To begin with we will spend some time defending a long ball. We will spend 10 minutes at the start of the session practicing defending long passes. We will look at the defenders closing down quickly if the ball falls to the feet of a player they are marking. We will also work on how to set up in terms of defensive shape and positioning. This will be used as a skills warm up session. We will separate into two teams of 7 and there will be three attackers and four defenders for each team. They will set up on a small sided pitch. Each team will have a spare player who should be confident enough to make a long pass from a designated start point. the final player can either go in goal for their preferred team or play as a fourth attacker to make one of the games 4v4. The server must look to find the longest pass to feet or play a long ball over the top. I will be coaching the defending team, looking at how they set up, when they press or close down, when they should drop off or how they should recover to a pass over the top. We will then go into a conditioned 8v8 game for the final 10 minutes of the session to try and prevent the long ball from happening.
We will play 8v8 for the final with one floating player. This player will play for whatever team is in possession of the ball. They are the key player who makes the long passes either in to feet or over the top. The floater should only receive the ball when they are able to make a long pass from it. They should always be looking to make a long pass to challenge the defence. The game will be competitive with the only condition being that the floater must always play a long pass for whatever team they are playing for at when in possession.
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World Rugby has reportedly conceded Aaron Smith's disallowed try in the World Cup final should have stood.
"It is not only useful for staff who are experienced but a valuable tool for those subject staff who have to take teams."