I have just attended the national championships in Korea. I began analyzing the play of all teams individually and forwarding a report to the coaches. After 2 game days I realized that I was repeating myself. As a result I settled for preparing a common report with add-ons if need be. This only occurred twice with the better teams who played to a pattern when they had the opportunity.

This made me think about standard to which the majority of rugby is played and the commonality of problems throughout the rugby playing world.

Apart from the information I have included below some general issues came to light.

For most teams there was an inability to play to a pattern at all. The easiest way to do this is to play to a pattern based on field position. This enables all members of the team to know what is happening.

They may have a pattern bit, if they did, the occasion made it difficult to figure out.

If players get emotional they tend to play individually and the problem is that when this happens they move away from their pattern and their team-mates don’t know what is happening. There will be a delay in them helping.

Related to this is the dependence on the coach to make decisions on the field. This resulted in players in attack grabbing the ball and running straight into the opposition. This made tackling look good as it is easy to tackle someone running directly at you.

In both attack and defence players were not deep enough to move into play especially from phase play. Players must re-load so that they can move into play. This means that they must move back so that, when play comes their way, they can move forward to tackle in defence or have time and space to run with the ball in attack.

I mention these points because they are common and identifying them here may be of use to you.

It is not a matter of having anything to hide. There are no secrets. It is more a matter of being observant enough to recognize where the strengths can be built on and the weaknesses resolved.

 

Attack:

Strengths to Develop Better Performance and Weaknesses to Work-on.

Gaining Possession:

Kick Starts when your team kicks off:

It is not the purpose of the kick-off to just re-start play but to also, either, perform a high, shallow kick so that you can win the ball, or a long kick with a good chase pattern that forces the opposition to kick for touch so that you win the line-out throw.

Scrums – your throw in:

All teams needed a lot of practice at the new scrum laws. Scrums can be contested. You need not revert to “golden oldies” scrums. In this tournament the playing surface was new and unstable which contributed to the problem.

Line-out – your throw in:

• The ball at the line-out should be caught at the top of the jump with the arms fully extended otherwise it will be too low and the opposition will be able to catch it.
• The jumper should be a player that can be held steady at the top of the jump so he can catch the ball securely.
• If line-out practices are unopposed the thrower will have problems adjusting in a game and will be intimidated by the opposing team contesting the ball.
• Tap ball and ball passed to the halfback from the top of the jump allows the defenders at the end of the line-out get a quick start when moving forward in defence.

 

Going Forward:

Outcome – To get over the gain line

• When the ball is passed catch it with the hands not the arms and the body, as this will make it too slow to pass to another player.
• The attack line should align so that the next player can see the number on the back of the player inside them and they should be wide enough to spread the defence across the field.
• While the aim of the attacking line is to get over the gain line to create momentum the top priority is to penetrate through the defence. If this can’t be done then getting over the gain line is the second priority.
• The best opportunity for penetration to happen is from line-out and scrum because the forwards are grouped and are not in the defence line.
• The biggest problem in the attacking lines in all games was that the attackers are standing too flat. They are often catching the ball standing still. This allows the defence to tackle them as they receive the ball. Often the cause of this problem is the players lacking discipline and moving forward before the ball is available. I think anxiety is a factor.
• What makes penetration more of a problem is that the ball carrier is running across the field to try and find some space. This allows the defence to drift as well and results in there being more defenders than attackers. They are able to dominate the ball carrier in the tackle.
• What the players in the attacking line should do is stand deep to run onto their pass and run straight at a defender. This prevents the defender from drifting across. The ball can now be passed to the next player who has kept his depth.
• What I would like to see is the players in the attack line standing deep and running onto their passes with players behind them running into the space between two defenders to penetrate.
•  An overlap occurs when there are more in the attack line than the defence line. To use it each attacker must draw one defender so that the attackers at the end of the line are not defended and can go forward. The overlap is eliminated if a passer throws a miss pass.
• The overlap often occurs on the goal-line when forward drives are used to try and score. These drives force the defence to move towards the ball. Usually after 3 drives an overlap exists.
• It also occurs against a team with weak defence as they have to group around the ball to stop the opposition. When the play is reversed in the direction it has come from the defence will have few defenders.
• Often the forwards do not drive past the ball and control its delivery. #9 has to “dig” it out. This exposes him to defenders and he finds the need to run sideways before passing. The time #9 uses up allows the defence to move forward and the receiver of his pass has less time. The players forming the ruck need to deliver clean ball.
• There are 2 purposes of kicking. The first is to gain territory and the second is to recover the ball to continue the attack. Both require good chase patterns. Overall the aim is to make the opposition aware that the attack will not just run and pass the ball and that the defence has to defend down the field as well as across it.
• All kicks to touch, penalties and kicks made to touch inside the 22m line must find touch and be supported by a fast chase line.
• To make a grubber kick run at a defender, take the outside gap and, as the defender moves to tackle from the inside, grubber kicks the ball along the ground with the outside leg. This prevents the ball bouncing off the defensive players’ legs.

