Rugby Coaching Drills Video Library

Scrum Factory - 2. Tower of Power Demonstration

Good body posture is essential and applicable to all players regardless of age and gender
This posture transfers to the tackle, ruck, maul and in a vertical plain the lineout, so it is important that all players are coached to adopt good posture in contact

Video Subtitles

Here you see the player adopting good body posture. Sometimes referred to as the Tower of Power D factors to note. The players head is in a natural or neutral position ensuring his chin is off his chest. He is looking forward to his eyebrows. His back is flat with the shoulder blades or skirt pulled back. His arms a flex at the elbow helping to ensure that the chest is pushed forward and the upper part of the core is stabilized. He is leaning forward from the waist and his legs are flexed at the knee notice that his weight is forward and his heels are slightly off the ground. This basic body posture is the foundation for safe and effective scrimmaging. This shape is also applicable to most other contact situations. Okay, what we're going to work on this afternoon, we're going to look at protecting your body making your body safe in the scrum. Okay, and this will work with you in the tackle with you in a rock or more to hold your body in position. So when somebody pushes you or somebody pushes you back and you're resisting your body will stay in shape and not collapse not important thing is we're going to work from the floor up. Alright, so you're going to get with a partner. I'm going to do a quick demonstration for you. Then I want you to work with your partner. So you can spread out in this area here. Okay, so find a little bit of space with your partner. Come towards me a bit away from me. All right, that's fine. Now what I want you to think about is when you when you push to drive too often, we push across the floor and we don't push into the floor make sure that you feel like you're pressing into the floor with your feet. So Sitting down with the floor into the floor with your feet and making yourself feel heavy on your legs. That's the first thing I want you to do is I want you to do that now. Yeah, so get your feet just hip width or shoulder width apart knees out don't allow the knees to collapse in. So holding these out in position. Yeah, and then soften the knees slightly with the bend now your legs engaged another week. So now instead of thinking of got weight on so I've got to make my leg strong making strong now and guys the muscle groups now make the legs strong. So you working through your feet your knees legs. All right and everything there is strong and as you engage the legs trying to think about squeezing the glutes, okay engaging the glutes at the back making you your big muscles the hamstring the quads and the glutes very very strong. The next thing is one of the most important things is to control your hip. So from your pelvis, you don't want your pelvis to drop underneath imagine that you've got two handles and your hips at the same time engaging your core and your going to turn those hips round by pulling in here around the front. Imagine. There's a piece of string in your belly button and you're going to pull it through your back. Most breathing so it's nice and easy nice and relaxed breath, but you imagine that belly buttons going right through your spine because somebody's pulling it tight. So you've got your pelvic tilt on so we've got trigger words feet knees legs tilt cool. The next thing is we're going to bring the chest up and out and bring the scaps together and imagine you go to 50 pence piece and you want to make sure it doesn't fall down your back. So you're squeezing them together elbows into your side to control your core and then grip with a little finger first grip and Thumbs Up and Hold yourself in position. Alright, the last thing is your head position. You want to put your head into a natural walking position. So relaxed row. All right, and if you were walking down the street, how would you walk towards me? Okay, just like that. Alright, so walk away. So Vicki on you to come towards me now. He's looking to the sky. What do you walk down the street like that? Okay what I want you to do. What's your name? Lucy walk towards me and look at your feet. Now would you walk down the street like that? It creates poor posture cause your head drops and shoulders droop. So put your head in that natural walking position and go through the process. So feet knees legs core tilt scaps elbows head and hold your shape while you're nice and relaxing your breathing. Okay, but I'd like you to do now is with your partner. I want you to coach your partner in that position so you can go through the trigger words and you can correct any alignment that's wrong or any position that's wrong from the hips to the shoulders. Okay. There you go.