Passing and Handling
Passing and handling are the essential parts of rugby, yet even the best international players drop the ball. This section looks at ways to improve these core rugby skills, whilst keeping training fun, interesting and challenging.
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Drill tips for catching passes
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Even the best international players drop the ball, so it is useful to remind players about the key principles for core catching skills. And we are not just talking about a normal catch and hold.
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Rugby drills using tyres
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Using tyres can offer a fun alternative to the usual training props, to boost core skills and fitness.
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Making core skills rugby drills fun
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Core skills training drills can be a chore. Use the following tips to add some variety to make the process fun and develop the skills quicker.
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Rugby drills with tennis balls
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Tennis balls make a welcome alternative from the usual rugby ball drills and also teach good technique.
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Rugby coaching the bouncing ball attack
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How to coach passes using a bouncing ball and make them a potent attacking weapon for your team.
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Try blind passing and silent support tactics to vary your rugby drills
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Are you brave enough to try some very different rugby coaching drills and tactics?
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Team defence like Rugby League
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What rugby union can learn from rugby league.
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Rugby footwork drills to boost passing on the run
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This set of seven rugby drills will help your players practise passing on the run by encouraging them to use fast feet with some off-balance challenges.
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Pop Cycles
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A full session to boost your team's short passing skills.
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Rugby coaching tips to improve your teams go forward
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Use the following rugby coaching tips to improve your team's go forward.
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The Dangers of the Offload
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An offload is a ball that is passed after the ball carrier goes into the contact. Most commonly a player is tackled and, as they fall over, they "flip up" the ball to a player in support.
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Seven Uses of Funny Feet to Improve Your Team's Passing
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Games to develop passing skills, particularly when unbalanced.
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Rugby Quidditch
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Teaching younger players about space and evasion skills.
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Quick Hands
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How to coach players to catch better and so improve their all round handling and evasion skills.
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Faster More Accurate Scrum Half Passing
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Focusing on improving the player's foot positions to improve the speed and accuracy of the clearance pass.
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Christmas Cheer
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A calorie busting skills session I particularly like to use to refocus my players after the Christmas break.
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No Mistake Touch Rugby
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A no tackle game requiring constant movement.
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Attack Doors Not Walls
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Avoiding contact can be the key to rugby success.
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Dip and Slip for Continuity in Contact
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A complete session to help your players maintain continuity.
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The Starting Point for Every Good Lineout
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Your own lineout is a key attacking platform in the game. However good your jumpers and tactics are, the throw is essential to success.
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Scrum Half Foot Positions
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A great technique to increase the speed of the scrum half's pass.
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1v1 Tracking Square
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A great Ford Academy training tip. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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4 v 3 Moving Defenders
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A great Ford Academy training tip. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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Basic Pull Pass
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A great Ford Academy training tip. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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Halfback Passing Races
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A great Ford Academy training tip. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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Lineout Throws
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A great Ford Academy training tip. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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Catch and Passing Under Pressure
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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Straight Line, Catch and Pass Training Drill
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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Continuous Tyre Drill - Passing Training Drill
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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Long Place Fitness Training Drill
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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Grid Passing Training Drill
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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High Rep 'V' Passing Training Drill
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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2 v 1 Touch Love in Contact
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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Long Place Ground Work Training Drill
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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2 v 1 - Try Time Training Drill
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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The Kitchen Sink Training Drill
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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The Townsend Training Drill
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action.
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Attacking Space Training Drill
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A great Western Force Drill of the Week. Please search the site for more clips of coaching drills in action
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Horizontal scoring techniques
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Training suggestions to help players score tries in the corner.
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Skills to help speed up decision making
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A training exercise to remind players that keeping their head up can improve quick decision making.
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Passing accurately at speed
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Training exercises to help players practise effective passing while running fast.
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Skill set training drill
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Rugby games involve a wide variety of skills and plays used in frequently changing situations. Here is a great all-in-one training drill session to test and improve your players’ core skills and techniques.
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Draw and pass rugby training drill
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Creating and completing a 2v1 situation is a fundamental skill in rugby. Paul Tyler has a drill to help the ball carrier and supporting player win these situations more often.
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Picking up the ball training drills
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The ball will be on the ground for a number of reasons. For instance, after a tackle, or from dropped passes, rucks, tapped down lineouts, or just a loose ball. Use these rugby drills to boost ball pick-up skills.
