As a coach, if something needs to be fixed in the heat of the game the ideal approach is to keep your message as simple and concise as possible, sugared with some encouragement and praise. Rarely can a player perform so badly that there is nothing positive to be said. If your team is losing ball at the breakdown ask them to adjust their body positions and clean out beyond the ball. If the ball is dying in the 10/12 channel tell your 10 to stand a little bit deeper and encourage him to support your 12 if the ball is taken into contact.
Small adjustments are key. Players engage with precise requests rather than sweeping, broad demands. Obviously we can always find room for improvement in nearly everything we do however during a game is not the best time to be canvassing for entire policy changes! Focus individual minds and the collective will respond.
As a player I have stood in on half-time team talks and been completely stumped by the array of points made by coaches, captains and players. 2, maybe 3 key points is more than enough. If you are speaking to players individually, 2 is plenty. Rugby is so physically demanding that I imagine players find it near impossible to remember anything more than that.
To paraphrase Jonny Wilkinson, as coach, make your next contribution to the team a positive one. Ask yourself how you can fix a problem by changing only one component, rather than transplanting the whole machine. This is more than enough.
