How to trick opponents with a deceptive ploy
Deception is a key element of successful attacking rugby. Looking as though you are going to attack one area, while actually attacking another can cause the defending team to allocate their resources to the wrong place.
Principles of deception
- Decoy runners need to be convincing, run at pace and call loudly for the ball.
- Any strike runner who arrives from the backfield needs to be hidden. He should run from behind another player so he is only visible to the defence at the last moment. He also needs to be quiet until the last moment.
- The passer needs to hold defenders to create space for the strike. He should go forward with the ball in two hands to draw defenders onto him.
Organised deception An organised deceptive ploy is a set piece move run from a scrum, lineout or tap penalty. In this instance, the players start from set positions and run pre-practised lines.
The example in the picture looks very complicated to the defence, but is actually very simple to execute effectively. The aim of it is to get your quick winger running at pace and into space.
- The fly half (10) moves forwards slowly to attract the defending back row and his opposite man. He then drifts across the pitch and turns his back to the opposition.
- At the same time the two centres (12 and 13) and the full back (15) run the lines shown at pace and shout for the ball.
- The right wing (14) starts directly behind the 10. As the 10 moves forwards, 14 jogs slowly behind him. As 10 starts to drift, 14 stays behind him still jogging.
- At the last moment, when the 10's back is turned, 14 accelerates and takes a pop pass to the open side of the 10. This allows him to attack the space created and yet remain shielded from the back row defenders.
This simple move is very hard to defend as there are so many potential strike runners.
Developing deception
- You can introduce simple variations by giving the ball to one of the other runners.
- If you have a 10 with good decision-making skills, you can use "option runners" rather than decoy runners. Any of the runners could then receive the ball, depending on what the 10 decides. This requires all the players to be ready to receive a pass and lots of practice as timing is crucial.
This article is taken from the Better Rugby Coaching e-newsletter. Click here to sign up and get free rugby drills and skills twice a week.
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