QuestionsAnswers

Question

24/07/08

"Over the last two weeks it is stated twice that drills can only be used for the betterment of skills.
What can we coaches do to better the team's game itself.?"
Jean - France

This is a practice session for an U/18 team. This practice session can typical be a Wednesday afternoon or

night. A complete season's practice sessions can be obtained from our Rugby Coaching CD-Roms - "Junior

and Youth Rugby coaching - UPDATED"

All drills. exercises and skille can be obtained from the CD-Rom

Also see example of the CD-Rom

oaches

can do what we call "squad training" in which you play certain facets of the game in a mini practice

game or in a practice game with two teams against each other on a full field. (A mini practice game is played on

a smaller pitch and is ideal when you don't have a team to play against.)

In this kind of practice games the one team keep the ball for between 5 and 10 minutes practicing the one facet

the coach want to highlight. If a coach want to practice off-loads in the tackle the players only do the offloads

when the player get into the contact situation. Everytime a ruck is formed the attacking team gets the ball to

attack again.

If the coach want to practice their attacking game by kicking for position, the atacking team kicks and then put

pressure

on the receiving team with their defensive line and if their is a ruck the ball is returned to the attacking

team to kick again and so on.

The New Zealand team, under Graham Henry, was the first team who extentively start doing this kind of squad

training and the importance of doing this is that the players start to play the situation, while still concentrating on

a certain facet of the game.

Answer

Question

30/07/08

"Can we have a typical programme of an afternoon practice session and can you please tell us where we can

get hold og some of these programmes?"

James - Londo

10/07/08

Question

13/08/08

Answer

"Are there any line-out changes

in the line-outs

with the new experimental laws"

In the beginning the opposing team put all their forwards into the line-out

to try and win the ball

when their

opposition form one

of the shorter line-out versions, but that didn’t work out, because the attacking team

now

have forwards in the backline to attack in the middle.

At the moment most of the opposing teams match the numbers of the throw-in team.

The only change is that the opposing hooker is used as an extra lifter or supporter in the line-out with the

scrumhalf replacing the hooker in the five meter line.

Our answer comes from John McFarland, defensive coach of the Bulls and Blue Bulls:

The defensive line is a re-active line - it depends on what the attack is throwing at your defense

and then it

relies on the players’ ability to read the situation and effect the tackle.

Sometimes if the ball is slow, we shall go hard (rush) at the attacking line, if it is quick we will

wait and drift. It

also depends on the depth of the attacking alignment.

Rush defence: If the attack is deep, the ball is slow and we outnumber them, we will rush.

The basic principal of the rush is not to get ahead of your inside defender and not to be ahead of

the ball or on

the outside of the ball, because if you are ahead of the ball you can`t tackle."

Question

Answer

02/09/08

Question

Which of the two defensive systems

, the drift or the rush,

is the best to use in modern rugby and

can one use

them in combination of each other?

Cheers

Mike -USA

13/08/08

I am coaching a team at junior club level and want an easy short line-out formation from which we can get

quick ball with which we can attack with our back-line"

Mike - London, UK

Email Us

Question

13/08/08

Answer

recommend

of my favoured short line-out

variations

which is a four man line-out. In a four man variation

there is usually one jumper and three lifters. In this variation the opposition jumper is all the time running

after the throw-in jumper. This example is directly from my "A Practical Guide to Modern Rugby

Coaching

" -

CD-Rom" - Coach Jan

See the example

Question

17/09/08

We are starting to get our players match fit for the new season, but our time is limited , because we must

pack everything into two or maximum three evenings per week. Please help?"

David -

Answer

You need an exercise with maximum return. We use an exercise called "The stations drill". In 30 minutes

per week you can keep your players super match fit. This drill includes all facets of the modern game and it

cuts out recovery time and the players start recovering while jogging.

This drill is taken from my Coaching CD-Rom - "A Practical Guide to Modern Rugby Coaching", a CD-Rom

every coach needs. On the CD-Rom itself the video clips is much longer and of a better quality than the

internet versions

See the presentation of "The stations drill"

Question

Questions & Answers

24/09/08

Jan, I use an alignment drill which was developed from yours, this requires the alignment channels set out

5m apart, 2 teams start at the opposing first cones, 4 or 5 players/team, on the whistle both teams go into

their channels, attacking team either draw and pass, dummy, Skip pass or if quick enough they can beat the

defenders on the outside with quick hands. The defending team hit their channels at the inside cone so

they are inside shoulder pushing up and out in their channel onto their attacker, they need to take care to

come up flat. Objective is for the attackers to score a try, first to 5 and they swap over, 1 point for a try or

defenders holding attackers . There are number of variations to this, all with the same objective , i.e. set 5

seconds break. Give the attackers and defenders 5 seconds to position before they get the second break

command to attack.

always run 3 on 2 warm ups to practice the defensive running on inside shoulder then sliding as the

ball is passed (lots of talk), and the attackers running lines for draw and pass trying to get defenders to

close their hips, running with a bit of depth to receive the pass and learning to read the defence to be able to

penetrate with a face ball or flat pass, if defence does not come up, or a ball behind a dummy runner,

running back into defenders inside shoulder. All these drills the boys enjoy which is the key.

