Hi {sForename},
Welcome to Better Rugby Coaching Issue 94
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Stop slow ball killing your game
Despite being on the losing side over the weekend, Richie McCaw, the New Zealand captain, stood out. His “tackle turnover” count was phenomenal, but equally as important was his art, perhaps dark art, of slowing down the ball for the opposition.
Luckily we don’t all face the likes of McCaw, George Smith of Australia and the much penalised Lewis Moody of England. But we still get too much “slow ball”. In other words, the ball does not arrive in the hands of the scrum half quickly when there is a breakdown.
Here are some easy training solutions to stop slow ball killing your game.
Clean ball, dirty ball
Any ball that is not in contact with the
opposition is “clean ball”. Everything else
is “dirty ball”. So the quickest ball is
generated by having the cleanest ball
possible. The worst is ruck ball.
Footwork
The first way to create quick ball is to
avoid contact at all costs – run at “spaces
not faces”.
Training tip: Practice, with forwards
especially, using footwork to find space
in a crowded channel. Then reduce the
space available. Increase the pressure
with more players to beat. Narrower
channels keep the challenge intense.
Good contact with opposition
A good contact must be defined as one
where the ball carrier is in control of the
situation. If the ball carrier can stay on
their feet as long as possible, then they
should be in a better position to drive
forward and/or present the ball in the
best way.
Training tip: One on one wrestling
where the ball carrier needs first to stay
on their feet, and if they subsequently go
to ground, then present the ball back
towards their team. Develop by the player
walking into the wrestle situation and
finally towards running.
Professional slow ball
Watching the internationals can be a
persuasive advert for cheating.
Players at the tackle have learnt to
bend the laws by “hands on” until the
referee kindly tells them to “hands
off”.
What this means in practice is the second
player arriving on the defending
side immediately puts their hands on
the ball and does not release until told
to do so, despite knowing the ruck has
formed.
Lazy rollers are another problem.
Heavy forwards at rucks fall to ground
in the “tackle”, and make some, but
not much effort to roll away. Inevitably
this causes a slower ball.
The only solution, if the referee is not
calling it, is to avoid “dirty ball”. |
Offload – basic retrieval first
Ideally we don’t want the player to form
a ruck if the player is tackled – that is
the ball having to be left on the ground
from the tackle situation. An offload is
the last stage before a ruck could be
formed. It is more risky than a pass, but
if it works, then should be quicker than
a ruck. But if we want the best retrieval
rate, quick ball, then offloading the ball
into the space right behind the tackle
situation is probably the safest type. The
support is more likely to be there, the
opposition further away.
Training tip: Work with three players
in very narrow channels; two attackers,
one defender. Success is measured only
by either the first ball carrier scoring, or the second attacker receiving a clean ball
from the tackle.
Contact bounce
In this era of big hitters and straight
running from close to the side of rucks
and mauls, it is worth exploring a different
contact tactic. The player looks to
take the contact, but immediately bounce
back towards their supporters. The front
leg is planted, then the player rocks back.
Training tip: This is best first tried
against tackle shields. The shields can
either stay solid, twist to either side, or
even fall backwards. The ball carrier
bounces backwards off the solid shield, or
stays balanced and passes the ball back
to a supporting player.With confidence,
then the shields can be removed.
In next week’s issue:
Building a training programme
Dan Cottrell, Editor
P.S. Please ask your webmaster to add a link to www.betterrugbycoaching.com to your website so others can benefit. Remember, it's free!
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