Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Skills, Rugby Team Management, Rugby Training | Tags: All Blacks, Peter Bills, tries
Here is an excellent article by Peter Bills from International Rugby News about why the All Blacks are the best team the world, even if they haven’t won the World Cup in the professional era.
There are 25 rugby coaching points in here as well.
1) They’re smarter and have far more street-cred on the rugby field than any other nation.
2) They’re like sharks sniffing blood in the water. Show any weakness and they’ll pounce on it.
3) Other teams look for options on what to do during play. New Zealanders don’t need to look and think – they just act instinctively.
4) Just when you think they might be predictable, they’ll do the unexpected.
5) When an opponent gets isolated even for a moment, they’ll strike.
6) When they strike, they do so with lethal speed and commitment.
7) They scavenge ferociously for the loose ball.
8 ) They’re physically intense and fearsome. If you don’t match them in this respect, you have little chance.
9) The levels of expectation within New Zealand rugby circles are absolutely frightening, the highest in the world. When I asked coach Graham Henry, after he had led his team to another Tri-Nations triumph in September, (their fourth in a row) whether that meant the knives were now out of his back, he replied ‘No, but they might have been blunted for a while.’
10) Youngsters growing up in New Zealand dream of playing for the All Blacks. That remains the case today.
11) Their powers of concentration are much greater than most opponents.
12) Their support for the ball carrier is phenomenal, consistently the best.
13) They’re utterly ruthless in winning the ball, especially loose phase possession. Because they do it with such ferocity and intent, they secure it faster which means better quality possession for their backs.
14) They do the basics better than anyone else. These are inculcated from an early age.
15) There is an altogether greater physicality and intensity about the game in New Zealand. Their rugby men define them as a nation.
16) Their speed of recovery when they are in trouble is lightning fast.
17) To beat them, a side has to kick its goals and convert pressure and try scoring positions into points. Fail to do that, as Scotland were guilty of last weekend, and you have no chance.
18) They do what they have to do to stop any danger. That includes illegal play where needed.
19) The speed at which they do things on the field is usually so much greater than northern hemisphere teams manage.
20) There is a precision about their play which is the envy of most others.
21) They’re the best in the world at playing referees cleverly.
22) They push laws to the limit and never stop testing match officials. If they’re not picked up on them, they cheerfully transgress with regularity, a la their collapsed scrums against Scotland at Murrayfield last Saturday.
23) In Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith they have a highly experienced, smart coaching team. It is a trinity of talent.
24) A fear of failure is forever with them. It drives them on relentlessly.
25) The allure and value of the New Zealand jersey is priceless as a motivational tool. As former All Blacks hooker Anton Oliver says “If they ever sold part of that jersey to a commercial organisation and thereby diluted the uniqueness of the shirt, it would be the beginning of the end for the All Black legend, in my view.”
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training | Tags: coaching mini rugby, coaching u9, leanring by doing, rugby games, rugby sessions, youth rugby
Just play the game. “Joue” as the French would say.
Too many times players come to rugby training to “play rugby” and yet go away from a session with a five minute game at the end as a “reward”.
I gauge a good “junior” session by the amount of times the youngsters say to me: “When can we play a game?” The less the better!
With my Under 9s team, we start our sessions with a game, then another, do some skills and then play another game. The games at the start have some conditions, such as the types of pass used, or the size of the pitch. The skills might be extremely modified games and the game at the end is as close to the real game as we can with the numbers we have.
The challenges are:
1. Covering the full range of techniques correctly. Actually the games tend to use most of the skills, so modifying the game allows us to isolate some of the skills and yet keep them in some context.
2. Keeping all the players involved. Certainly at younger age groups one or two players can dominate. We have moved players around the teams, played smaller sided games or just removed the players if they become too greedy.
3. Personal feedback. In a game situation, with so much going on, specific feedback can be lost as the ball moves on. We are lucky to have three coaches, one who referees, one on the pitch as the game is played and the other stands back to look at the wider picture. From these positions, we observe different angles, say things from different persepctives and the coach who is standing back can offer something to the player the two coaches too close to the action cannot see.
I wonder whether this model can be used for more senior teams…
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training | Tags: rugby body angles, Rugby Drills, rugby session planning, rugby tackling, tackling session
I have written over nine seasons worth of different sessions I worked out today.