Answer

Steve,

That is a great variation on my original drill.

You are right the key of a drill is the enjoyment of the players.

Cheers,

Coach Jan

Do you have a coaching question. Please send it.

See the drill Steve is referring to.

Question

01/10/08

I am the forwards coach for a university side in the UK, we are having particular trouble with our lineouts -

are there any drills that spring to mind that will aid the players in ensuring execution of the lineout is done

effectively. I am a strong believer that the more time taken at a lineout the more likely it is to go wrong! Are

there any drills which will help the team speed up the time taken at lineouts?

I have found your site extremely useful and the boys have loved the drills!

Regards

Joe Johns

For me to put eight players against eight in a line-out is

suicide and it is only a matter who can pick up their

jumper the highest. With the new ELV's the opposition can use nine players for contesting (the hooker is

also used in the line-out, with the scrumhalf taking the hookers place in front in the five meter line).

Line-outs for me is vibrant with players moving around and with dummy jumpers all round, so that the

opposition can only guess where the ball will be thrown.

Shorter line-out variations can also be used to keep the opposition guessing.

Throw the ball in when your line-out players is formed and don't wait for the opposition.

A great drill to speed up the line-outs is one of our development drills from Jan Oberholzer's CD-Rom - "80

of the Best Coaching Drills", called the

"The line-out drill"

Answer

See "The line-out drill"

Question

10/10/08

Is there a place for the "Pick-up

and

drive" in the modern game.

also want to know if there is a drill in which

to practice

layers' "Pick-up

and

drive" techniques and structure?

Joe

Watson - UK

I feel that the "Pick-up-and-drive" is more important in modern rugby, because the defenses

is more

stretched out and it is easier to take it through the middle

It is also a great technique

to get over the

advantage line.

The only thing I shall

recommend

is that coaches must use the

supported

"Pick-up-and-

drive"

technique to stop the opposition from turning the ball over.

I designed a drill for practicing the

"Pick-up-and-drive"

technique about two years ago, called

"The

ick-up-

and-drive

drill" and that is the only drill I know of

and it works.

Coaches can also use "The supported

ick-up-and-drive

drill

to practice their supported

ick-up-and-drive

capabillities.

Answer

See "The p ick-up-and-drive"

See "The supported pick-up-and-drive"

Question

14/10/08

How do i start to implement the rush or blitz defence to my team in the u.k. They are reasonable tacklers,but

sometimes lack aggression. Have you any drills on how to build this type of defence?

Many Thanks,

Rhino

The only place for the rush or blitz defense in modern rugby is in combination with the drift defense and then

only in top professional

teams

. My reasons why the rush defense is not suited for lower

leagues

are:

1) The rush defense requires the difficult front on tackle and the drift defense the much easier side on

tackle.

2) In the rush defense the whole defensive line must rush up in a straight line. The attackers can run

through any gaps created when some defenders rush faster than other.

3) When an attacker beats the rush defense with stepping

there is very little cover defense to stop him.

Get your defenders to show more aggression by using aggressive defensive drills.( See Jan

Oberholzer's

CD-Rom -

"80 of the Best Coaching Drills"

.), better communication and by rewarding players

for big hits.

A drill to get your defensive line straight is

"The straight defensive line drill"

The only place for the rush

Answer

Home Page

Question

17/11/08

start coaching at U/16 level and like many coaches I am the forward and backline coach. I never played in

the forwards. Can you please show me the frontrow binding, before I make a complete fool of myself."

Jeff

USA

Answer

Jeff,

You are not the only coach who is strug

ling with the scrum. The easiest way to

help you is by

show

ing

you

a page taken

from

our Subscription Member Pages.

Enjoy it.

Go to

The sequence of Binding in the Frontrow."

Question

17/11/08

I am also involved with our kickers at our club. Is there a drill or exercise that can help the kickers with their

out of hand kicking (punting) i.e. accuracy and distance?

Greetings,

Alan

Answer

Alan

This is an excellent exercise for kickers for accuracy and distance. This drill was given to me at a kicking

workshop in Pretoria by my old friend, Eric Herbert, kicking coach of the Stormers, and second highest

point scorer in South Africa after Naas Botha.

Go to

The

out of hand kicking drill.