Kick training: don't avoid it

Spend more time on your kicking tactics in training than you usually do – it’s more creative than you think.

There is some sort of utopian vision of attacking rugby, where there’s no kicking. Since we often see it as an attacking ’last resort’, we tend not to spend much time training for it.

That is a mistake, for two very good reasons:

1. Kicking creates attacking opportunities.
2. Other teams will kick, so we need to know how to deal with it.

If a defending team knows you might kick, and kick well, they should reassign their resources to cover. That means less players in the frontline.

Also, a good kick might lead to a turnover. It could be that one of your players catches that kick (generally unlikely), it bounces in open field to be gathered, or the opposition catcher makes an error. 

However, too often, kicking is poor. It is rushed, with no organisation in place. 

Perhaps one or two players chase and the rest amble into position. That’s normally because you haven’t spent much time on the training field going through the options.

To coach this, I use half a pitch, imagining it is a full pitch. I put the players into various scenarios and challenge them to decide which kick could be used. 

Crucially, the question is not whether we should kick. Instead, it should always be an option.

Once the options are in place, the chasers need to know their roles. 

In this session we have some specifics for the sharp end of the chase. But it’s also important to consider the second and third lines, who fill in behind.

Here are the key considerations:

1. Fill the space in front of the kick

You can’t ’fill’ the whole width of the field with a chase.

The front chasers need to cover about 5-10m in front of the receiver. The second line should be able to cover over half of the pitch. They can then slide across if the ball is passed wide.

2. Three lines of cover

The front line is on the ball. The second line covers a half break or if the ball is moved away from the catching zone. The third line (probably two or three players) covers any return kicks.

3. Unmatch the mismatch

Spacing between the players in the line has to reflect the speed of the slower players. Props need other players closer to them so they don’t get exposed.