Filed under: Dan Cottrell, ELVs, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Training | Tags: 22m, All Blacks, ELVs, Frank Hadden, Graham Henry, Ian McGeechan, lineouts, mauls, Peter De Villiers, Robbie Deans, Scotland, scrums, South Africa, Steve Hansen, Syd Millar, Wales, Warren Gatland
There has been plenty of confusion and misinformation, plus a number of conspiracy theories about the ELVs. The world’s top coaches see the ELVs as here, an opportunity and are working how to deal with them.
Here is what the top coaches are saying at the moment.
Filed under: Dan Cottrell, Rugby Coaching, Rugby Fitness, Rugby News, Rugby Refereeing, Rugby Skills, Rugby Team Management, Rugby Training | Tags: Frank Hadden, Rugby Coaching, rugby debate, Rugby Practice, Rugby Skills
After the Osprey’s (the Welsh regional side) lost to Saracens in the Heineken on Sunday, a disappointed head
coach, Lyn Jones was asked by an TV interviewer about the team’s errors.
He was probably thinking “Can it be my fault a 40+ capped international player drops the ball?”
He diplomatically deferred to possible tactical errors. Some newspapers however, were quick to question his rugby coaching ability.
Rugby coaching is about coaching rugby skills. A coach shapes a team’s approach to the scrum and lineout. Each ruck and maul will be influenced by the training sessions and feedback over weeks, months and years.
But as Frank Hadden, the Scotland coach, has said previously in Rugby Coach, it is the player who steps over the whitewash of the touchline to play the game, not you.
It is hard to watch your team play and make unforced errors. It is easy to pin the blame and quickly to look to either the players or yourself for fault. Fuel for your next rugby practice.
The enlightened view is not to blame anybody. Personally I find this hard to do. “Move on, don’t focus on the past, focus on the now” is the mantra that the top players use. Tiger Woods, the world’s best golfer, is a shining example of the removing the blame.
Where does this leave the coach? In the TV interview, he has to say who he blames. To his players, he has to say “let’s play the next game”.
I quite like the approach of Manchester United coach, Alex Ferguson. He says it all in the changing room straight after the game and that’s it. Mind you, I would not like to be on the end of his post match criticism!
