Welcome to Coaches Corner
Message from the Coach; Basics of Rugby; New Law Changes for 08
IRB Guide to Experimental Law Changes 08
As you may or may not be aware there are some IRB law changes that are coming into play in August 08. Please take the time to read the attached and make yourself familiar with these before the start of the 08/09 season.
IRB Guide to Experimental Law Changes 08
Individual Experimental Law Variations
Click on the links below to see more detail, including video, on each of the ELVs.
Law 6 - Match Officials - 1. Assistant referees are able to assist the referee in any way that the referee requires;
Law 17 - Maul - 2. Remove reference to head and shoulders not being lower than hips;
3. Players are able to defend a maul by pulling it down;
Law 19 - Touch and Lineout - 4. If a team puts the ball back into its own 22 and the ball is subsequently kicked directly into touch, there is no gain in ground;
5. A quick throw in may be thrown in straight or towards the throwing team’s own goal line;
7. The receiver at the lineout must be 2 metres away from the lineout;
9. Lineout players may pre-grip a jumper before the ball is thrown in;
10. The lifting of lineout players is permitted;
Law 20 - Scrum - 11. Introduction of an offside line 5 metres behind the hindmost feet of the scrum;
12. Identification of scrum half offside lines;
Law 22 – Corner Posts - 13. The corner posts are no longer considered to be touch-in-goal except when the ball is grounded against the post
Message
From the Coach...
"Hi guys, rugby is made much easier for individuals and team members once all understand the basic principles. Here are 6 key areas where all players can benefit and gain additional insight into how to execute these key simple requirements. Once you've mastered these simple basics you will deliver control and consistency in your play.
Do the basics to the best of your ability in tandem with your team mates, look after the ball. Then the rest is all about how far and fast you want to go."
Improve and enjoy. That’s my coaching philosophy. Mike.
So please take a few minutes reading and viewing : - Passing, Tackling, Avoiding a Tackle, Rucks and Mauls, The Line Out, Kicking, Basics of 'Pod' Technique.
Passing
www.videojug.com/film/rugby-union-guide-to-passing-3
Step 1- Be aware: Make sure you keep your wits about you. Expect the ball to be flying towards to at any point during a rugby game. If you're half asleep, you'll miss it.
Step 2 - Make a target: Bring your hands together with your thumbs pointing skywards, fingers outstretched. This is where the ball's going to hit; it prepares you, and gives the passer somewhere to aim for.
Step 3 - Move to the ball: Stretch your arms out a little as the ball comes in. Catch, and make sure you keep hold of it.
Step 4 - Pass
it on!: You're now ready to pass it on before you get taken out.
If you're passing it straight on to another player, swing your arms in
one continuous movement.
Make sure you keep your eyes on the recipient at all times and visualise
what you're going to do. In all likelihood, you need to get rid of this
ball fairly sharpish, so don't hang around daydreaming.
Tackling
www.videojug.com/film/rugby-union-guide-to-tackling
Step 1 - Safety:
It takes two to tackle, and while it's obviously important that you stop
the other guy scoring a try, it's equally important that you both get
up afterwards.
A High Tackle is anywhere above the shoulders, and is rightly against
the laws of the game. Not only are low tackles more likely to be successful,
they're also less likely to result in a broken neck.
When tackling, be aware at all times of the position of your head; both
players are going to come crashing to the ground and you want to make
sure your head's not going to get squished between the ground and the
guy you're tackling.
Step 2 - Laws:
Don't forget, you're only allowed to tackle someone if they're actually
holding the ball, so don't go chasing down some chump just for the fun
of it.
If you've been tackled and you're on the ground, you need to release the
ball immediately and roll away. If you're quick, you can pass it up to
a teammate, but don't hang about because if you take too long about it
you'll get done for playing the ball on the floor, and that's a penalty
offence.
However, if you're tackled near the try-line, you're allowed to stretch
out your arms and try to ground the ball to score the try. If you can,
do.
Step 3 - Technique:
Side-tackles are all about timing. Get it wrong, and you're liable to
get a boot in the face and a bruised ego. Get it right, and your opponent
will come tumbling down like a house of cards.
As you approach your target, bring your shoulder down to about hip height,
and adopt an almost-crouching pose. Push forwards with your legs and dive
your shoulder towards their thigh with as much might as you can muster.
Make sure you keep your momentum, that's what's going to topple them.
Brace yourself for impact.
Strike them with the shoulder that puts your head behind them –
you don't want them falling onto your skull. Essentially, you're tucking
your head by their bum.
Next, wrap your arms around their legs between around the thigh and above
the knee. Squeeze your arms, don't let go, and they'll soon go down.
Tackling from behind is that little bit more dangerous. You don't really
want your face anywhere near those big, studded rugby boots, do you?
Focus on where you're going to hit. That's the area below his bum and
above his knees.