 

Supporting:

Outcome – To pass to team mates to keep going forward,

• When the ball carrier goes into contact he must immediately re-cycle the ball. If he doesn’t re-cycling will take time which will allow for the defence to get organized. You may have had to use many players and there will be more defenders than attackers when the ball is delivered making attack difficult.
• If the player places the ball support must be there to control the delivery.
• When a ball carrier runs at a defender and steps to left or right to penetrate the supporting players come from depth so they can adjust to what the ball carrier is doing. The best position is to be directly behind the ball carrier so that, when he changes direction and takes the tackler with him, the support player just runs straight into the space that the ball carrier has moved away from. This space is usually straight ahead.
• The ball carrier must hold the ball in 2 hands to pass into this space.
• When the ball is rolling on the ground behind a team the nearest player must hurry back, go to the ground and come up to his feet with the ball and drive directly forward so that he can stand in the tackle giving time for his team-mates to arrive in support.

 

Continuity:

Outcome – To keep the ball after the tackle.

1.After the Tackle and at the Rucks.

2.At the Mauls

3.How you use the ball when it comes back slowly.

• In these games attacking teams were very good at removing threats after the tackle so long as the tackle was low. The major problem was with the players falling over the ball as the attackers commitment was not met by the defence counter rucking and they tended to fall over the ball. Binding may help this as will a player performing like a #8 in a scrum controlling the ball..

 

Applying Pressure to score:

Outcome – Retaining Possession:

Field Position

Pace/Speed

Patience

• Most teams had no appreciation of field position. They used higher risk attacking moves inside their own half and, sometimes, inside their own 22metre line. When this leds to a turnover the team had difficulty.
• It is a good idea to create 1-2 rucks but to look after the ball. These rucks will cause the defence line to move forward and there will be space behind that the attack can kick into. If there is no space a recoverable kick can be made. This is usually a high kick.
• Whatever kick is made it has to be supported by a fast chasing line of players who chase to contest the ball or to make a tackle.
• This may not give the team an attacking field position in the first place so the team has to be patient and keep to this pattern until they do.
• Infringements may solve the problem especially amongst younger players.

 

 

Principles of Defence

Contesting Possession:

Outcome – To win possession of the ball.

Kick Starts by them

• When you are receiving a kick-off position so you can move into the ball and not move back when catching it.

 

Scrums – no comment

Line-out – no comment

 

Going Forward:

Outcomes – To stop the attack before the gain line and playing to a pattern that takes away their time and space.

• At present rushing up to tackle easily stops the attack. As the players are running straight up, if the attack stands deeper and is able to pass the ball wider they will be able to get around the defence. To solve this the defence must move forward inside out.
• At a higher level of rugby rush defence can be beaten by extra players entering the gap between the first and second receivers. This providing the second receiver stands wide and the extra players enter play on the first receiver’s outside shoulder.

 

Applying Pressure:

 Outcome  – Tackle the ball carrier.

• Tacklers are running directly up on the attackers, which gives the attacker both sides to evade. The tackler should run forward on a line that is inside-out so the ball carrier has only the outside space to run into. At present tackles are successful because the attack is standing so flat. When they stand deeper this problem will occur.
• When a ball carrier changes direction tackles are made with the arms. This leads to a weak tackle and the ball carrier can play through the tackle. The tackle should get as close to the ball carrier in a low body position, drive through the ball carrier by driving with the legs through the body and shoulder with the head behind. This will tackle the ball carrier’s legs. The tackler then completes the tackle by wrapping with the arms.
• So long as the ball carrier is running directly into the tackler a tackle will be made. However, we are trying to stop the ball carrier from doing this.

 

Prevent Territorial Gain:

Outcome – To make a tackle that allows the ball to be regained.

Tackle quality:

0=tackle missed.

1=tackle completed but play continues.

2=tackle completed play delayed.

3=tackle completed – turnover.

 

Supporting and Regain Possession/Turnover:

 

Outcomes:

• Assist the tackler to regain possession.
• To get the ball back.
  • Win the throw in at scrum and line-out.
  • Win the ball after the tackle.
  • Grab loose ball.
  • Recover ball kicked by the attack.

 

While it is good to see a player trying to grab the ball after the tackle the player is often driven away or is unable to carry his own weight and get penalized. In the same way as the threats are driven away in attack it may be just as successful to do the same in defence i.e. counter rucking.

 

Counter Attack:

Outcome:
To attack immediately after regaining the ball.

• When the opposition kicks the ball.
• When the ball is won in all other ways.

 

There is a need to play to a pattern so that team-mates know what is happening:

• If the defence is spread in a line across the field kick behind and chase.
• If there is no chase pattern take the ball forward and penetrate linking with team-mates.
• If the defence forms an arrowhead so that both run and kick options are defended  go towards your supporting players, form a ruck, recycle quickly and play to the side where your team has an advantage.

 

 

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