The only three players to touch the ball are Magne, Harinordoquy and Betsen. All back rowers, all players who are programmed to be the first man into a tackle, pilfer at ruck, slow ball or support a breakaway. It is in their blood.
This clip got me thinking. How do you encourage this kind of commitment among younger players who are beginning to discover the skills of a 6 or 7.
The solution is simple. Explain to your player what you require of him. Have a training game. and put the player(s) in distinctive bibs that separates them from their own team. Within minutes it’ll be clear how good their work rate is, how many tackles they get through, how many ball-carriers they ping on the floor and how well they support their own players. With a bit of observation coaches could learn a lot about where their players are in terms of positioning and understanding of roles, thus allowing them to work on improvement.
The player himself is placed under increased pressure and heightened scrutiny, both from his own teammates and the coaches. He will know that with the bib comes certain tasks, just as wearing the no.7 comes with a responsibility to work hard, support, tackle and pilfer.
Watch this. Ian McGeechan demonstrating how to clear out someone trying to poach ball in the tackle. The skill is so clever, so simple. McGeechan clearly explains the reason why players may have to clean out a ruck with the ’scissors’ technique, how they should execute the action, and the benefits of correct body position, protection of the ball and a bit of cuteness.
For most players, I would imagine this skill would be new. McGeechan explains it logically and remains approachable for the players. The actual action works is fun to learn and is a great way to get your players thinking about how they approach the breakdown and secure the ball. Everyone is a winner.
I think McGeechan does a better job than I ever could of explaining the “snapping” of the tackler’s wrists. Just enjoy the insight, watch the tape!
Jim Greenwood is probably the most influential rugby coach in the world. His books are huge in the Southern Hemisphere and he has shaped the coaching careers of Ian McGeechan, Clive Woodward, Wayne Smith and Jim Telfer. I would highly recommend his writings.
Here is an extract from “Total Rugby” emphasising the importance of encouraging the pursuit and desire of excellence among players and coaches alike.
“It pays to emphasis excellence of performance: we don’t want players to be a little better; we want them to be the best they can be, and we want them to be enthused by excellence, to be passionate about it to adopt it as their criterion of success. We want them to wince when they see sloppy, slovenly work during practices. We never practice mistakes; we practice eliminating them. And the fundamental way to establish this outlook is to set the clearest example of it. There’s only one adequate aim: you want as a coach to be your best. That means a continuing programme of improvement for yourself and your players”
Don’t demand excellence, enthuse it. Allow your players to buy into the idea that they can be as good as they want to be. The truth is they actually can, once they believe it themselves. I think Greenwood’s philosophy allows players to work more in tandem in coaches rather in conflict or in spite of them. Placing outlandish, unfair demands on a squad of players generates an unhealthy mentality that will work against the coach in the long run.
Emphasizing enthusiasm for improvement and the pursuit of excellence will allow players to place their own pressures on each other. People do amazing things under peer pressure.
If your going to try and learn, you should pick up tips from the best. This video takes you through Carter’s kicking routine with Carter himself. What is remarkable is how relaxed he is. He is completely assured in his simple technique. I like the way he says that it is no single thing that makes a goal-kicker, it is just about getting a few simple things right.
Focus on the ball.
Pick out the flight you want it to take.
Focus on the exact target.
Pick the sweet spot of the ball.
Get a firm foot placing with the non-kicking foot.
sink low into the kick.
Head down and follow through, just like a golfer.
Carter’s Dad threw up posts in their garden for the young lad to practice with when he was 8 years old. He’s been practicing ever since. Thats the secret.
In Football, most goals, statistically, are scored in the final 15 minutes of a game. Manchester United won the Champions League in 1999 with two goals in 90 seconds of stoppage time while Bayern Munich were blinded by imaginary post-game celebrations. Bayern dropped the wall. In Golf, its the back-nine of the final round where the Opens are won. It is no coincidence that Tiger Woods is the most feared final round back-nine player in the world.
Rugby is no different. The final quarter is where the game is won and lost. Regardless of level, quality or division. Regardless of how well you have played up to the 60th minute mark or its equivalent, it is how your team attacks the endgame that will define your performance.
Fitness, mental strength and the ability to maintain your skill levels/organisation/communication under pressure and fatigue are the difference in Endgame. The great thing is that they can all be measured and improved.
