Gorillas in the hits

To help your team dominate the contact area, players need to be low and able to drive forward. Get your players to work in strong body positions by taking up the shapes of gorillas, and then driving through.

If players arrive at the ruck too high, they may take too long to get in the low body position desired. They may also find themselves going down and off their feet.

1. Set out a course of cones.
2. Have the players “gorilla-walk” their way through the cones, ensuring they arrive square at each cone.
3. You can hold a pole at certain points to ensure players maintain the correct height.

1. He shouldn’t rest on his palms but use his fingertips to feel his way forward.

1. Then, put a tackle tube on the ground.
2. Have a player scrape his chest along the pad, using his fingertips to guide him.
3. At the end of the tube, he has to drive into a ruck-pad holder.
4. Put the ruck-pad holder either on the pad or just after.

1. Develop by having the player arrive at the situation from different angles, but he must square up before making contact.
2. Have the ruck-pad holder sit on the pad to make the contact lower.

TECHNIQUE

• Bend at the hips, not the back.
• Head up.
• Fingertips to the ground, not hands.