Coaching key continuity skills

Rugby coaching tips to help teach key continuity skills to your players.

Continuity is a team's ability to sustain its attack. It has four key elements:

Players maintaining possession of the ball.
Support players being in a position to help maintain possession of the ball.
Ball carriers keeping and making the ball available.
Decision making about where to attack next.

Possession

Your players should be constantly thinking about the quality of possession. They need to understand the type of possession required by the team and the tactics. You may like to think of possession as "top quality" or "poor quality", as follows:

Top quality possession: The ball carrier passes the ball before or out of the contact.
Poor quality possession: The ball carrier goes to ground with the ball (and a ruck is formed).

The measure of the quality of possession is how easy it is to "go forward" from it.

Passing before contact

What are the key requirements of a pass to maintain quality possession?

The ball goes to a player in a better position, preferably to "go forward" otherwise to retain possession.
The ball is transferred at the right height and strength to give the receiver the best chance of catching it.

The best pass will enable the receiver to continue to "go forward" (the pass is made in front of them), or retain possession (the pass is made into their body and away from the opposition).

Passing in contact

The key to passing in contact is to understand the risks.

The safest pass: The ball carrier passes back to a supporting player whilst they are still on their feet. (The "pocket pass".)
The least safe pass: The ball carrier falls over with the tackler and offloads the ball just before or whilst going to ground.

Your players should try to perform the "safest" pass first. As the word implies, it may be the safest way of maintaining possession, but it is unlikely to be the most effective for go forward.

A good way to get your players thinking about which passes to use in what situations is to ask them! Of course, the type of pass also depends on a player's ability as well as the situation they are in.

Tips to maintaining possession in contact

Be strong in body and mind: In a game situation every player must be "strong" on the ball and secure in contact. Your players must get into the mindset that they will never give away possession.
Stay on your feet: A player can only compete for the ball when they are on their feet. So your ball carriers must fight to stay on their feet at all times to maintain possession. They should only go to ground as a last resort and then only when they have enough support. Consequently, support players must be quick to support!
Look after the ball: The ball carrier must keep the ball away from the opposition.

Improved decision making for continuity

Even the best players need to work on their decision making skills. Here's a tip about managing your training sessions that might help. Try breaking your training down into a question and answer session, followed by a drill, then player feedback, then the same drill again (only this time performed better!), before moving onto the next element with a similar Q&A-drill-feedback-drill cycle.

To help your team play between the phases and go forward from set pieces try a copy of my unique Rugby Attack! manual. Click here to read more and order.