Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, rugby defence, Rugby Fitness, Rugby Skills | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, conditioning, Cutting edge, defence, Rugby Fitness
August 18
Cutting edge
You can create a cutting edge in your team over pre season. In a previous blog, I talked about improving your speed of thought (Day 12). You want to be able to generate a team that can impose itself on other teams.
Here are five ways to “impose” yourself on other teams, and use pre season to start this process:
1. Become fitter in the areas where you have a strength. If you are a large team who likes set piece, work harder on upper body work. If you are a fast team who like to keep the ball alive, then work on speed and stamina. You might say “how about our weaknesses”? Well, be strong in what you can do first and then the other areas will start to fall into place as the season unfolds.
2. Develop and practise a few “killer” moves from set pieces and second phases. Have these as near to perfect as you can. Only then start on the next set of moves.
3. Work on “chunking” a game into segments of time. How do you play in the first five minutes. What you might do from 5 to 20 minutes if you are ahead or behind. How do you aim to finish the first half. Think about the fatigue elements. If players focus on these chunks of time, the scoreboard and all the psychological effects it can have on the players become less important.
4. Build a defence culture that celebrates success. If the ball is turned over, or the opposition has to kick, make sure the team acknowledge this and the opposition know about it.
5. Know what “tempo” wins you games. Does your side like to play with pace, use set piece and play close to the breakdown, or break the game up with kicks? Know this and then you can aim to capture that in the game. Pre season is an ideal time to work on the specifics of how the tempo of your game develops.
Filed under: Rugby Coaching, Rugby Team Management | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, playing against other teams, pre season trials, selection
August 17
Trials
Who will be in your starting 15 for the first game?
Pre season is a time to trial players in different positions and combinations. You can do this internally, that is play trial games against yourself or against other clubs.
The advantages of playing internally:
1. Easier to organise.
2. You have greater control over the game.
3. You can balance the teams.
BUT:
You may not have enough players and it might be harder to challenge the best players.
So, it is worth trying to find a similar standard of opposition to play against.
Here are five things to do in these games:
1. Do not split the games in more than three sections. Mentally players switch off for a fourth quarter.
2. Play your strongest side to start with. Then start to water down the teams. The trials need pattern and shape to allow all the players to express themselves. The better players can generate that shape.
3. Re iterate the simple patterns for the game plan. Play as you are on the pitch. If you are in the 22m, then use the plays that you would use to exit the 22m.
4. Allow a natural rhythm to the game. That means, kick for touch when you would kick for touch. Kick penalties when you would kick penalties (you are likely to be in possession again very soon if you do, whatever the outcome).
5. Limit the numbers at a trial. That might sound self defeating, but if you have 12 flankers turn up, you are going to struggle to give them meaningful game time. Remind those not playing that there is plenty of the season ahead.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, contact rugby, pre season contact, rucking, Rugby Skills
August 16
Contact training
Like tackling, you need to make a decision when to add more physical intensity to your training at pre season. And like for tackling, the earlier the better. It does not need to be full bone-on-bone sessions. Better to build up the contact “shapes”, focusing on low intensity techniques.
Here are five ways to “build” contact intensity.
1. Play contact rugby in an extremely small area. Say five v five in a five metre channel.
2. Use tackle shields held low to the ground to help players work on ground contact and ball placement skills.
3. Play kneeling rugby, where players move whilst on their knees. A tackle is defined as the hips of the ball carrier touching the ground.
4. Practise the last step before contact, without the run up. The ball carrier has to be in the right body position, or the ruck clearer low and ready to drive out the threat.
5. Allow grab tackles in touch rugby, or grabbing for the ball.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Fitness, Rugby Training | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, conditioning, fitness, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Drills, stretching, warm ups
August 15
Warm ups
I am going to be a little controversial here. You don’t need to warm up.
There I said it.
Actually, you need to change the mindset to “preparing to train or play”. The mind and body need to be switched into action. That cannot be done immediately. Spend some time gradually building up the intensity.
What needs to be in your pre season warm up (last time I use that expression in this piece)
1. A game (like touch rugby or rugby netball) – this will get players onto the pitch quicker.
2. Some raising of the heart rate – this can be done in a game.
3. An increase in mental arousal – to put players in the right frame of mind (again can be done in a game).
4. Some movements and contact which start to replicate the exercises ahead.
5. A minute or two for players to “stretch” themselves if they want to. Players who are stiff or recovering from injury might use this time to activate their muscles. Others will simply run around with a ball.
Anecdotally, I used these activities before sessions most of last season when I was in charge of teams. I can report no pulled or strained muscles during the sessions.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills, Rugby Team Management, Rugby Training | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, game planning, pre-season, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Tactics
August 14
Game plan
Half way through pre season training and your game plan for the first few games should be taking shape.
Think of a game plan as a list of what you do and when. Instead of the players making it up on the spot, they know that from various parts of the pitch they will run certain moves.
There are many ways to design a game plan and even more game plans you can have.