Here is a sketch of a session that I made two weeks ago, which I expanded upon to make up part of three different sessions.
If anyone else wants to send in their sketches, it would be great to build up a gallery…
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Skills | Tags: rugby video, rugby kicking, rugby DVD, oxford university, catching the high ball, rugby skills for the high ball
Having produced one DVD and just about to launch another, I was fascinated to come across this clip.
Lots of good coaching points here. I am going to match it up to my Ospreys catching skills template to see how close it is.
From what I can tell it was produced as an instructional rugby video by Oxford University.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills | Tags: rugby defence, rugby vision, thinking coach, vision skills
Looking at this picture, you can see a defensive line.
What is their focus? What can we tell from their body language?
A defensive line
Now watch this video and count how many passes the white shirted players make and write down the number of passes?
How many was it?
Now think carefully about your observation skills and what you really need to look for…
For a similar type of observation experience try this:
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, ELVs, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training | Tags: bridging, IRB, laws of rugby, sealing, usa rugby, winning the ruck, women's rugby
Last week I posted the IRB reminders on the interpretation of the law about “bridging and sealing”. It is not explicitly stated in the law book but here are the rough definitions:
Bridging: forming a bridge with your legs or knees and hands or elbows over the ball.
Sealing: securing yourself to the tackled player, preventing the opposition grabbing the ball and if driven back, taking the tackled player and ball with you.
Since, in the spirit of the game, players are meant to stay on their feet, any attempt by players who are not on their feet to prevent the ball being contested is illegal.
Market forces have prevailed though. Coaches and players are always seeking ways to profit from the laws.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training | Tags: bridging, IRB, laws of rugby, rugby academy, rugby coaching clips, rugby ruck, sealing
Sealing and bridging is confirmed as illegal. This month referees were told to be more vigilant in the tackle contest area and lots of teams struggled.
This is mainly because of poor technique in the contact area. Players go off their feet because they are not balanced as they arrive and they tend to drive down and not up.
Here is that ruling again, plus a clip of a ruck drill.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training | Tags: missing tries, Rugby Skills, scoring tries, training accuracy
With the UK season about to start in earnest in a few weeks, rugby training time is focused on the first game.
In my sessions I am particularly interested in the accuracy of the skills. Passes in the right place, the rugby tackles being made with the correct shoulder and foot combination, and rucks being cleared at the best height.
A small lapse and it could cost you points.
And here is the evidence!
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training | Tags: fast hands, rugby catching, Rugby Drills, rugby handling, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training
This week I was asked to come up with some fast hands rugby drills. As some of you know, I am not a great fan of the term “drill”, but it matters little in the end because it is what the players learn in training that counts.
Why fast hands
“Fast hands” means quick transference of the ball from one player to the next to the next. In other words, at least one quick pass in a series of two or more passes. Relating this to the game, it is unlikely that we need ”fast hands” for more than three passes.
Game related reasons
“Fast hands” are meaningless unless there is a good reason to pass the ball in the first place. The reason in this case is that the receiver and giver is under pressure in front of him and there is someone better placed to take the ball forward. Two sets of “fast hands” means that two players are under this pressure and so on.
Ultimately, my drill/exercise needs to get to the high pressure stage.
Constructing a drill
In a quick audit of the stuff I have published I find I have over 300 “sessions” to choose from (not all handling of course), plus another 40 odd in the pipeline till Christmas. But why not use a fresh idea.
Here are the three things I think about when constructing a rugby drill
1. Paint a picture of the game and can I isolate the technique?
2. What is the fewest number of players I need?
3. Where can I add value?
Point 3 is the crucial one. For fast hands, my answer was “its in the catching”.
Look out for my “drills” coming up soon.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Skills, Rugby Training, Uncategorized | Tags: Rugby Skills, rugby handling, touch rugby, All Blacks training methods, rugby support
Ok, it is the All Blacks, but…
1. Look at the rules: two handed touch, ball carrier and one team mate to the ground, plus the toucher and one of his team mates too. This creates space and encourages support around the fringes.
2. Look at the work rate: at the end these boys are tired.
3. Look at the rugby basics: two hands on the ball, passing before contact, changing angles, arriving from depth.
Touch rugby is a great game for many reasons, but needs careful control to gain the full benefits.
Here are links to some more ideas on touch rugby from the Better Rugby Coaching site:
