Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Team Management | Tags: coaching, inspirational coaches, belief
When you watch the best rugby coaches in action, there is something special about their delivery. They have an inner belief that makes what they say worth something.
I have been researching the methods of the delivery and persuasion for a number of articles in Rugby Coach. The simple idea of true belief in what you are saying still has a compelling case for the most important way of inspiring your players.
Coaching from the heart does not mean you need to be messianic in your delivery, or slightly mad in your manner. However, when the players look into your eyes, what will they see? If they’re perception of you is that you are confident, then this is part of the battle. If the perception is then that you also care deeply about what you are saying and why you saying it, the impact will be stronger.
Balance that passion with patience and player centred coaching and you will be amongst the best!
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Team Management | Tags: Rugby Skills, Munster, winning rugby, All Blacks, rugby game plans, Thormond Park
On Wednesday night, the Young Osprey Under 16 team (the team I help coach) beat the best of the rest (the players who did not make the squad) 42-13.
The pattern of the game did not surprise me or the other coaches, and we were 8-6 down at half time. This was in part due to excellent spirit, endeavour and organisation of the opposition. The second half was a different story to the first, and the fitness, strength and speed of the senior boys was too much to handle.
The key reasons why we didn’t win the first half though were:
1. Not executing the basics well - dropped passes and slow movement into set plays.
2. Getting undermined at the the set piece.
3. Not playing the game plan.
A determined opposition can disrupt all these areas, but your team needs to rise above it. Now that can be a big ask for a fifteen year old boy. That’s why you, as a coach, earn your stripes. Your influence can calm the situation, focus the players and maintain the equilibrium.
The half time team talk did just that. Actually it was a two tone talk, with the forwards receiving a little more of the “guts” talk and the backs on the execution and game plan. The second half speaks for itself.
And here is another game which happened the night before. Munster v All Blacks…similiar circumstances?
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, ELVs, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Team Management | Tags: ELVs, IRB, rugby development
The IRB meet annually to discuss the game. This year’s meeting takes place today and is at the Lensbury Club in London.
The IRB conference is focused on “development”. This list of topics makes for interesting reading:
Mark Egan, the IRB’s Head of Performance and Development is leading the forum.
“This forum will explore and debate a broad range of issues and challenges faced by the Unions on the ground. Ultimately, the participants are the practitioners, the people at the coalface of development; the people who help Rugby grow all over the world.”
“Blueprints will emerge from the debate and some optimal forms of action will be identified. In addition there will be seminars on legal and judicial matters, the Laws of the Game and Playing Regulations, on playing surfaces and clothing, on tournaments and competitions, on training and education, medical as well as development funding.”
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Team Management | Tags: B team selection, rugby game plan, rugby management, rugby mental approach, rugby strategy, Rugby Tactics
Tomorrow night a team I coach will be playing the “best of the rest”. The “best of the rest” are the boys who did not make the Young Osprey U16 squad at the start of the season. They will now have a chance to prove a few points.
This game has many positives.
1. It will vindicate many or all of our selections.
2. It might bring to light a player we missed first time, either because they were not developed or they were just did not do enough when we were making the selection.
3. It gives us a chance to look at our wider squad with a couple of the “best” players rested.
Approaching the game is an interesting coaching exercise. Our game plan will not change from a normal game, but it is mentally a different thought process.
I look back on the times when my team was either playing down against a lower league team or playing up in a cup run.
It was quite a good position to be in when playing against a lower league opposition as a winger or fullback. It allowed me more space and time because often the opposition organisation was weaker, even if my opposite number was my equal. It was often the forwards who bore the brunt of the onslaught!
The key mental attributes were patience in attack and physicality in defence. Not bad approaches whatever your game plan. However against lower league teams, you need to back your fitness, organisational ability and all round skill.
It will be interesting to see what the outcome of the game is. I know my team is very excited, but not half as excited as the boys and their parents from the opposition.
It won’t be a stroll in the park. Dare I tell you the score on Thursday morning.
