Several yeats ago I interviewed Colin Hillman, former Welsh Sevens coach. He gave me some excellent insights into the current sevens thinking at the top level, with implications for all teams.
Always work on your defence first
We have the luxury of some of the best rugby players in the world. They have pace, great stepping ability and of course can catch and pass. In the little time available for tournaments we concentrate on getting the defence right first. Here’s the system we use:
Sweeper system
We always work with a sweeper system, where six players play in front of one. The sweeper covers kicks and acts as the last man in defence. However it does mean there is an overload in favour of the attack.
The chain
The key to our defence is: don’t get broken through in the middle. In my experience, if a player gets through the middle then the sweeper has little chance of making the tackle, or preventing a try. Either they get “stepped” by the attacker, or there is a 2 v 1 situation.
The defensive line at the front must be disciplined, working like a chain to prevent this happening.
Three man defensive unit
In front of the sweeper, we work in three man defensive units. The player who is defending the ball does not move up unless he has a man either side of him. The three men pressurise the ball carrier together. They do this by squeezing together a little and forcing the ball carrier to make a decision.
In the meantime the other defenders close off the “passing avenues”. In effect, they are closing the gate and forcing an error from the attacking team. The aim is to show the attack the space on the outside, between the widest defender and the touchline. In other words, backing your own players to cover the outside break.
No such thing as a static defence
We like to say that if you are standing in defence you are not working. It is constant push, push, push up the field, forcing the other team backwards.
The three man unit pressurises the ball, with the other defenders getting in amongst the attacking team. We want the opposition ball carrier to look up for options to pass and only see your shirts.
In the picture you can see the 3 man defence moving up as an arc, with the ball being surrounded by defenders. One of the most effective examples of this I saw was in the Middlesex Sevens when the rugby league side, the Bradford Bulls, literally walked up and across the pitch in defence – all the time maintaining a solid wall of defence.
3 man and arc defence to cut down the attacking options
A great game to practise your three man defence
Using half the width of the pitch, match 3 defenders against 5 attackers. The defenders have to shift across and up the field and pressurise for 2 minutes. It is amazing how successful they are if they follow the “chain” principles.
Increase the width of the pitch as the defence becomes more successful.
Encourage your players to use good footwork in small spaces by avoiding contact. These two fun activities are excellent for warming up body and mind. Though rugby is a contact game, avoiding it is a core skill. There are no set techniques because each player will have their own style. Let them develop it in these two activities. MORE
Use this "ruck-to-ruck" wide passing exercise to develop better long passing along with timing and realignment. All your team should be involved with this activity, with players adjusting their alignment based on the strengths and weakness of their teammates. It challenges all the players to pass wider and accurately. Set a target of 20 completed runs. MORE
Make your touch rugby more game realistic with these three variations on the game. They aim to create scenarios for both attackers and defenders that replicate match-like situations. MORE
Use this activity as part of your sevens tournament warm-up or to develop your players awareness of passing and then supporting the pass. Also good for general handling too. The ball carrier must engage the defence first by running forward, then passing. Once he’s passed the ball, he should drop in behind the receiver (“into... MORE
We use lots of games and game-related scenarios in training to develop our conditioning, skills and tactics. Here are my favourites when we prepared for the World Rugby Sevens Series... MORE
Help tag players understand how to work together to make a tag tackle. It also helps the ball carrier develop their evasive skills to break through the defensive line. MORE