Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching | Tags: common faults, demonstrations, drills, questioning
I have been reviewed several times in the last few weeks as part of my rugby professional development as a coach.
Here are my action points. They are a list of “to do more of”, than to do!
1. Use the players in the demonstration.
2. Alternatively, set exercise going before getting feedback and making
rugby coaching points.
3. Develop questions rather than ask empty questions.
4. Check for engagement of players.
I was filmed as well, which helped me identify these points.
I have in front of me a list of common faults of rugby coaches. There are 43 in all. I am going to drip feed this into the blog over the next couple of weeks.
One fault that is not there though: Admitting that you make mistakes. Is that the toughest and yet most common fault?
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coach newsletter, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training | Tags: IRB, James Haskell, Lee Smith, succes not perfection
James Haskell, the England forward, said this week that England needed to lighten up. He was looking at the way the Southern Hemispshere teams approach their rugby:
“Sometimes when you are a team and things aren’t going well you work very hard on developing each player and spend a lot of time developing a gameplan and you forget there is a game of rugby, to go out and play with some confidence and get a smile on your face.
“I noticed in the autumn with Australia, New Zealand and South Africa that when they crossed the line there was a lot of camaraderie, a lot of good spirit and they weren’t too worried about the errors.
“Everyone makes mistakes and yes England have made more than most, but together we have to play with confidence and that is what we tried to do.”
As rugby coaches, perhaps we should look at success and not perfection. Lee Smith, writing in this month’s edition of Rugby Coach, outlines how you don’t need be perfect. In fact it could stifle your team’s chances of winning, says Smith, one of the IRB’s top coaching development managers and former director of NZRU.
Go forward to win games.
It’s that simple really. And yet some many teams get bogged down in “patterns” and “moves”. Yes these play an important part in breaking down defences. But in the plainest terms, if the defence is moving backwards, it will become disorganised and gaps with appear.
Here are four ways to create go forward, starting with the easiest first:
1. A ball carrier runs at the tackle line at full speed.
2. A ball carrier runs into a space between defenders on the tackle line at full speed.
3. A ball carrier runs into the arms of the defenders (not the chest) and either breaks the the tackle, or offloads to another player coming through at pace.
4. A ball carrier runs at the chest of the defender, drives the defender back, falls to the ground or stays on his feet. The next couple of his own team secure the ball for another player to pass the ball away within three seconds.
Of all the teams in the Six Nations this weekend, which teams achieved this the most. 1st Wales 2nd Ireland 3rd France 4th Scotland 5th England 6th Italy.
Interestingly the breakdown area was not controversial in the first set of three matches. Some problems, but not too messy.
And finally, I have to admit I made the same mistake as Nick Mallet once and it cost me an important game. Back at the end of the 1990′s the U18 school team I was coaching was invited to play against Rugby 1st XV on their hallowed turf for the end of season game. We had had a great season, Rugby less so. But my number one scrum half was ill and I decided to go with the fly half at 9. It didn’t work out, and we lost the game by the tightest of margins. I learned that 9, like 2, 8 and 10 are not positions that can be messed around with. I should have dropped Nick a line to tell him!
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Team Management | Tags: six nations forecast
Having as good a record as Gordon Brown for prudent forecasting, I am hoping to buck the trend and offer my predictions for this weekend.
England v Italy: England by 10.
Ireland v France: Ireland by 5.
Scotland v Wales: Wales by 5.
Potential surprise: Scotland
Who knows what might happen: France
Areas to watch:
1. Refereeing of the breakdown and scrum.
2. Kicking strategy.
3. Numbers of defenders committed to the ruck.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Team Management | Tags: All Blacks, motivation, Wayne Smith
I am bombarded with quotations on how to motivate players and coaches. Some work for me and others seem like a clever way of something that does not mean much.
Sometimes you have to read the line several times to see what it really means and then look at who wrote it.
Here is one such quote:
“People will rise to a challenge if it is their challenge”
It was said by Wayne Smith, the All Black backs coach. That gives it weight in the first place, but what of the meaning?
Rising to the challenge is motivational. A target set and a player striving to get there.
The key here is the word “their”, in terms of “their challenge”. It means taking ownership of what they want to acheive. They have either agreed with their coach or mentor what the challenge is, or set it themselves. Empowerment leads to responsibility and greater awareness of the goal. It should be more powerful.
No empty words, and real action should follow.
Here is an excellent coaching video from Nigel Melville, the former England scrum half and Director of Rugby in the US, on the scrum half pass. [Unfortunately this video is now unavailable. I will repost it when it does]
Lots of good coaching points and methods of instruction. As it happens I have been using many of these in the last few weeks with some of the scrum halves I coach and the improvement has been quite noticeable.
[Here are some of the ideas from the video, which is not available currently:
1. One hand passing
2. One hand passing from the ground
3. Following the dominant hand towards the target
4. Body movement should be towards target]
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Training | Tags: cold weather training, freezing rugby
I am just setting off to training. Anyone outside the UK and Europe might not know of the freezing weather here, but I reminded of the advice given to me about the empathetic role of the coach. Wear one more layer than the players to understand how they feel.
I am not sure I am feeling up to keeping to this…
