Rugby: Contact and Support

*AUDIO DESCRIPTION* A great drill to get your players tackling low. Set up two cones about 2 metres apart with a player on each cone. One player stats holding a tackle pad horizontally at waist height. The player with the pad jogs forward and the tackler must make a tackle below the pad.

One player lies on their tummy, the other lie on top. The bottom player has to try and stand up whilst the other tries to keep them down.

Bag  Ball  Player lies oppsite a tackle bag. and fires from hips to get in the jackal postion.  Keep rotating the same way until coach says chnage direction.  Progression: Chest to floor.  Introduce a bag.  Introduce a ball.

2 players  Ball  One player lies ontop of the other. The coach shouts, N,S,E or W. The Bottom player with the ball then fights to get in the long placment position presenting the ball the direction the coach says.   

Player to position their self square to the scrum machine. Keeping the back flat, with shoulders slightly above the hips, with chin off chest and chest out; reach out the outside hand and place on the scrum machine. With the body weight on the 'balls' of the feet and knees bent, lean forward onto the machine and engage.

circle of players 2 players in the middle one of the player with a ball. The ball carrier has to run into contact with one of the outside player and turn to give the ball to the 2nd player in the middle who has to support very close. On being given the ball the new player with the ball has to run into contact with another player in the circle for the other player to support and get the ball.

1. Bounce  Race to get off the floor. CHest to bag then bag to feet.  2. Bounce with sausage  Same as above however, now get in position to compete for the ball over a tackled player (sausage). Ball should be wedged between 2 sausages.  3. Live but Static  A tackler hsould start on his knees half tacklignan attakcing player. A jackler should be behind and as soon as tackled player hits the floor should be over the top jackling.  A 3rd player bag man, should test his tsability.  4. Jackal and Bag Race  Bag man and Jackler start either side of a sausage.  Coach blows his whistle, both leap to feet and compete for the ball.  Race for space 

Sausage  3+  Ball  Players stand 3m away from ball and sausage.  Players line up opposite side of a laying sausage with ball placed infront of it.  Coach blows whist - its a race for the defender to jackal the ball and the attacker to clear him out the way. 

Correct way of going down with the ball in a tackle. Person being tackled should 'twist' their body so that they land on their back.

The aim of the drill is to develop attacking ability 1v1, with a supporting attacker to seal the ball after the tackle is complete. 

This is the third exercise in a series of three that can be put together to form a contact conditioning circuit. The circuit can be sets of 30 seconds of hard work followed by 30 seconds of rest. Swap in this circuit for your usual fitness routine to give the players something a bit more interesting and transferable to a game.  Alternatively, this would be a great exercise to include as part of a warm up. Players work in pairs, one player holds a tackle bag behind a tackle sausage. The other player makes a low tackle on the sausage and then drives through, clearing out the player holding the tackle bag. This player then goes to ground and gets back up to complete another repetition in the other direction. It is the job of the player holding the tackle bag to lift up the tackle sausage after each repetition. This drill will increase players overall fitness levels while being very relevant to game situations.  0.21 - Why is this important for players?

Groups 6+  Cones. Balls 1. Warm up - Non Contact. Players start on the corner of a square grid. They then in turn run to meet in the middle of the square. The Attacker side steps, while defender tries to get a shoulders on contact on the attacker.  2. Contact introduced - Attakcing Player Focus.  Attacking player after being tackled must land on top of the ball. Then must release the ball, then fire up as quickly as possible to re-gather the ball and keep running.  3. Focus on the defender.  After making a good tackle, with focus on body height, squeeze and foot in close, the defender must return to feet as quiclkly as possible to compete for the ball again.   

One group starts with the ball. Player with the ball forwards towards the player with the pad. The player hits pad with their right shoulder and ?pops? the ball off to the 1st player in the other group, who is running to receive the ball. The next player hits pad with their left shoulder and ?pops? the ball off to the next player form the other group, who is running to receive the ball. Drill continues until all players have carried out the drill from both sides.

Brief your players, but keep it brief! In each grid there will not be two channels. In each of the two channels there are two players with a tackle bag and two players binding with their back to the runner. The players binding will be leaning/driving against a tackle shield (similar to how they would be during a maul). The shield will provide support and resistance just before and during the runners hit. The first player starts and runs to the player with the tackle bag and makes a tackle before moving on. After the 2nd tackle they runs to bind with the 2 players and drives them across the line, their bind should result in their head between the hips of the two players in front of him and his shoulders in contact with the from two players backsides. The players driving position should be low and the hit proportionate. When the 3 players cross the line, one of the 2 binding players takes over and continues to run up the other channel, with the first running player now binding with the other remaining player and taking up a driving position against the shield. Change players around to ensure that every player has an opportunity to play different roles.

Adding the 'put in' and 'strike' to the 3 person front row.

Bags Balls  2 attackers line up opposite 2 defenders with bosh bags.  The coach delivers a ball into the attackers.  The ball carrier aims to run an overs line - Outsid ehsoulder of first defdner, and attack the second defender. The second attacker looks to leach on/latch on to the ball carrier pushing them through the contact area.  Looking for a quick exstra few yards.   

Bags Balls  2 attackers line up opposite 2 defenders with bosh bags.  The coach delivers a ball into the attackers.  The ball carrier aims to run an overs line - Outsid ehsoulder of first defdner, and attack the second defender. The second attacker looks to leach on/latch on to the ball carrier pushing them through the contact area.  Looking for a quick exstra few yards.   

Players stand in a inner circle and have an outer circle 5m behind them. 2 players in the middle. one player passes the ball to one of the outside players. The other central player runs at the player with the ball rips the ball off the player and presents the ball to the original passer. This player then passes the ball to another player in the circle and the practice repeats it self.