Get the most from an unopposed rugby coaching session

Here is a look at playing unopposed rugby in your rugby coaching sessions, which examines the pitfalls of this approach and how to get around them.

No pressure is a drawback

One of the criticisms of unopposed rugby is there is no pressure on the attacking players. However, if you have more players than a team, get the extra ones to run as an opposition, putting pressure on specific individuals or areas of the game.

Explain to these players that they should work on their defence as if they were playing in a game. For instance, you could have players running as a midfield to pressure the attacking backs.

At each phase they align as a defensive line and pressure as they would in a game. You can then use a two-handed touch to simulate the tackle.

Alternatively, you could get these players to target the ball at the tackle to see how effectively the attacking team are clearing the ruck.

Remember to swap the defending players into the attacking team during the rugby drill.

Running too far

Without opposition in front of them, players have a tendency to run too far with the ball, removing realism from the rugby drill. You can control this by calling each tackle to make it realistic for the attacking team.

If it fits in with your game plan, you can allow players to offload the ball from the ground if there is close support.

No one in the ruck

Another common problem is that not enough players go into each ruck to win the ball. Instead, players fan out because they want to run with the ball.

So set a minimum number of players who have to go into each ruck. For instance, the ball carrier plus three clearing players at every ruck. Make the players in the ruck kneel down to simulate that they will be slower getting back into the game.

Unrealistic speed

Unopposed rugby tends to be unrealistically quick because there is no competition at the breakdown and the attacking team have perfect ball every time.

You can control the speed of the game by telling the scrum half when he can pass the ball away from the breakdown.

When you introduce unopposed rugby, start slowly until the players understand why they are doing it. As they get used to this rugby coaching tactic, you can speed it up so players are working quicker than they would in a game.

This helps develop fast decision-making and also makes players get in position as quickly as they can.

Where are we?

Don't forget to take the players to different areas of the pitch and act out probable scenarios from that point. That means defensive plays in the 22m area and scoring moves on the opposition line.

Five good reasons to use unopposed rugby

You only need one team to run the rugby training drill.
You can run through the game plan without having to worry about winning the ball.
With no contest for the ball, plays can be performed at the pace you want.
You don't have to worry about contact injuries.
You can develop a team's understanding of the roles of each player by focusing on one aspect of the game.

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