Create situations under pressure where passers and their support players have to run at one angle and then pass at another. Encourage players to attack at pace and find ways to keep the ball moving forward.
The support player tracks the ball carrier so they can be ready to take a pass or help the ball carrier if they are tackled.
Start a ball carrier at the corner of the box. Put a support player in the middle of the same end and another on the other corner.
Tell the ball carrier to run towards one of the three gates of cones. They go through and passes immediately to a support player.
The support player then runs through another gate of cones (their choice) and then passes immediately.
DEVELOPMENT
Change the starting positions of the first ball carrier. You start by having one of the support players passing the ball and then following up in support.
Put a ruck-pad holder in the box. They run to one of the gates and the ball carrier has to drive into the pad and go to ground for the next support player to drive the pad out of the way.
Or have a defender, who can tackle at waist height, guarding the last two gates.
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
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
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
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
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
