Ball place, ball steal, ball protect

Improve your players’ rucking skills by building up their contact techniques around ball placement, trying to steal the ball and protect the ball from a steal.

1 v 1 and 2 v 2 rucks are often lost because the ball placement is poor. Give the attacking support player a good target to be able to protect the tackled player.

1. In pairs, have each player on one knee facing each other, with a ball.
2. They pass the ball back and forth between each other before you shout “tackle”.
3. The current ball carrier goes to ground and presents the ball.
4. The other player gets to his feet and tries to steal the ball within three seconds.
5. Promote good technique, either with a long place or a good jack-knife.

1. Develop by adding a support player who throws the ball to one of the players.
2. As soon as he takes the ball, he presents it, with the passer becoming the attacking support player and the other player trying to steal the ball.

1. Finally, the passer has two support players, and the defender one.
2. When the ball is passed in, the attacking team aim to win the ball and then pass it out.

TECHNIQUE

• Use a long or jack-knife placement, making the entry point for the defender as narrow as possible.
• Keep moving when placing the ball.
• Support player gets low and square over the ball.