Rugby Coaching Drills Video Library

Stay square & fix defenders

Create space by fixing defenders. This is one of the toughest skills to learn and in this clip Colin Osbourne from Harlequins explains some of the challenges coaches face and how to "Stay square"

Video Subtitles

The way we play the game. We want the ball in hand as much as possible. And if we can't guarantee that our passing is accurate, then it makes it very difficult to get a game going. So right across the board Beck's forwards. We spent a lot of time on the basic core skill of passing and catching obviously, these are pretty competent. So you can't just cancel impossible with just add a little bit of variety in terms of decision-making when to pass what type of pass what weight of past and so just the starting progression was literally just run fix a man part fixing it with your hips staying Square reaching for the ball early transfer the ball across without drifting and allow it turning your body towards the receiver which then allows the defender to just follow you and drifted onto the receiver. So we'd really trying to square up and stay a square as we can and get people coming onto the ball the second thing we did with a little bit of footwork and so we're not quite nicely balanced. So you had to beat a man. Can you now get square again before the next? And comes and then get still get the pass away. Well, then if I step off here, the Temptation is I want to pass it. I keep running there. Sorry. I keep running there and pass that way. We should allow the defendant to drift. So having step on it. Can I Square my hips? Stop the next Defender and move the ball ready? Yep, red feet feet feet good. Hey, red feet. Good. yellow Hello, Pete hit me good ball. If I now come over here and drift on the path towards me. What's he gonna do push? So we're still trying to stay Square. We've been working on. Okay, go red feet. So Square. Yes, great ball yellow Well played the game because of the lateral nature of rugby. The Temptation is to follow the ball across the field. So you have to run forward and pass sideways and the danger is that people follow the ball and drift with the ball and drift with the ball yellow? Good Bull Red. Nick don't yellow good read red good yellow. Great ball. Okay. They assume that when they get a contractor coming to the big boys that be doing something different. No, it's the same game the same skills need to be honed and all the difference is how accurately and how quickly can you do it. So running square is a core skill and it has to be repeated over and over and over again from in he's right through to youth through adult game. We're all playing rugby and it's played parallel to the touch lines not across parallel to the try line. So we want to keep Square the back. This is so important they come round if they're linking the place they can just square up and move it. It just holds at Center for a fraction of a second space and time on the