Make contact with your shoulder beneath their bum, with your head to one
side of their leg.
Wrap your arms around their legs between around the thigh and above the
knee. Squeeze your arms, pushing their legs together.
Momentum and gravity will do the rest and bring him down. Just don't let
go.
Avoiding a Tackle
www.videojug.com/film/rugby-union-guide-to-avoiding-a-tackle
The Sidestep:
You're going to trick the person who's about to tackle you into thinking
you're going one way, and then going the other.
As you approach them, your body language needs to suggest you're going
to go the way you want them to think you're going to go.
Step wide with your outside leg in an almost overly-exaggerated manner.
Not only will this help trick them into thinking you're moving to that
side, it'll also give you that extra bit of spring to help speed you up
when you pull a fast one on them.
Watch your opponent carefully. When they shift their weight to tackle
you, that's your cue to sprint to their other side.
The Dummy:
Essentially, you're trying to convince the opponent that you're going
to pass the ball, when in reality you have every intention of barging
through him while he's confused about where the ball is.
First and foremost for this to work, you need to have a teammate near
you that you can convincingly pretend to pass to.
Look at the person you're going to pretend to pass to, and keep your eye
on them. Then feign the passing motion. Don't forget to not let go of
the ball. You'll be needing that for the glorious try you're about to
score.
At the apex of the pass, shift your body weight to the opposite side,
and prepare to run.
All being well you'll be able to slip past them, and make a bee-line for
the try-line.
Rucks and Mauls
www.videojug.com/film/rugby-union-guide-to-rucks-and-mauls
The Ruck:
In a Ruck, the grounded player lies on the floor and, as much as possible,
must roll away. Other players form up and attempt to push opposing players
back in order to gain possession of the ball.
Legally, you're only allowed to join a Ruck from the back. Coming in from
the sides in a Ruck is a big no-no, and you'll get called on it immediately.
Likewise, there's no touching that ball. Falling onto it or otherwise
interfering with it is illegal unless the ball's over the tryline and
you're going to score a try from it.
Successful rucking is all about drive. Pushing the opposition back far
enough to gain control of the ball is paramount here, so you'll need to
have strong forwards with a lot of power who can get to a ruck in double-quick
time and then provide the necessary force to drive hard.
When the ruck becomes ‘unplayable', the ref will stop everything
and call a scrum. If you're the stronger team and you were advancing,
you'll be awarded the put-in.
The Maul:
Mauls are extremely similar to Rucks except the ball isn't on the floor,
it's usually held up by one of the players.
A maul is formed when three or more players are in contact, contesting
for the ball. Legally, you're only allowed to join from the back of the
maul, and you've got to have at least one arm bound round a team-mate.
The raw power of the maul should mean that it's moving towards a goal-line;
if you're moving forwards, you've got the ‘advantage' and will get
a scrum if the maul collapses and the ball isn't immediately retrieved
from the ground.
A maul ends if the ball touches the ground, or if a player emerges with
the ball, in which case play resumes.
Like rucks, the very instant a maul is deemed ‘unplayable' by the
ref, play is stopped and a scrum is formed. Normally, this is after the
maul's been stationary for five seconds or has collapsed in on itself.
The Line Out
www.videojug.com/film/rugby-union-guide-to-lineouts
The Theory:
When the ball's gone out of play, the line out is basically the way of
getting it back in.
The line out needs to have at least two players from each team in it.
The team who's throwing in will decide how many people it is – usually
it's all the forwards.
Normally the hooker's the guy that throws the ball in. There's a skill
to this – it needs to be dead straight or it's not fair.
Normally, the scrum-half will let the hooker know where the ball's going
by shouting out a codeword. This is known only to the team, and simply
lets the hooker know which player the ball's going to.
Throwing the
Ball In: If you're the thrower, you'll be needing some tips to
make sure that ball goes to the right place.
Stand with your legs slightly apart, with your weight on the opposite
foot to your throwing arm. Get a good solid grip on the ball, and bring
your arms behind your head, bending them fully at the elbow.
Shift your weight forwards, and guide your arms forwards in a nice, smooth
motion.
When the time is right, release the ball.
A good tip is to ‘spin' the ball as it's thrown, to give it a good
strong targeted direction.
All being well, the ball should sail directly between the two lines of
teams, towards the intended player.
Catching the
Ball: Here's where the jumping begins.
Your team should know where the ball's going, and the player who's intended
to catch it will leap high into the air, salmon-like.
If you watch, he'll travel almost impossibly high into the sky. Now, it's
illegal for the guys in front or behind to lift him, but once the jumper
has left the ground it's perfectly valid for him to be ‘supported'
by other players from anywhere above the waist, thusly.
Once he's up there, he'll either catch the ball and twist to pass it down
to the scrum-half, or he'll simply knock it down.
