Andy Stevens, in his first Glass Half Full podcast, looks at the challenges and opportunities around the women’s game.
His guests are Bryony Cleall, an England international, Duncan Johnson, leading the girls’ section at Ellingham and Ringwood, and Mary Ann Collins, Kids First Mentor and still playing at Crowthorne Ladies.
The conversation talked around:
The historical challenges faced by girls and women wanting to play the game they love at a higher level.
The potential future of the game with the new Allianz deal supporting the Elite and Grassroots game and with RWC2021 on the horizon.
The seemingly simple changes needed to nudge the female game across the whitewash to bring it more in line with the male game.
In Hard and Fast with the Miss Pass, we set up a “miss pass” training session. The miss pass is a long pass which skips one player, with the missed player drawing a defender in the process. MORE
A hard and fast flat miss pass can cut out defenders before they have a chance to change their running angles. It can lead to clean breaks as your attackers exploit the gaps.
By scanning the line and hitting the ball at an angle towards a space, the ball carrier is going to be almost impossible to stop. MORE
Training games, like touch rugby or contact games, tend to be competitive.
They should have:
Context: the players should know, either before or after the game, the reason you are playing. Fun/enjoyment are a given. However, what are the potential rugby outcomes?
Points: the players will want to know what the score is, and what the points system is.
Now, let's spice this up MORE
Already leaked more tries than you expected this season. Here's some cures to shore up your defensive line, which concentrate on technique, skills and organisation. Remind your players of what they do well and then help them to address their weaknesses. MORE
If you are coaching adult rugby, then you are probably already beginning to put in some elements of contact into your preparation programme for next season. If you are coaching youth rugby, then you need to carefully consider the regulations about contact rugby. For example, in England for under 11s and below, you won't even start "contact" of any sort until the actual season starts. MORE
Use our two simple tactics to pull defences one way and then kick the other to surprise them and give your chasers a good chance of gathering the kick unopposed. MORE