Remember this? What a quality game for the Playstation. I know lads who were unbeatable at this game because they knew their way around the offload. I know one lad, who doesn’t even own a Playstation, who is considered to be the authority on the game because of his mastery of the offload. In Lomu, Japan could destroy the Blacks simply because the perfection of the offload was impossible to defend against.
In reality of course, things are not that simple. All the same, offloading is a key skill in unlocking any defence. It is a skill that combines the presence of mind from the man with ball in hand with the timing, support and hard work of the receiver.
Have a look at this try from Fiji in the 2003 World Cup to see what I mean. Like “Lomu” in its prime…
The Irish losses to Australia and New Zealand over the past fortnight were tight enough results. Yet for some reason, watching the matches and re-watching them left a feeling of inevitability about both outcomes.
The bottom line is that you cannot win a game without being able to control the ball on your own terms in the lineout and the scrum. I don’t care about the physicality of the Polynesians or Richie McCaw’s interpretation of the breakdown laws or snappy off-loads from the Wallabies. Ireland are well able to compete at the top level in broken play, at the breakdown and out wide.
The coaching staff acknowledged this. The players acknowledged this. Yet the mistakes were repeated and the weakness exposed again, one week later in the Australian game.
The question I ask is do we have the knowledge of the Blacks or the Australians in the scrum? The answer has to be a resounding no if we continue to be battered in these areas. If there is a coaching deficit at the top level in forward play then what does that say about the quality of these facets of the game at the lower levels? At AIL, at Junior Rugby, at schoolboys, at youths? What sort of skills are we coaching at the grass-roots if our national team cannot get the basics?
In both games, Ireland struggled in the scrum and lineout. This is nothing new. There is no consistency, no confidence; no base for Ireland to build on in play, be it in the 1st minute or the 79th minute. Its impossible to close out a game, to chase a game, to win a game, at any level, without being able to trust fully in your team’s ability to win their own ball at the set-piece.
The game in Ireland should be striving to be the best it can be, if there is something out there we can learn, or people that we can learn from, we should find them and use what they know. The holes have to be plugged.
Aidan Moran wrote an excellent book on the psychology of sport. In it he broaches the question of self-improvement and self-analysis. Be you a player or coach, professional or amateur, the most productive way of improving and getting an edge on the competition is by taking a look at your own game and ask yourself two questions.
Where am I?
Where do I want to be?
Then make a list. Target areas of improvement. Commit yourself to this list. Become a better 10, second-rower, coach, manager, kitman, whatever it is you do.
An 10’s list would be something like this.
Where am I? Where do I want to be?
Reading a game
Handling
Distribution
Kicking (LF)
Kicking (RF)
Communication
Defence
Work-rate
Relationship with teammates
Rate them yourself, study your game, your personality, your desire.
I would imagine you will find answers you never even thought of.
No matter how good you do something, there is always room to improve…
”Talk” and “Communication” and “Chat” are all buzzwords among coaches and players alike, however buzzwords, by nature, loose their strength of meaning when they become ‘buzzwords’. Its up to the coaches to change the message, or at least change how that message is delivered.
Get your players to understand importance of what you want. Allow that skill or system or action to be player driven.
For instance, how do you get your players to quickly understand the importance of communication? Simply take communication away from them. Make them do drills, games or a match within a training session where they are not allowed to talk. Witness poor decisions, dropped passes missed tackles and generally woeful play. Your players will soon appreciate the value of communication and will want to talk.
When you allow a bit of talk again, you’ll see that even the quietest ones are contributing.
I found this new game on the internet yesterday. “Hurling Cubed.” Its Hurling, but not as it should be, its not 15 aside, its not on grass, there is no goal-keeper, its not played with a real sliotar, and its not played with a full sized Hurl.
Its a wicked variation of the game played in a small indoor court, like a mini Ice-Hockey venue, the sliotar is soft and the Hurls are nearly half the normal size at 21” inches.
I love this kind of lateral thinking. I’d say it encourages serious development in loads of the key skills, speed of thought, peripheral vision and control of the sliotar. It takes the game at its most simple level and intensifies it in a tiny space. Brilliant.
I think every rugby coach can learn from this, develop drills or games within small spaces that emphasis on or two core skills; speed of thought can always be improved. Young players will love it too.
