A scrum half needs good vision, speed and awareness, quick hands and lightning reactions. The scrum half is the key link between the forwards and the back line. A good scrum half will know how to vary the play and take advantage of any opportunity that the opposition may offer
The fly half is the heart beat of the side and should be a key influence on the way the team plays the game. Almost every attack will go through the fly half, so they need to develop tactical awareness, accurate passing, kicking accuracy, vision, leadership and resilience
Outside centres who have great attacking awareness and distribution skills are integral to teams who like to exploit quick ball by going wide. If these players are only able to run hard lines, then there are going to be missed opportunities out wide.
Here, we highlight some great passing and attack play in the Premiership, as well as some ideas for you to use with your players.
Skill Practice Description
• Two teams play normal touch rules.
• 5 touch turnover.
• When a touch is made, the game pauses and all defenders need to close in and place a hand on the shoulder of another defender. So all the defenders are bunched and in contact with each other.
• The coach calls ‘play’ and the attack restarts.
• The progression may be to leave one defender out of the bunch, which may provide a different challenge to the attack.
• Then leave two defenders out of the bunch and slowly release the conditions to see if the attack can consistently identify opportunities to outflank or penetrate the defence.
Key Coaching Points
• Peripheral vision and general awareness.
• Intuitive decision making.
• Communication
• Support and team work.
Relevance to the Game
• This game is designed to challenge the observation and decision making ability of the attack.
• For the defence, it challenges the ability to cover quickly with both drift and sweeping defenders
If you're looking to build on your young players' ability to attack, we have loads of relevant ideas and examples. Here's a quick look.
To see the full session, log in and go to the Northampton Saints page - 'Passing and Attacking Lines'
To take advantage of the forwards being grouped and to utilize the space this provides, young players should be encouraged to develop their decision making from a non-prescriptive environment.
It’s not a matter of going through a strike move repertoire. Its a matter of attacking the space between the two teams and running support lines that will assist the ball carrier
Consistency throughout a team can be very important for its success. You can have several very talented players, but if they are all taking a different approach to the game, they are not likely to be successful.
Top teams will determine their style of rugby and find the right players to play to that style.
The ability to realign quickly is important to developing the back play and counter attacking. Coaches can vary the numbers and timing of the first pass to make this exercise easier or more demanding. Key factors : Run straight - Comunicate early - Uniform distance and depth - Catch & pass in one movement - Hips straight - Hands & armes across the body - Realign quickly - Aerobic fitness
Ben Youngs is a great example of a player who adds energy and pace to an attack through his efforts to produce quick ball for his backline, and his ability to catch defences off-guard. Log in to see coaching ideas from Leicester Tigers and other Aviva Premiership Rugby clubs.
To take advantage of the forwards being grouped and to utilize the space this provides, the appropriate strike call needs to be made and space attacked
It’s not a matter of going through the strike move repertoire. It is about specific selection from the repertoire in order to attack identified areas of the opposition and game situations
Attacking the space between the two teams is paramount and attacking the ball when running a support line will assist the offload and turn defenders
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