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.
Thank you to the great twitter-sphere, here is a summary of the insightful responses of those who find themselves reffing their team on a Sunday morning. MORE
Referees are very sharp on ball poachers who put their hands on the ground before grabbing for the ball. You must make your players whiter-than-whiter and also far more accurate in this area. It will reduce your penalty count and increase your chances of stealing the ball. Make sure that your ball poaching is not... MORE
You might hope not to have to get involved in refereeing, or “game coaching” as it is becoming known, or you might be dead keen to try. These days the objective is a free-flowing game, so the person with the whistle is more of a helper than a referee. Each side having a coach is... MORE
You want your training to be purposeful. That means players feel they've gained something from the session. Here's a mix of handling, fitness and kicking games to help populate your training sessions for the return to play. It looks a lot like pre-season of course. You will see the fundamentals of skills, teamwork and movement, but little or no focus on tactics or contact. MORE
We've got more ideas for teams who are tentatively coming back to training. These are good warm up activities once we get back into the regular season too. Also, there are some lessons from the return to full blown rugby in New Zealand with the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition. These lessons are very simple. Follow the true letter of the law around the tackle and ruck area. MORE
As we begin to return to play and guidelines are adjusted, assuming that contact might be a few weeks or more away, let’s focus on some handling skills. Here are four activities to develop or revise your players’ pass and catch. You can modify them based on your Social Distancing protocols, and then as the... MORE
Like lots of you, I'm excited that we are beginning to return to play. While the word "play" does stretch session might look like now, we can still start to rebuild our connections with our players. At present, most countries will not allow any form of contact training. Therefore, we will need to be patient, and think about what's worthwhile. MORE
With no training sessions in lockdown, our on-going interactions with our players is different. We can still invest in our players, building their confidence, understanding and belong. Here are some simple, quick ideas. MORE
