Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Skills, Rugby Team Management | Tags: 2 v 1, drills, game sense
Don’t be fooled into thinking that players know what they are doing. Most don’t, they just follow orders.
Well, you wish they did follow orders, but sometimes they forget them altogether, and make even more horrendous mistakes.
And then, just when you think they might be progressing to the next level, someone on a coaching course tells you that you should be using more “game sense” exercises. You go back, tear up the rule book and watch as the players become even more confused.
Game sense is the fancy term for playing “football”, a term I knew when I was starting out playing first class rugby. The “footballer” knew when to pass, kick or run because he played what was in front of him, rather than keeping rigidly to a set of rules.
Introducing game sense sessions to more established players and coaches can be difficult. They prefer the drill-based nature of training, where the drills neatly lead to players moving evenly around the stations over a period of time.
There is no harm in that. It creates repetitive situations allowing players to hone their skills in different environments. Many drills are game related and are arguable already game sense in their nature. A 2 v 1 drill is a good example.
However, the game sense approach is more subtle than that. Instead, players have to make a multiple range of decisions based on a number of factors. These factors are plucked directly from game situations. Interestingly you don’t need to have just purely rugby related situations to help communication, footwork and handling.
But the key to all this: there are lots of right answers and plenty of probably wrong answers. The best players EVALUATE the best options and execute them accurately and on time.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, International Rugby Journal, Rugby Skills | Tags: handling skills, International Rugby Journal, Lynn Evans, passing, South Africa
The best passers of the ball in world rugby are South Africa, according to Lynn Evans. The former Oxford University coach and well respected coach educator around the world, says that he thinks the World Cup winners have the best skills.
“They are extremely well drilled and rarely do you see a dropped ball,” he says, speaking in August’s International Rugby Technical Journal.
This example of great handing shows backs and forwards shift the ball quickly across the field before Bobby Skinstad performs a wonderful one handed pass to the openside flanker to race in to score.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching | Tags: decision making, finding space, pre-planned moves, scrum plays
Though this picture was taken pre ELVs, it is amazing how much space there is from a scrum.
Where would you attack? Would you use a pre-planned move?
The players have to decide how to react to what the defence does, even if a pre-planned move is called.
Who reacts and who decides? Ultimately the ball carrier makes a decision on whether to run with the ball, kick or pass, but his decision can be heavily influenced by the players around him. His support players need to be telling him where the space is and if they are close enough to support him in that endeavour.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Skills | Tags: fix a defender, making line breaks, scoring tries
Lots of things could be picked out from the first Tri Nations match of 2009 between the All Blacks and Australia.
However, there was one thing that struck me about the first try, scored by the Wallabies.
Berrick Barnes, the eventual scorer, was allowed the space to break the line because the previous player had “fixed” the defender. He stepped in with the pass, drew two defenders, and released Barnes through the gap. And the player in question was a hooker!
It is not seen enough in the game, even at the top level where a number of the Lions players were guilty of drifting with the pass, and eating up the space for others.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, rugby defence, Rugby Skills | Tags: defence, fitness, rugby wrestling, Smart sessions, tackling, wrestling
I have been using a defence drill which uses some of the elements of wrestling. It follows up research I did into 600 tackles over five games and the types of tackle players perform around the ruck and scrum. To warm up I use some of the drills used in the video above.
The drill and game situation will be available in mid August as an Advanced Skills Smart Session.
In Europe, coaches are focusing on their preseason programmes. In the Southern Hemisphere, many teams are mid season. The rugby season never closes around the world (or perhaps even sleeps!)
One idea that has started making the rounds is that preseason training should cover less and focus on individual rather than team needs. Therefore a 90 minute session might have lots of different sessions going on with say some players working on sprinting, others on aerobic fitness, maybe some on passing.
This makes sense in some ways, because some teams never get everyone together for preseason because of holidays and other commitments. The onus on the coach is to identify these weaknesses with the players and devise methods of coaching it.
Much easier if you have a team of coaches of course, but there is an opportunity to use peer coaching which gives the added the benefits of empowerment.
A hybrid solution would be to do both, with half the session having a team, the rest of the time spent on individual needs.
Fast feet means better agility. It is a key factor for all the players.
As a training aid, ladders can play a part in the process of improving rugby agility. This video from our friends at Rugby World have produced a good little video to give you some ideas on how to use ladders.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Team Management | Tags: Ospreys, selection, trials, under 16 rugby
I helped select the final 30 boys for this year’s Osprey U16 squad for the winter 2009 campaign yesterday.
The process is not quite over because we had a trial match which was videod, so that footage needs to be reviewed.
We all know the most difficult part of the process: telling the boys who didn’t make the selection. No amount of the good words and advice can quite remove the disappointment felt.
Deciding on the marginal players is the most taxing part of the selection meeting. The good ones take little time to decide on. It is the “third” hooker or scrum half who vexes minds the most.
We are lucky this year. We have been coaching these boys since January. They have already been through one trial match, plus an intensive six week training programme. Another trial match yesterday confirmed a number of things, plus just tipped the balance for some others.
However, we must not forget that it is game. The pleasure of human movement, of the contest, and the camaraderie is delicately intertwinned in all this. If these players stop smiling then I am not sure it is all worth it.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Fitness | Tags: aerobic, anaerobic rugby, fitness
In a recent Rugby Coach Weekly, one article explained the balance between aerobic and anaerobic systems in rugby before giving examples of how to train in each area.
To the U14 coach, is that important?
Of course, the more we know, the better off we are. It helps us make informed decisions on how to organise our rugby conditioning programmes appropriate to the players we have.
On the other hand, many coaches don’t have time to research this information, let alone reflect and plan the sessions.
Plus, who needs to know that the expression for being able to run for longer is aerobic fitness and anaerobic fitness is about sprint and short bursts of work.
You might say: “Give me the drills to do it. Leave out all the other stuff.”
Actually I liken it to driving a car. I don’t care what happens inside as long as it goes. But my brother loves having a manual gearbox and knowing what happens with what under the bonnet.
My sense is that coaches love the nitty gritty of some bits and gloss over other parts. Let someone else deal with that. That’s why some of us are destined to be forwards and other backs.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby News, Rugby Team Management | Tags: armbands, Bakkies Botha, protest, respect for the authorities
Rugby, like all sports, is about respect. It is about comradeship and belief.
When Bakkies Botha was banned because he had charged into a ruck and subsequently injuryed Adam Jones, there was plenty of debate on whether it was right or wrong.
Forget personal opinion. The powers that control the game decided it was wrong.
What use is the armband?
It purely inflames the situation. It shows that there is no respect to the processes involved. It says to anyone that plays the game, “don’t respect the authority”. If you don’t like the decision, then there are proper channels to follow.
The World Cup winners, and winners of this series need to take responsibilty for these actions, because they have an impressionable impact on the game.
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