How many times do we see young players crowding around the ball carrier. Eventually, they will learn to spread out, but here’s how to accelerate that process.
Bunching around the ball won’t be cured quickly. Like any aspect that takes time to develop, we need to look for small signs of improvement and praise individuals who make these improvements.
WHY PLAYERS BUNCH
A lot of rugby is about realignment, both in attack and defence. The problem comes from translating training exercises into game situations. Realignment is fine if you have two players in a group, because one easily realigns with another.
For instance, if you set up a 2 v 1 exercise, the receiver will know roughly where to stand. When it comes to four players, it’s more difficult and put that into a dynamic situation where players have to react to a tackle, then the second and third receivers might want to bump themselves up to first receiver.
Especially at under 9s, where passing chains (numbers of consecutive passes) rarely get beyond two passes, there’s not much incentive to be a third receiver. The Law of the Jungle suggests that if you want to touch the ball, you get close to it. And so everyone will be crowding around the ball.
You have to work within the confines of this mind set.
CLEARING PASS TO START
At under 9s and 10s, the clearing pass (the pass away from the tackle area) makes quite a difference because a good, fast pass keeps the game open and quick, which reduces bunching. Players don’t have time to crowd around the ball.
So, work on all the players getting to a ball on the ground (or out of a tackle) and passing immediately. They shouldn’t worry too much in training if the others are not in place – that’s the support players’ problem.
Bunching occurs when the clearing passer delays and the first receivers stack up.
TRAINING GAME
Also, as a training game, play a rule where the first receiver must pass to a player who is moving forward. He, that’s the first receiver, cannot run himself. This one-out passing play can become a tactic as well as a good habit.
But, like all skills as this age, be patient with this game. Play it every training session for a month, but only for five minutes in the first few weeks. Frankly, it will be a mess for these first few weeks.
But, as the players become attuned to it, they’ll realise quite quickly that they will lose possession if they don’t play to that rule. As this skills develops, you will find players realigning to receive the second pass.
Use this simple game to build complex skills of realignment, changes of angle and pace onto the ball by letting the players discover the best solutions themselves. MORE
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"With the return to rugby, I’m really worried that my team (U13s) will have forgotten lots of things about rugby. In particular, I’m trying to work out when and how to introduce contact and tackling."
This question came from a coach in Gloucester and is typical of lots of concerns around this area of the game.
It is true that the players will have "forgotten" lots of skills.
Here's how I would approach this situation. On the next page are two tackling exercises to support training.
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Improve your players’ awareness of how to move together as a defensive line.
A defensive line needs to know who’s covering who and then double up if they can to make a tackle. MORE
Make sure your players use the right footwork to power through the contact area and then manipulate the ball so they can offload or present the ball cleanly.
Though power and aggression are important in the contact area, the ball carrier also needs to be technically accurate to ensure good continuity. MORE
Work on good setups and movement, jumping and organisation in your lineout pods with this dynamic activity. It should mix up roles of your players.
Let players try out different roles, even if it’s not perfect. That allows players to realise what works for all those involved in the lineout lift and jump. MORE