defence, but at least the players will be going forward. 

There is no need for wild passes – just keep going forward and at pace. As they begin to be comfortable with this, they can then pass more.

So, keep to the focus, which is quick ball on the front foot. And that means, keep going forward.