Quick hands rugby catching drill

How to coach players to catch better and so improve their all round handling and evasion skills.

Even the best international players drop the ball, so it is useful to remind ourselves about the key principles of catching. And we are not just talking about a normal catch and hold. It is important to get hold of the ball in a way so that it can be manipulated quickly for the next action by the player - be it contact, offloading, passing or kicking for touch.

The principles of a good hand catch

Keep the eyes on the ball all the time.
Extend the arms, hands and fingers to receive.
Use both hands to catch whenever possible.
Keep the ball off or away from the chest when receiving it. Only bring it to the chest if taking contact.
Do not expect the ball to go straight to hand. Be flexible and adjust.
Be prepared to receive a pass at any time. The ball has a nasty habit of leaping around, especially in close quarter situations.

The rugby coaching tips to make the hand catch even better

Get players to practise catching:

One handed.
Bad passes, whether too high, too low, too far in front, or behind.
At pace, under pressure and in all weather and pressure conditions.

Top hand catch training tip - clap hands

To help make your players put their hands in the right place, as well as encourage more accurate passing, try this piece of "magic".

Without saying anything beforehand, set up a group of players, some of them carrying a ball. Look at one of the ball carrying players, clap your hands towards him persistently. Lo and behold, the ball will be passed to you.

In practices, encourage your players to clap their hands towards the ball carrier. The hands will then be in the right place to receive the pass.

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