However, you will want to start running through these plans on the pitch from now on in.
Here is a simple plan for you to develop:
1. Exiting the 22m area. How are we going to move the ball away from the 22m area and out of danger. Think about kicking, scrums (back row move?) and lineout calls.
2. Putting on pressure between the 22m areas. How are we going to use the ball between the 22m lines to gain ground or force opposition errors. Again, think about kicking, where to attack, what moves from set pieces. Some teams play “phase, phase, break or kick”. If they cannot break down the opposition defence after two phases, they kick deep.
3. Scoring in their 22m area. What are our killer scoring plays? Which lineout can we use for a catch and drive, a scrum back row move, and a backs move to split the defence.
4. How do we defend?
5. How do we counterattack?
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training, top tips | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, goal kicking, kicking, pre season kicking
August 13
Kicking
Surely there is no real time in pre season training to practise kicking. Well, let’s define what we mean by kicking first and then see how to fit it in.
Goal kicking: individual work on. You can spend time at the end of the session with ALL the potential goal kickers to see how they are progressing. If you can, have some form of kicking competition because goal kicking is as much about pressure as it is about technique.
Kick offs: it is a key set piece component, so you will have to practise this during training anyway. However, whilst you are setting up players for either kick receipts or kick offs, the kick off kickers can be practising their drop kicks.
Kicking for touch from penalties: when you split into backs and forwards for unit play, the one or two players who are likely to carrying out touch kicks from penalties can spend 5-10 minutes kicking to a target from a static position. Technique is vital, with the foot being rigid, the ball being dropped down the middle of the body and the leg following through to the target.
Kicking in open play: okay, there is little time in pre season for this unless you have weeks of preparation. Instead, encourage kicking in your touch games. And no doubt all your front row players will be practising their drop goals before training anyway.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, rugby defence, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training, top tips | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, decision making drills, passing, rucking, speed of thought, support play
August 12
Speed of thought
Sharpen your players’ minds as well as their bodies in pre season. Put them into situations where they have to make tactical decisions quickly and decisively.
Here are five ways to increase your team’s speed of thought.
1. Every exercise has at least one decision during the exercise or in its development:
a. A passing exercise requires at one pass to be either short or long, or beat a defender.
b. A tackling exercise requires a player to challenge for the ball, or decide what height to go in at, or who to cover.
c. A support exercise requires the support player to be ready to take an offload or clear away threats from the tackled player.
2. Reduce the time in which an exercise has to be completed. Say five passes and shuttles should be finished in 20 seconds, not 30.
3. Make an exercise a competition. How quickly can this be completed, or how many can be done in a certain time. Ensure that good technique triumphs over poor.
4. Play a game of high intensity touch rugby for three minutes straight after a gruelling fitness section.
5. Reduce the size of the exercise area OR make it much, much larger.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills | Tags: 2 v 1s, creating overlaps, Currie Cup, scoring tries, South Africa
Here are two examples of how the Golden Lions and then the Blue Bulls create a 2 v 1 from potentially a 3 v 2 situation.
Look in at 0:45 and 1:55.
It is simple, effective and leads to tries.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training, top tips | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, calling and communication, games for understanding, handling, support play, touch rugby
August 11
Support play
Though support play is not a technical skill, it is still a core skill. The detail of support can easily be ignored in pre season training programmes, but you can integrate it into every session.
Any time there is a ball and two attackers in an exercise there is an element of support play. Focus your attention equally on the support player as the ball carrier.
Use these pre season “rules” to ensure your support players work as hard as the ball carrier.
1. No pass should go to a player standing still.
2. No pass should go to a player unless he is calling for it.
3. If a player goes into contact, then the nearest player has to support in the contact within two seconds, no matter who they are. (They can also be made to call out to the ball carrier what they want them to do, like “go to ground” or “stay on your feet”).
Play a game of touch rugby using one or more of these rules:
• The passer MUST follow his pass, otherwise the ball is turned over.
• The ball carrier has one second to offload the ball if they are touched (that is almost as they are touched). If they don’t they have to drop to the ground in a ball placement position.
• If the ball carrier has gone to ground, make it a contest for the ball between one opposition player and one attacker. Both have to come through the “gate” (that is from behind the back foot).
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training, top tips | Tags: Better Rugby Coaching, lineouts, pre-season, rugby set piece, skills training
August 10
Lineout
Pre season for the lineout is about building a lineout for the season, and not the finished product. You will have more variations after three months and even more by the end of the season.
Here are five tips for pre season:
1. Focus on winning front ball first. This means a fast jump.
2. Can your players actually jump? Not just the “jumpers” but all the players. Jumping is explosive, so everyone needs to be able to do it.
3. Work on “throw-jump”. That is the hooker throws and then the jumper jumps. This will test both early on.
4. Play jumping games for the ball, so the players get used to competition for the ball.
5. Can your jumpers jump without “bouncing” first? If they can, it will help them beat their opposite number into the air. It also means the lifters (if you use them), will have to be sharper on the lift.