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Drills to improve contact skills
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Rugby drills and tips to boost your players' contact skills on the pitch.
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Warm-up rugby drill to focus players
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Players can sometimes take time to focus their minds when they arrive for training. Add a simple decision-making game to your training drills to warm up the team.
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Support play options
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Make support play more than just about chasing after the ball carrier. Colin Ireland has some rugby drills, skills and tips to highlight the many roles a player may take to support team mates more effectively.
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Rip and pass rugby drill
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A rugby training drill based on a French technique of ripping and passing away from contact to improve continuity.
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Rugby drill to boost scanning skills
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Quickly improve your players’ peripheral vision and scanning skills with this rugby training drill. It aims to help the player see what’s happening all around while receiving and giving a pass.
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Coaching binding for locks and back row
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After coaching your players in the basics of binding for the front row (Coaching binding basics), the next drill focuses on binding of the locks (five man scrums) and the back row (eight man scrums).
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Coaching a circle ball play
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Circle ball is a simple play to organise, which can integrate forwards and backs.
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Box drills to build close game skills
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Boxes are one of the most simple and effective training tools to develop your close game skills. They are excellent for developing short passing skills, close contact skills, rucking technique and support play.The following box drill is a great way to start to build all these skills.
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Drills to tackle bunching problems
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Rugby is a game about space, finding it and exploiting it. Use these training drills to solve the common problem of young players bunching.
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Drills for quick decisions
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Reacting to unusual situations and making quick decisions is crucial for all players. Developing these skills is not easy, but using speed-strategy training drills will get your players thinking faster.
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More core skills and fitness drills
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The following tips and drills follow on from Core skills and fitness drills, and focus on vertical jumps, moving from an upright position to a lying down one, tackling and sprinting around agility poles.
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Corner ball rugby training game
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This rugby coaching game is a real brain teaser, which will appeal to your players while helping improve vital skills.
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Rugby drills and games to sharpen midfield decision making
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Here's a great session for developing decision making by the fly half and centres. Use these rugby coaching drills and games to challenge the players to decide quickly on the best pass or line to run in game-related situations.
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Rugby coaching tips to help players get out of pressure situations
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Try the following rugby coaching tips and game to help players find their way out of pressure situations on your own line, especially from 5m scrums or rucks.
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Drill to make the most of attacks close to the try line
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When your players have the ball near the try line you want them to make the most of the position, to score over the line. Which is just what this drill session is all about. It's also a great way to teach your defenders about protecting the try line from the opposition.
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Obstacle course and zones drill to help young players find space
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The following innovative and fun rugby drills will help you solve the common problem of players bunching up and swarming around the ball, as rugby is about finding space and exploiting it.
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Rugby drill to work on awareness and vision of the scrum half
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Before passing the ball from the back of a ruck, the scrum half has to be able to weigh up the options and make the right decision. He needs to be alert to everything going on around him, including the whereabouts of his team mates, the opposition and the ball. These rugby drills will improve his awareness and decision-making by working on his peripheral vision.
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Rugby drill to get players running on to a pass at pace
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Getting players to run on to a pass at pace is a simple enough idea. However, training the players to do it can be frustrating, even for experienced coaches. Use the following "depth-charging" rugby drill to help.
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Rugby drill and coaching tips for a pullback pass
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Putting a support runner into enough space to beat defenders is an important part of rugby. Coach your players to use a pullback pass to give support runners such opportunities.
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Rugby drill to prevent players taking the ball standing still
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Nothing frustrates me more than players receiving the ball standing still, then being knocked back in the tackle. Coach your players to make sure it doesn't happen to them by looking at the five reasons why this problem occurs, then get them trying a rugby drill that can remedy it.
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Rugby drills to improve players' reaction times
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Coach your players to react fast and make quick decisions when they're first to the ball and you'll help them beat bigger and stronger teams. Use the following rugby coaching tips and drills to achieve this aim.
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Rugby coaching drill to get players winning 2 v 1s
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Creating and completing a 2 v 1 situation is an important part of the game. But a poor pass or a poorly-timed pass will cause any rugby coach to put his head in his hands. Use the following rugby coaching drill to get players winning 99% of 2 v 1s.
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Recover the ball rugby drill
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How often does your attack break down because of a poor pass? Use the following rugby coaching tips to help your players recover the ball following a bad pass.