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 Team Management | Tags: All Blacks, rugby strategy, Rugby Tactics, Steve Hansen, WRU
Alun Carter, the former Welsh international performance analyst, gives us an inside view on Steve Hansen when he was coaching Wales from 2002 to 2004.
Hansen, now the forwards coach for the All Blacks, took over from Graham Henry and saw Wales run some of the big sides close. His team almost beat the All Blacks in 2003 World Cup and arguably started the momentum for Mike Ruddock’s team to take the Grand Slam 2005.
Alun Carter’s interview is quite revealing on how coaches can influence a team for better and for worse.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Team Management | Tags: RFU, WRU, Autumn Internationals, SRU, IRFU
The Autumn Internationals will gives us a glimpse of the world’s best outside the World Cup arena and a chance to pick the best two XVs. With no American players (North or South) on display, we will have to ignore them for this exercise.
I will select my own world XV after this weekend, but the Lions on form and starting for their country this weekend would be:
15. Lee Bryne (Wales)
14. Sean Lamont (Scotland)
13. Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
12. Gavin Henson (Wales)
11. Shane Williams (Wales)
10. Danny Cipriani (England)
9. Danny Care (England)
1. Andrew Sheridan (England)
2. Jerry Flannery (Ireland)
3. Matt Stevens (England)
4. Paul O’Connell (Ireland)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (Wales)
6. Tom Croft (England)
7. Tom Rees (England)
8. Ryan Jones (Wales)
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby News, Rugby Team Management | Tags: rugby coach ego, rugby film, rugby player ego, Sean Austin
Rugby doesn’t feature in many films, but here is a proper, Hollywood style movie with rugby as the main theme. The story line looks sort of familiar, but it will be interesting to see how realistic the rugby is…the reviewers say this part is good.
The coach v player ego fight will be interesting to watch.
Hoping for a UK release?
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Team Management | Tags: coaching elite players, coaching young players, Ospreys, rugby concentration, Welsh Women
Who is the most difficult audience to deal with?
Here are some factors that can cause you problems:
1. The players are tired.
2. The players have already been “coached” during the day.
3. The players have a low concentration span.
4. The players are not playing at the weekend.
5. The players are young.
And so the list eventually leads to my under 9s team! And having to coach them last night.
Having worked with two groups of elite players in the last few weeks in my roles at U16 backs coach for the Ospreys and now an attached coach with the Welsh Women, a blustering late Wednesday afternoon is a little different on a damp parks pitch.
How did I take command?
With the agreement of the other coaches, after the warm up, we split as usual into three groups, did seven minute segments of skills and then went into a game.
And we shut up! It was hard. We only gave small doses of praise and bit our lips. No shouts of “Pass”, “Tackle”, “Get lower” or “Run straight”.
After each try or big breakdown, we gave some feedback, asked some questions and let them play.
It was strangely eerie. But what it did allow us to watch and observe and reflect. One observation is that we are going to make the teams smaller in practice games to make sure all the players are more involved.
So to take command of a rugby training session, here are two suggestions:
1. Break up the training into manageable segments and the same with the groups.
2. Say less, watch more, intervene effectively.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Team Management, Rugby Training | Tags: coaching U11s, coaching young rugby players, elite rugby, lack of attention, Rugby Coaching
Last week I posted a blog about getting children to listen.
In my further research and then observations over the weekend I reflected on our expectations as coaches.
Over one hour of training should the players be fully concentrating on rugby the whole time?
On the one hand we would expect this because it is only an hour and they have to concentrate for longer in a match. But I think we need to be more realistic.
Elite players in a warm, comfortable environment like an indoor training faciltity will be on task most of the time. 11 year olds, on a windy pitch under lights after a full day at school, then “do the math”!
These extremes will count across all age groups, senior and junior. Our challenge as coaches is to understand these constraints and work within them. If we get frustrated by the lack of attention, then often is a whole host of uncontrollables.
I will be writing more in the next issue of Rugby Coach.