Of course, it's quite possible for the ball to be intercepted by the opposing
team, and stolen away.
Whatever happens, from this point on the ball's back in play and the game
can continue.
Kicking
www.videojug.com/film/rugby-union-guide-to-kicking
Step 1 - Place Kicking:
Place kicks are used for penalties and conversions. Firstly, set your
ball down on the ground, preferably using a good-quality tee, and make
sure it's at a comfortable angle and you've got a clear line-of-sight
to the goalposts.
Next, take your position. A few steps back, and a few to the side ought
to do it. Give yourself enough space to get a few big strides run-up in
before you kick the ball. There needs to be about a 45 degree angle between
you, the ball, and the goalposts.
Visualise where you want the ball to go, and then focus on the ball. You're
looking to make contact about a third of the way up the ball, using the
instep of your foot, and follow through with your whole body.
Don't try to kick the ball at the point directly between the goalposts.
Instead, focus on getting it far beyond that, into the distance.
Step 2 : Wheel away nonchalantly as if you convert everything every time..........which now of course you will.
Basics of 'Pod' Technique
www.planet-rugby.com/Story/0,18259,3966_1723740,00.html
Podding for effect - Our wise coaching guru discusses ways of putting loiterers to use in pods (Planet Rugby)
Theory
When forwards break up from a set piece, in normal circumstances, they “chase the ball”. Tight forwards obviously find it difficult to get to the ball or the tackle, ruck or maul as quickly as loose forwards or, of course, backs; the reason is that they are bigger and slower as a rule and they are tied in to scrum and sometimes into the line-out. Thus they start their sprint to the ball far later than other players. Often then, when play reverses, it comes back to these ‘loiterers’ who are struggling to get to the ball. That is why so many of us coaches, in attack, worked to the axiom of “Quick ball won, same way twice; slow ball, reverse direction”; thus we avoided running back into the stragglers - our own, who get in the way, and the defenders, who also get in the way.
and practice
Why not, then, use the stragglers effectively? Organise things so that in attack and defence a certain number of players remain behind, deployed for attack and defence from set ball and second and further phased ball.
Let us take a scrum ball. On winning my scrum on the right hand side of the field, I organise that the three front row plus the tighthead lock remain in the area of the scrum, forming a ‘backline’ to be used in attack or defence, as required. The ball from our scrum speeds out to the left to my inside or outside centre; he takes a tackle, there is a quick ruck and we can play back to the players retained on the right after the scrum for that very purpose. Those designated to chase the ball from the set-piece, the three loose forwards and the loosehead lock, will either be drawn into the ruck/maul resulting from the centre’s being tackled, or, if they are not needed in that ruck, deploy themselves on the left of the ruck as an attacking line to bolster the backs already out there, or to get behind them in support; the must use their sense here or be led by someone calling the tune.
From the other side of the field, the left, the three loose forwards and the tighthead lock follow the ball, the rest remain to form that line of defence/attack on the left.
From a line-out, do the same thing: the three involved in your own line-out plus the hooker remain behind, the other four chase the ball. On their ball, organise as suits you. If they throw deep, that is going to tie up your deep men, so decide who is going to chase the ball. (I should stick to my three loose forwards and one lock, even if they are involved in that line-out.) Obviously they are not all going to get where you’d like them to be all the time- there must be some latitude given to them to make their own decision.
The theory behind the whole thing must be given to the team so that each player, from broken ball (2nd and further phase) can decide whether, depending upon where he is, he should chase the ball or remain behind. So after the set pieces have developed into rucks and mauls, composition of the pods can and must change according to the situation and the deployment of players. You can demand absolutes (you will go there, and you there…) but I think it unwise and restrictive.
Remember, this applies to defence and attack!
There are sophistications: you can play from pod to pod. You form a line-out of seven. The rear three take the ball from the line-out, play down to 9, who feeds the ball to the four from the front who run around the back of the line-out and straight up-field towards opposing flyhalf, hit into him, either go to ground or pass before contact, play the ball back to scrumhalf who feeds the three who took the initial ball from the line-out who have now moved up as a pod between ruck and touchline or infield of the pod with the ball (probably more effective); now you can either play your backs or go back to the free pod which can run where you will! You can play from pod to pod towards the middle of the field then bring the ball back to your backs running on the line-out side of the field.
If this is new to
your players, before you become sophisticated, make the players run through
the basics unopposed, again and again. Scrum unopposed; ball down the
backs; centre puts ball down; ruck; play left or right and see where the
pods have positioned themselves. I have coached this at senior level and
at Under-15 and Under-14 levels. I found that the juniors became lazy
and hung back after rucks and mauls so that all the forwards tended to
land up on the “blind-side”. Discipline and understanding
are essential. The pods do not have to play as a line (except in defence);
they can be effective as a close-knit group in attack.
