It’s not always easy to get young players to embrace contact which is why we’ve spent so much time devising and testing contact drills that will help your players grow in confidence. Use them alongside our tackling drills to develop a team of players that are comfortable making and taking contact.
Develop your pick-and-go game against an organised ruck defence. James Forrester introduces this three-player move to create some go-forward momentum. MORE
More and more teams are doubling up on the ball carrier, with another attacker latching (binding) on to drive him through contact. Here’s a simple exercise to develop the skill. Two players taking the ball into contact bound together means more power and weight, plus the non-ball carrier can protect and support quickly. It’s a good play against an organised defence. MORE
Use “box rucks” to create different challenges for players to react to. In each case, the players can readjust to the situation to make a difference to secure the ball. MORE
“Staying alive” means keeping some forward momentum through the contact area. So rather than meekly going to ground when faced with a defender, the ball carrier fights to stay on their feet. This provides a better target for the support players and improves your team’s recycling of the ball. MORE
Winning the ruck is one thing. Timing runs from the back of the ruck is even harder. Here is a core session that works on players taking the pass from a ruck and going into a second contact situation with support. It works for the whole squad and builds on good rucking techniques. MORE
Help players develop their skills around completing a low "chop" tackle. Once the contact is made, the tackler has to recover and contest for the space over the ball. The activity is clearly introduced with the key points, a demonstration and then the use of micro-coaching from the players to build a clearer understanding of their roles. It finishes with a small contact decision around jackling or competing for space. MORE
Develop your players’ decision making at the post-tackle so they can steal the ball or prevent the ball from being stolen. By using a points scoring system, the players start to understand the risk and reward elements of going for the ball at the tackle or driving over. MORE
In this session, we are going to combine the work we’ve done in the previous two sessions to check for understanding and finally build more of a live rucking situation. To do this we will use two elements from previous sessions to check for understanding (part three from sessions one and two) and to ensure safety is still paramount. MORE
Here are some activities to support your stage D ruck training. Using small groups (no more than four), they look at rebuilding ruck skills in a low impact environment and developing a game-related understanding at the same time. MORE
