Billy Vunipola with his U11s coach and one of his team mates on tour. Imagine this match up!
If you want to see really competitive training, just ask a group of PE teachers to play a game. Even a gentle game of touch rugby brings out a ruthless streak it seems.
Now, mix these teachers with staff members who help out with the B, C and D teams. They may be good sports people in their own right or just coerced into looking after that team. Some will be just as keen as the PE teachers. Others will be a lot more reticent and this often leads to important outcomes.
This was brought home to me just into the new year when I was working with a keen group of teaching staff in London. They played plenty of games, but one of the staff was constantly drifting out and away from the action.
When it came to the more rough and tumble elements, it was more noticeable. He was a good sportsman yet found the prospect of bumping into a 18 stone (114 kg) colleague quite scary. As it happens he did very well on the couple of occasions he did have to be a bit more physical.
When we broke from one of the games, we discussed how we would introduce contact to first timers, that is eight year olds. My contention is that you develop contact skills by playing ever more physical games. The players become used to contact without thinking too much about the consequences.
There’s a strong caveat in that. All the game rules make sure that there’s little chance of dangerous play. For example, there are no hand offs, the starting points are close together, so the ball carrier doesn’t have a large run up and the pitch is narrow, so congested.
Even so, with adults playing, it can seem quite daunting. The teacher expressed his fears: “Won’t the smaller kids be intimidated by the larger kids”. He had just been driven into touch by an over-zealous colleague – an older member of staff who was reliving their youth I’m afraid!
Good, technically strong players will make a big impact in these games. Yet, in my experience at the younger age groups, because they don’t have developed contact skills, the gulf in size isn’t as pronounced as it might seem with adults.
It’s vital that the players get a sense of their own strengths and weaknesses so they can then understand what they need to work on next. If a coach tells a player what they need to do, they are less likely to employ those techniques. If they understand the benefit first, it makes learning more likely.
If the players experience rough and tumble rugby, get themselves into good positions, then great. From there, you can nudge towards better outcomes. That is, you make suggestions on body height and leg drive. They find the grit for contact themselves.