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The Breakdown is Key to the Game

Conor O'Shea explains how important the breakdown is and why coaches should give it their attention, with some examples from the Harlequins training ground.

Video Subtitles

I think the breakdown is the key to the game. If you win the Collision you win the contact you get on the front foot with the quality of Acts that are around in all levels of the game. But in specific the Premiership, especially if you get from football, if you can loosen the ball up and get quick ball, you want to be dangerous on the flip side, if you can sell the opposition down and you can rely on your defense, you can become more dangerous in defense and you can get that line. You can get your line speed and you can win those collisions. So to me the area the game revolves around winning that break down because you expect your units to go. Well, you expect your scrub to deliver ball, you expect your liner to deliverable you expect your backs to be able to execute plays but you're never gonna score a first phase the whole time and winning quick ball and breaking that guy in line slowing up position down. That's the game to me. He called movement to then what I want to see do. Yeah, I think it's a continual work on I think our boys that went to England went to England to New Zealand came back with a lot of ideas. So it's not just the coaches. The players will have a lot of Chris Rock show has a fair idea about the breakdown and how you know, so we're all the time trying to look at that and see how we can evolve that whole area but I've always said when it comes to harlequins playing if we can win the breakdown don't say will necessarily win the match but will be long way towards us.