Break down an organised defence, by focusing on the space outside their 10. Here are two plays which are easy to set up, but require a good level of skill to run the right lines and time those runs.
The angles should give your team a chance to get over the tackle line, if not break the line.
ACTIVITY
Put a feeder at the side of the box, and two ruck-pad holders at the far end facing three attackers.
The first ruck-pad holder focuses on the first receiver (F), the second pad holder on either of the other two players.
The first receiver calls either a “slice” or a “block”. If they call a slice, 1 runs out, 2 runs in, with 1 going before the 2. They then pass to the player who’s running to the space.
On the block play, 2 runs in front of 1, with either a late pass behind 2 to 1, an early pass to 2 who passes to 1 on the switch or a late pass to 2.
GAME SITUATION
Put a ruck pad on the ground halfway up one side of the box, with a ball next to it. Put three defenders in the box, with the ruck pad acting as the offside line. Put three attackers at the end of the box.
The attackers have to use the moves to get to the other end.
TECHNIQUE
Passer, turn slightly to sight the runners.
Look at the defence before you look at the pivot player.
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
“Get deep!” is a common call to get the backline to be in a position to run onto the ball. One way is to ask the players whether they can see the number on the back of the inside player. How can you create better scenarios though?
You can create scenarios where the players must run into position and then react. That’s because the game is dynamic – rucks and/or mauls happen at different speeds. 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
