Rugby Coaching Blog | Professional Rugby Advice & Coaching

They are here and whatever your opinion on them, you are going to have to play with them for the next year at least. There are 13 ELVs to consider and I have already passed on my first thoughts in this blog. 

Practically you need to work the ELVs into your training programme, so here are five ways you can approach this.

1. The information meeting

Start with a 20 minute presentation and Q&A session, preferably with a referee, on the key changes. Make this session a “no discussion of the merits” session. Ban the expression “I don’t like” and similar thoughts. This is a time to work out what is changing and how it affects individuals.

2. The tactical meeting

Following this meeting and perhaps at a later date, your units should have a short meeting to discuss how they think the changes will affect their game. You can supply them with a list of pertinent questions such as: How does it affect my role? What will happen at the scrum, lineout and from open play? What are the implications for my unit? How will opposition sides react?

From this meeting you can start a process of introducing any new tactics, with the bidding of the players. They might even come up with ideas of their own.

3. The technical session

Technically, there is one key area to focus on from the ELVs, pulling down the maul. You need to think of this in attack and defence. This month’s Rugby Coach Newsletter, published on Wednesday 9th July, will highlight some of the current thinking here.

4. The tactical session

A tactical session is running through your game plans on the field of play. You will be using new lineout and scrum manoeuvres as well as thinking about the impact of the kicking game around your own 22m line.

5.  The same old same old

All the experiments have proved that the game remains pretty much the same. Your players need to be fitter, faster and better skilled, new laws or not.

But you still need to look like you are one step ahead, hence the need for this step-by-step plan.