Did you know that on average a professional rugby player on average will run 12km in a game? Your players probably aren't at professional standard yet but nonetheless they will need to fit if they want to challenge this season.
To work your players hard and see what the summer break has done to their fitness levels we test their tackling and passing technique. Tackling is tremendously energy sapping and where possible players should always look to pass the ball out of trouble in order to avoid the breakdown and preserve their energy with continuity skills.
To promote these positive playing values in your players we continue from where session 1 left off by looking at option plays before then progressing into some ball handling pressure drills.
In these exercises your players will practice playing with contact where the objective is to try and avoid going to ground with the ball - instead successfully offloading the ball with use of continuity skills. However it's not always possible to get the ball out in time which is why we then look at speed mauling to support the first player.
in more ways than one
in more ways than one
World Rugby's lower tackle height is no longer a trial. It is law in community rugby from this season, and unions choose waist or base of the sternum. Here is how to retrain your defence.
Lower tackle heights leave the ball free for longer and change the breakdown contest. If your ruck work has not been updated this pre-season, you are coaching last season's game.
Long, lonely runs build lungs, not rugby players. Here's how to build a pre-season that puts fitness where the game needs it - with a ball in hand and a decision to make.