[Diagrams and further discussion to follow... ] Flat Pass A pass best made in front of the runner as he/she is about to meet the defensive line. It is best employed when the receiver is running powerfully toward space / a gap in the line. Especially useful in the hands of player with great power. [...]
Posts Tagged ‘passing’
Flat Passes vs. Deep Passes
Posted in Tactical, Technical, tagged catching, passing, technique on 04/04/2012 | Leave a Comment »
Five Epiphanies, Part 2
Posted in Tactical, tagged attack, awareness, footwork, passing, positions, quickness, running, tactics, touch, use of space on 22/09/2011 | Leave a Comment »
Here are five more things I learned over the course of my coaching career that just sort of occurred from trial and observation: 1. Ball in two hands. The first sport I played seriously, and it’s commonplace in that game for ball carriers to ‘tuck it away’ and just run. In rugby, there are people [...]
Five Epiphanies, Part 1
Posted in General Posts, tagged awareness, catching, defence, passing, tackle contest, technique on 19/09/2011 | Leave a Comment »
Over my 13 years of coaching rugby I’ve had quite a few moments when I felt like the cartoon character that yelled ‘Eureka!’ and would have a tiny light bulb form above his head. Some of these might seem quite simple, but bearing in mind I started coaching after just two years of playing, my [...]
Focusing on the Basics, Positively
Posted in Technical, tagged catching, drills, issues, passing, philosophy, rants, technique, training on 03/04/2011 | Leave a Comment »
As someone who’s always trying to perfect his craft, I try and keep abreast of what’s going on and what’s being said in the rugby world. One great resource where some clever discussion always takes place is the Australian Green and Gold Rugby blog. They’ve got so big in recent years, that they’ve latched onto [...]
Allez les Bleus!
Posted in General Posts, tagged analysis, attack, awareness, drills, passing, philosophy, tactics, training on 12/02/2011 | Leave a Comment »
After the opening round of the Six Nations, I felt France impressed me most in their attack and today I read a great assessment of it by former England coach Brian Ashton. His wise words of wisdom tell the full story, so I won’t bother adding my own in this post. If you’re keen to [...]
Backline Coordination
Posted in General Posts, Tactical, tagged analysis, attack, awareness, communication, passing, positions, quickness, running, tactics, team building, touch, use of space on 06/02/2011 | Leave a Comment »
Despite our team running in five tries yesterday, I didn’t think our backline clicked as well or as often as I hoped it would. I put this down to first game after a long break, though I think it’s time I had them take another step in becoming better ‘thinking’ rugby players. Their alignment wasn’t [...]
Un-Packing the Off Load
Posted in Tactical, Technical, tagged attack, catching, passing, tackle contest, tactics, technique, use of space on 15/07/2010 | Leave a Comment »
When I first started playing rugby in the late 90s the ‘offload’ as a tactical concept wasn’t really common (as far as I can remember). In just a few years, however, offloading the ball from contact seemed to be all the rage and we all spent quite a bit of time working on taking the [...]
Silly or Brilliant?
Posted in Tactical, tagged awareness, passing, quickness on 04/04/2010 | Leave a Comment »
Without a doubt, South African Fourie du Preez is one of – if not the – premier scrum halves in the world game. He is the complete passing, running, defending, and kicking scrum half who marshalls his forwards about, running the show for the Bulls and steadying the Boks. In a losing cause against a [...]
Two Hands on the Ball!
Posted in Tactical, Technical, tagged attack, defence, passing, tactics, technique, use of space on 19/12/2009 | 1 Comment »
As coaches, we’ve probably demanded this of our players at one time or another, or all the time! There are obvious advantages to tucking the ball under one arm and keeping the other free – fending off, sprinting away – but absolutely keeping that ball in two hands provides so many more opportunities. We all [...]
Running Rugby is Still Possible!
Posted in Tactical, tagged issues, passing, running, tactics, use of space on 30/11/2009 | 1 Comment »
If anyone watched the All Blacks or Wallabies play on the weekend, they probably noticed something markedly different than what took place in most internationals this year – very little kicking, and lots of ball-in-hand running! It’s still possible, and very rewarding when you try it! I hope everyone takes a lesson from this, realising [...]
