Coaching binding basics

It is essential that all your players are taught the basics of scrummaging properly from a young age. Use rugby training drills and games to ensure they develop safe and effective techniques to use throughout their playing career.

Binding is the starting point for building the scrum. This provides the stability for the scrum as three, five and then eight players become one unit.

Games for binding

Here are two games you can play to introduce binding, and emphasise its importance to all your players (and not just the
forwards).

Binding tag

Start with two individual chasers who have to try and catch the rest of the players. When they catch a player they bind onto them (using a full arm bind round each other's waists) and the pair now has to run together to catch other players. When the chain gets to three players and they capture a fourth, they split and make two pairs.

Round and round

Eight players bind tightly in a close circle. A ninth player stands on the outside with a ball. This player has to touch a nominated player on the back with the ball while all the players in the circle spin left and right to protect him. Keep changing the nominated player.

Reinforce the tip that players need to have a good strong bind with the full arm and a good tight grip with the fist. Players should be able to move their lower bodies quite freely despite the tight bind and grip.

Three man scrum: setting the front row

Once the players are comfortable with binding and how it feels, select three players to form a front row. They should be roughly the same height to make binding easier while they get used to it. At this point all players should be given an opportunity to have a go in the scrum and in each of the front three positions.

The three players should stand in a straight line facing the same direction. The player in the middle (the hooker) puts both arms straight up in the air. The two props get close to the hooker and put their nearest arms round the hooker and bind on the middle of his shirt or the waistband of the shorts. At this stage it doesn’t matter which prop binds first as long as they are both tight.

The props must pull the hooker in tight so it is hard to split the three players apart at the hips. The hooker then lowers his arms and gets a good grip on the shirt under each prop’s armpit. This tightens up the whole front row. The hooker needs to be comfortable and have free movement from the waist down otherwise it is very difficult for him to hook the ball cleanly.

Once the front row is formed have the three players run around together or jump up and down to test the strength of their binding. This also gets them used to working together as a tight-knit unit. Their ability to work “as one” will be crucial later.

binding for scrums