Rugby Coaching Drills Video Library

Bear Crawl Touch

During pre-season, it's a great idea to keep training fun, but with emphasis on building fitness. Conditioned games are an excellent way to do this. In this game, defenders who make a touch must run back to their own try line and complete a bear crawl before rejoining the game. This gives opportunities to the attacking team.

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The first week for me would be very much about a lot of games make them simple try and do simple things very well. Put some fitness and conditioning into the games, but don't overdo it. Play on leave it there for the Blues. As you can see bear crawl going on for the defender. Get onto all fours knees first hands down looking forward on the tips of your toes. The movement is just a lift off your knees. So now all your body weight is on your hands and feet you remain in this position throughout the movement and it's slow, not fast. We're looking at quality not quantity and you move forward to keeping everything tight whole way through. Gradually as pre season progresses you then up the level of intensity. We're going to run some preseason conditioning games here. You can see our pitch we've actually got a yellow touchline, blue touchline orange, white. The Defenders are going to play or the attackers are going to attack this way. So Defenders are going to be coming back. This is the sort of conditioning Zone whatever the conditions are set you come back in here. We've got a coach here. Jack I'm Dennis are going to then help your just remind you what you need to do soon as you've done your exercise your back into the game. Again, the whole point of this is to give the attackers more opportunity. So should be lots of tries. The conditions are going to change constantly. So to start with is just going to be 1 second touch one second touch nice and easy. Okay, the person that makes the touch you run back. Okay, touch the line rejoin the game. So one second touch you got one second to offload the ball my person that's made the touches gotta move back, which is doing that's a score Reds. We're going again this ball, please. Let's go. What do we say about defense fellas? Thank you. one second Beyond side, Danny most of them are retreating because there's two people that have Okay, hold it there progression of drop touch. We're still going to play one second touch here, but the person that drops has to go back and do a down and up. Top she's got to move. Play on. Cook's cook conditioning and a nice Scope when you make it such that it so I'll get back to this line get to the line first will be a big group to start a little Force. So you're all your weight on your toes in your hands knees just off the floor. I'm going to walk without the blue cone get the bluecoats handspring back into place. Just one lymph for attackers this time. You've got to hit the deck and a long Place hit the deck long place and then play it's a bear crawl to start with. Let's go play. So the attackers have to do a long Place once they're touched once there touch long Place Defenders gone back. He'll do a bear crawl Pion, please. long Place Defenders gone back So this gives lots of opportunities for the attackers so there should be lots of opportunities for the attackers here. Defenders are just coming to play. So the coach can set the vertical constraints that he decides on the defense and the constraints of the attack we played the first game we played was called drop touch. So when the Defenders make a touch they make a touch and then they retire back to the try line. Once they get back to the try line. They the coach can then ask them to do a specific exercise or they just touch the try line and back into the field of play that also means that while Defenders are dropping out doing that running back or doing coming out and doing those exercises that the attackers have actually got opportunities. So the focus for the attacking side of the game was to create lots of tulle ones thrilled and twos and attacking opportunities.