What is meant by attacking the line and how can you use this effectively in your tactics?
It is crucial for any first receiver to make at least one positive step forward when they receive the ball.
It can be tempting, especially if you are a fly-half (10) and you have called a move where the ball will be going wide, to immediately set off running wide. The problem with this approach is that it allows the defenders to drift over and cover the space.
Make at least one positive step forward towards the defence and you will preserve more of that wide space.
Filming your fly-half as they run some moves can help with this. It is likely that they don’t know that they are immediately starting running wide.
Show them and it will probably lodge in their head more.
Alternatively, a game I have found successful, is to have a cone where your fly-half will receive the ball and another cone, about 2m further forward, that they need to reach before they can break to the outside.
Do that for a few minutes at the start of the session and you will find your fly-half is much more threatening when they receive the ball.
Here are some ideas to improve your 10’s attacking play:
Fly halves (10s) that angle away the source of the ball before they pass, force their own backline across, losing attacking space wider out. Help your 10 stop drifting. MORE
The fly half is known in some parts of the world as the “pivot player”. From his controlling position he can launch his team away from the bunch of opposition forwards and into the open spaces. He therefore needs to be comfortable with the options in front of him. This session builds the awareness to appreciate these options.
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Start putting more pressure on your fly half (10) in training so he can perform better on match days. You can also work all the players who might fulfil this role. There are three main ways to create pressure: Reduce the time for the player to make decisions. Reduce the space for the player to... MORE
By standing deep I mean how far back from the "gain line" (the line across the pitch where the restart is) a fly half stands. The nearer they are to the gain line, the flatter the fly half is. Basically, the flatter the fly half stands, the greater the risks involved and the lesser the space available. MORE
How often do you despair that your players can’t score when there’s an overlap? Why is it players drift out in attack and play into the hands of the drift defence? Here are my simple solutions. MORE
This session will help players highlight their core skills under pressure. It works especially on short passes when the ball carrier is running “offline”.
Offline means the passer is either running towards the intended receiver or away. MORE
Use this activity to work on options to attack the line flat or pull the pass back to a player who is running wider into space.
This is a tough decision-making exercise because players have to make late passing decisions, while receivers have to time their runs to find the gaps. MORE
Replicate game situations where forwards have to ruck and handle in quick succession, with a degree of decision-making. It needs the simple things done well.
Forwards often have to mix contact and handling skills in a short space of time. Challenge them to move quickly from skill to skill. MORE
Help attackers realign quickly so they can run onto the ball and exploit gaps with passing.
To attack effectively, players need to see where to run and then come onto the ball with pace. They can only do this with good realignment. That means being in a good position relative to their team mates. MORE
Putting a defender into a weak tackling position allows the attacker to either win the contact situation or fix them to pass onto a player in a better position. Here’s how to “sit down” a defender.
“Sitting down” is where an attacker makes a defender plant their feet and stop moving forward. In other words, the defender rocks back onto their heels and looks as if they are “sitting down” on a chair. MORE
