Sometimes, a play from a ruck finishes behind the original ruck. Help your players understand their roles and reactions to reset and attack again with this scenario activity.
Put three attackers in front of a pair of ruck-pad holders.
Put a receiver and three other attackers about 5m away, with two defenders just in front of these attackers. Note these defenders will be ahead of the original ruck-pad holders.
Have a feeder pass the ball to the first set of attackers, who drive into the pad holders and present the ball.
Have the feeder gather and pass the ball to the next receiver who passes onto the next set of attackers.
With the defenders just in front of them, they will have to take contact, though they may be able to beat them.
Assuming they don’t, the ball is recycled again, with the original attackers now realigning to attack again.
Because the tacklers are free to attack the ball, the speed of the ball may be slow or fast. So, the attacking shape might need to change.
DEVELOPMENTS
The ruck pad holders make up a new defensive line.
Add in more defenders.
TECHNIQUE
Good ball presentation allows quicker ball.
Scan to see whether needed in the ruck or to be in the next wave of attack.
This scenario is complemented with the following activity:
Not all rucks form when a team is going forward. Sometimes, you have to regroup to win the next ruck which is behind the play. This activity recreates these scenarios by first ensuring that the players reload for the next ruck quickly and effectively. This is an ideal warm-up activity for all the players. ... MORE
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Eamonn Hogan chats with World Cup winning Graham Smith about the modern scrum. Graham, who is a level 5 coach, coached England Women to a World Cup in 2014 and six Grand Slams. He has coached with the Worcester Academy, CN Poble Nou in Spain, Stoke and Moseley RFC. Graham and Eamonn cover the following... MORE
A session ideal for pre-season or in-season if you need to reconnect your players with their handling skills and pace onto the ball. Accurate passing is essential to maintain a flowing attacking move capable of exploiting mismatches and space. Look at the detail as well as the outcomes. MORE
Develop your players’ ability to recognise and exploit opportunities to counter-attack from turned over possession. By driving into tackle tubes, the attackers are disorientated momentarily. They then have to recover to play what’s in front of them. MORE
Your approach to what you are looking for when you are coaching tackling will help you and your players focus on the right areas to improve their defensive capabilities. When I look at the tackle, I am predominantly outcome driven. If it works, then that is more important than if all the technical processes have been ticked off. MORE