| When a ruck forms and your side is defending, there are a number of roles your players have to perform to reduce the chances of progress from the opposition attack. 1. Decision making of the arriving players The toughest decision for the first few players arriving at the ruck is whether to compete for the ball or take up defensive roles around the ruck area. This is a policy decision in the main. How players do you want to commit to rucks? That depends on the team you are playing against as well as your strengths. 2. Ruck lost, first defender folds If the ruck is lost, the first defender should take up a position on "flow" side of the ruck. That means the other side to where the ball has just come from. It is probably the other side from where the defender has run and is the most likely place that an attack will move next. Some teams call this "folding" as it the player is folding around the ruck. 3. Fill out from the edges The next defenders move into positions either side of the ruck filling out from the sides. 4. Spaces must be marked ABCs, guards, guard dogs, pillars and posts...all good ways to "illustrate" who should stand where at the ruck. Forget what you call them for the moment and concentrate on who marks what. The closest defender to the ruck stands about half a metre to the side of the ruck. He takes anything running into his channel and inside. The next defender protects and helps him, if he can get there in time. Subsequent defenders mark the "first receiver": the players in a position to receive a pass from the scrum half from the base of the ruck. Finally, a player is positioned right behind the ruck to cover a break through the middle or a clever offload around the fringe. 5. No need to be offside The closest players to the edge of the ruck can happily be half a metre back from the offside line. The referees will be most vigilant in this area because this is where they are looking the most. The defenders can rush forward with less constraint and might even jump forward and back if they are accidently triggered forward.
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