Coaching The Lineout

Coaching The Lineout

One of the key technical areas that makes rugby so different to other sports is the way we restart the game, through scrums and lineouts. Both require in-depth knowledge but this week we will focus on how the lineout works as a unit and how the individual roles can achieve this.

Breaking down the lineout we can focus on:

1) Movement of the players

2) Coordination of movement of 2 or more players

3) Lifting technique as an individual and in pairs

4) Throwing the ball in

5) Coordination and timing between thrower and lifters/jumping

Part of the fun of coaching the lineout is the strategies and tactics that we as coaches can use, a fundamental mistake that many coaches make is practicing the whole lineout as a means of developing whole lineout, this is often due to a lack of technical knowledge.

Once we have the technical development sorted coaching needs to take in the tactical and strategic aspects of the lineout. For example, how we use the ball, do we catch and drive or do we go off the Top and attack through the backs. There are other tactics such as peels and positional switches for example.

The coaching of the lineout should be a DYNAMIC learning environment that is engaging and fun to be in. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new coaching methods, be technical but make it fun.