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Contact skills in a whole-part-whole session

by Dan Cottrell in Contact, Rugby drills, Small-sided games

Improve your players’ ball retention in contact with this slightly different whole-part-whole approach.

You can use whole-part-whole by having breakout groups from the main group. The breakout group works on the “part” which is the specific techniques you want them to perform well, under pressure, in the game.

WHOLE

  1. Play 5 v 5 in a narrow but long pitch.

  1. Rucks and mauls may involve only the tackler, ball carrier plus one from each side.
  2. Following a breakdown there is maximum one pass.
  3. Teams advance through recycling to score tries.
  4. Turnover the ball for infringements.
  5. Once the game has played for a few minutes then…

PART

  1. Remove one player from each side to a separate area.
  2. Work with both players on their contact skills, with players taking it in turns in a 3m square to beat their opponent.
  3. Rotate players every couple of minutes, keeping them fresh and the game intensity high.

TECHNIQUES

  • Body height – attacker’s shoulder at opponent’s hip. (A)
  • Footwork – step to the side in the final approach step. (B)
  • Power strides – as contact is about to be made the final stride should be hard, followed by small driving steps.
  • Ball protection – the ball held to the side away from the defender. (C)

Find out more on how this type of session might function…

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