Rugby coaching tips for handling

How can playing a different sport benefit your rugby coaching session? These rugby coaching tips look at how practising basketball skills can help your players improve their rugby handling skills.

Key crossover skills

Basketball has the same athletic ability, speed, agility and explosive jumping power you desire in your rugby players. The agility, the catch and pass, the deftness and variety of passes in restricted spaces are all skills that could benefit rugby players.

For the basketball chest pass, off the ground and out of contact, plus catching the ball in the air, think lineout, kick off and general play. Also consider skills such as spinning away from defenders and running off the ball.

Reach and protect

One simple skill basketball players excel in is reaching for the ball and protecting it. Reaching for the ball allows a fast, hard pass to be shock absorbed, with less chance of it being dropped.

Basketball players hold the ball in two hands, close to, but off their chest, with the elbows out. This gives some protection from defenders trying to steal the ball, but also enables the ball carrier to make and execute instant decisions, whether to run (dribble) or pass the ball.

Footwork

One key component for a successful basketball player, is the need for intelligent footwork in attack and defence. Basketball teams work on their footwork all the time.

In attack, the players are expert at keeping the body between the defender and the ball, and lowering their shoulder as they go past a defender. Spinning away from a contact or stealing the ball also require explosiveness and balance to stay in control.

In defence, players use feet and body angle to channel attackers away from the basket into hard to score areas.

In rugby terms, this could be used in defensive situations where the ball carrier can be steered towards the touchline and away from their own support.

Rugby-basketball training

If you can get to a basketball court and play, then it makes a great alternative rugby coaching session.

You can replicate some basketball ideas in normal training. You can play touch rugby with a football/soccer ball. Or you can allow forward passes but no running with the ball.

Some basketball coaches get their players to improve handling by carrying one ball under one arm, and catching and passing with the spare arm.

Finally, you can get players to "dribble" a football/soccer ball by bouncing it, allowing forward passes but no running with the ball.

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