Get your players used to making side-on or front-on tackles with this high-octane exercise. The tempo will keep the players moving quickly into position and making choices on which tackle to employ.
ACTIVITY
Put a line of attackers at one end of the training area.
One defender stands on the try line with their back to the ball carrier. Other defenders line up ready to come in.
Shout out to the front attacker which gates/gaps to run through. They run through those gates, aiming to get to the try line. In the meantime, the defender turns and comes forward to make a tackle.
You can start by having the defender make a shoulder and arms contact only then progress to a full tackle.
Once the tackle is completed (or missed), the next attacker and defender get into place.
Keep the activity quick with lots of goes for all the players in a short space of time.
DEVELOPMENT
Get another attacker to support the ball carrier but come through the other gates/gaps.
OR Have another defender at the other corner, to make it a 1v2.
NOTES
Run this through rapidly. Give feedback as the defender gets up, or at the very end. The defender who has just been involved joins the back of the attacking group, while the attacker joins the end of the defending group.
TECHNIQUE
The defender should always move forward, not get planted.
The defender aims to get their foot close to the ball carrier.
Our problem is that one of our players, who is not small (quite tall and lean), despite training okay with tackling, during a game just doesn’t commit to a tackle. He will be running along in a good position and never move into the tackle. MORE
Getting close to the ball carrier is a key technique to be able to make an effective tackle. But chasing games don’t help build up the game skills replicated in the game. Try out these four ideas instead. MORE
Because ball carriers make every effort to avoid being tackled, a defender might find themselves struggling to tackle them…to begin with. It’s how you finish that matters, according to Les Kiss, head coach at London Irish. Dan Cottrell explains… A lot of tackle coaching can be static. The key points are head position, shoulder contact,... MORE
For the first few years of contact rugby, you will be introducing or re-introducing tackling. Your approach is a key part of maintaining your players’ learning momentum and desire to become better tacklers. Here’s a graduated approach. MORE
I’ve been talking tackling to plenty of coaches in the last few weeks. That’s not unusual. Therefore, I wanted to share with you one of my favourite tackling “drills”: High pressure tackling reactions. I say drill because it’s a 1 v 1 exercise. MORE