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Rugby: Flick and Back Pass Insanity

Sportplan rugby has played a large role in my team's love for the...

Heather, Rugby Coach

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Now split your players into two teams, giving one group of players a set of colored bibs to set them apart, and quickly tell your players the following laws:

No forward passes.
All passes need to be flicks or back passes with one hand.
When touched, stop and set the ball down.
The pass off the ground must also be a flick or one handed back pass.
Another player from your team will act as scrum half - passing the ball to his teammates, who will continue the attack.
Each team will be allowed five touches before they must turn the ball over (you can make this more or less depending on the skill level of your players and what you're hoping to achieve during the session.) Some coaches decide on unlimited touches, only turning the ball over when a mistake is made by the attack e.g. a knock on.
Knock on's and other law infringements will result in a turn over to the opposition.
Don't be afraid to play these laws a little, e.g. for younger players you might even go as far as to allow some knock on's or turn a blind eye to the odd forward pass - let them play a little and have fun!

COACHING POINTS

I think you should focus on just a few coaching points at any one time, and that targets should be agreed with your players depending on their age and ability. That said, the following are some points that you might like to refer to:

Keep the laws simple and get the players going as soon as you can, no standing around and no debates - it's rugby not the debating society.
What do we attack? Space - What do we attack it at? Speed! Encourage the players to identify space, possibly with very quick stops where players are asked to freeze on the whistle blast - where is the space? Restart right away, no long debates.
You might allow your scrum halves to be the players moving the ball after each touch, maybe even giving them a target time in which the ball has to be moved - this speeds the game up.
With older players do not waste this opportunity to identify that the ball cannot be turned over following the touch - so what is our defensive formation following a tackle where the ball cannot be turned over? Do we contest everything?
Think about having more than one game going at a time, if numbers and space allow.
Players will need to change the way they attack and think about the game because of the passing restrictions.
Players should be creative with respect to their attack, including loops, switches etc.
Players need to pass off both hands.

Be creative - a great coach (and that's you) will be able to use their warm-up as a spring-board to the core of the session - and will start coaching from the very start of the session!

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OFTEN USED WITH...

Fast And Pressured:

Tell your players the following......

There will be one runner.
1 player, static, on each cone. 4 players on the cones in total.
There will also be two players in defence, they will have a tackle/ruck pad each.
The defenders will be 3 meters in from the start of the grid, the second defender 7 meters behind the first.
The defenders can move left and right, but not backward and forward.
There will be a ball on the first left cone, and on the second right cone.
The player at the first cone with the ball will pass the ball to the runner, who avoids the defender and passes the ball to the reciever on the opposite first cone.
The runner then catches the second ball, passed by the player on the second cones. The runner passes the ball to the opposite reciever, avoid contact with the defender.
The runner then turns and does the same again - the defender steps back a bit.

Don't forget to change the defenders, proving all players will the chance to attack.

Sevens

Fan Out and Pass:

Keep your player briefing, brief! You may decide to have a demonstration grid.

On your call, all players fan out to receive a pass.
Players initially attack half the space in the grid, that way the lines do not cross into each others space, as you can see in the animation.
Players should then attack the full width of the grid, there will be intersection and some confusion.
Players stay within the grid. When they finish an attack (the ball is moved down the line), the last player to recieve the ball should score a try just outside the grid - and the line should get set in their new location to go again.
Player initially rotate in a clockwise direction. Change this after a period of time.
Make sure that players change position in the attacking line.

Passing

Drop Off:

4 cones with 2 balls.

Players start running at the same time and when the meet in the middle, the blue players give a drop off pass to the red player before both continuing their run to the opposite end to which they started.

Passing

Fast Hands:

Drill to practice fast, accurate passing.

Set up a T shape with 3 cones roughly 5m away from the central cone (see diagram)

One player stands on each cone, the player in the middle of the T is the player who works (yellow).

The players on the outside (blue) take it in turns to pass to the working player (yellow), who must catch the ball and pass it to the free player on the edge (see video.

PROGRESSIONS:

Start slowly and increase the pace at which the players pass to the working player, giving them less time to catch and pass the ball

Increase the distance that the working player must pass the ball.

Passing

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