EXPERT SESSIONS AND ADVICE FROM QUALIFIED AND EXPERIENCED GRASSROOTS RUGBY COACHES
If you are able to train, then you will be aiming to improve your players’ skills and tactical appreciation around specific areas of the game.
If you are in lockdown, it’s a chance to hone your session planning in readiness for your return.
In Lockdown planning: Quick ruck ball sessions, we focused on applying pressure on the defence. Now, let’s plan for the other side of the ball. France’s defence coach, Shaun Edwards says that it is his main metric for success: slowing down ruck possession.
To enhance learning, you are better off focusing on an “arc” of learning for a specific area. This means spreading out the training over a number of weeks, rather than dedicating one session to this.
Here’s a four-week plan for preventing quick ball from rucks, but you can split this up into more sections if you want.
Objective: Apply pressure on the attack to make a mistake or kick the ball by preventing quick recycling of the ball from the tackle.
Week one: Tackle technique – tackling in pairs
Week two: Counter rucking
Week three: Defensive organisation around the ruck
Week four: Reorganising ruck defence
Let’s say you dedicate 15 minutes each week to the activities and assuming you have warmed up before the start of contact, you could use a mix of games and drills.
Each session may include all of the skills from all of the weeks. However, each week focuses on the specific skill, the reasons why it is important and how the players could improve their own contributions.
The mix depends on the skills of your players. Here are four ideas to help.
in Mini tag, Rugby drills
Use parent stations to allow you to run lots of activities with a parent overseeing each activity. It requires one parent, minimal setup and minimal instructions. Each station runs for two to three minutes before the players move to another station. MORE
in Footwork and evasion, Rugby drills
One player goads another, then touches the line and races to the other end to avoid being touched by the chaser. It’s a like smaller version of the Bangladeshi game of Kabadd MORE
in Attack, Rugby drills
Create attacking shape, where forwards understand where they are supposed to run to support the next phase of play. The groups of forwards are called pods and need to work together. MORE
in Attack, Rugby drills
Should an attack be successful at a 2 v 1 every time? At the top level, most of the time you would have thought, yet you would be surprised how often they fail. Add in another attacker and defender, or even two attackers and one defender, and that ratio of success drops very quickly. But it is still a golden opportunity to make ground and even score. So, you need to increase the success rate, and you do this by creating as many scenarios as you can. MORE
in Rugby drills
Dropped balls or loose kicks mean that the ball is on the ground and needs recovering. Use this session to work on the skills and decision-making around this situation. It’s not a natural action to fall on the ball. Help the players understand how to develop this technique as smoothly as they can. MORE
in Attack, Rugby drills
Get your players in place quickly to attack at pace from the next ruck in this simple realignment activity. Creating and keeping depth in an attacking line running onto the ball at pace and still have space and time to pass. MORE
