Guide to playing at fly half, tips and tricks.

The flyhalf is a great position, your job is to run the back line and you determine what happens in almost every single play!
Being a flyhalf you need to have a good awareness and decision making, you also need to be very good at passing and kicking.

General attacking:


Flyhalf's sort out the back line and control every attacking play, you and the rest of the backs will have set moves that you have practiced and learnt in training sessions before the game, the move may be a miss pass to outside center, might be a dummy runner (where a player pretends there running on to the ball which will draw players towards him) and then pass to the outside center, or it could even be a cross kick (kicking ball across pitch) for the winger to run on to.
What makes a good fly-half is picking out weaknesses in the oppositions defense, are the opposition having trouble tackling the big forwards? get the forwards to start making some runs at the line.
If you see that they have a lack of players on the outside pass it down the line, this is why you have to be aware as well.
Another thing to be aware of is how good there wings and  fullbacks are, if you know they have a bad winger then put him under pressure, put a kick into the corner of that wingers side - tell your winger so when you do it he's ready and puts a good chase on.
The main thing when facing a good defensive line is to be persistent and use a variety of backs moves or do something there not expecting e.g. you might have passed it down the line the past 5 plays so they'll be expecting for you to do that again and then you would dummy it (do a pretend pass with the intent to trick the player) and cut in to the line and run yourself, pick the right moment!

General defense:


So what makes a good fly-half in defense?
Well being johnny for a first, but failing that just being a great tackler.
You're first target is obviously the opposite fly-half, but you gotta watch out for any players around him or behind him he might pop the ball to, another thing to look out for is the dummy pass, i told you to do it in attack but you should also be aware of it defense!
There's not much else to do really except for organizing your defensive line ( you get here, you go there etc.) and once the fly- half makes his tackle looping behind the line in case they make a break.

Johnny demonstrating nicely how to tackle

kicking basics:


There are 3 different types of kicks:

Dan carter showing us how to kick

- The punt is the standard kick where you drop the ball onto your foot, you kick it mid-air.
this is the kick used at anytime during open play, it could be used for stuff like a chip over the oppositions defense,  but mostly its used in the attempt to kick in to touch, when kicking into touch- in less your inside your 22 meter line (within 22 meters of your touchline)- the ball must bounce at least once before going into touch or it a line out from where you kicked the ball.
- The drop kick is where you drop the ball on the floor and then kick the ball as its bouncing, it is used for kick offs, e.g. the start of the game, start of the second half and after try's have been scored
It is used for drop goal attempts, you can score 3 points by drop kicking the ball over the posts in open play, drops kick are also used for the 22 drop out.
The 22 drop out occurs when the opposition kick the ball and it goes over your try line, you can then touch the ball on the ground as if your scoring a try and you get a 22 drop out.
- Place kicks are where you kick the ball off a tee, they are used after a try is scored in the attempt of scoring 2 more point by kicking it over the posts.
You have to kick the ball from along the imaginary straight line, protruding from the point at which the try was scored, towards your try line and you have to kick somewhere down that line.
So if someone scores right in the corner next to the touchline you have to kick somewhere from along the touchline.

Kicking, how, why, and ways of using it to your advantage:

Lets start with how.
I'm not going to attempt to explain in detail the movement of kicking, even if i thought my literacy technique's and plethora of language could stretch far enough to describe every intricate movement of kicking (wait a sec, that last sentence wasn't to shabby (: ) it wouldn't help you, do people teach you how to catch a ball? hopefully not... anyway the way to get better is practice, practice and more practice!
Tips to kicking:
- Point you toes, it make the ball hit the hard bit of your foot.
- Keep your eyes focussed on the ball the whole time you kicking, yes this is obvious but essential.
- Make sure you follow through when kicking the ball- so don't stop your leg dead after you've kicked the ball, let it follow through- it makes the ball go further.
- Try to have your body facing straight in the direction of where you want the ball to go.

look at how he has followed through.

why?

The kick is used for three main reasons:
1) Gain ground, kicking the ball up to get nearer there try line, you may chase the ball and tackle the full back or kick to touch so you have a line out nearer there try line.
2) put pressure on, your kicking the ball in order to put pressure on a player, this links closely with the point above as whenever you're kicking for ground your're ultimate goal is to get the ball back closer to there line, if there under pressure there more likely to make mistakes leading to you regaining possession.
3) relieving pressure, this is the opposite to the point above, if your're inside your 22 meter line, in my opinion you should always kick the ball so you can start to move back up the pitch, your 22 is the danger zone! also remember that you kick the ball straight into touch without bouncing when your inside your 22, in less the ball has been passed back from out side the 22 to you but don't worry to much about that.

How to use the kick to your advantage:
We've already talked about kicking up the pitch towards there try line, so what else can you do:

- The high ball, kicking the ball in the air as high as you can, you only usually kick the ball about 10-20 meters down the pitch as it all about the height.
It put massive amounts of pressure on the fullback, or player catching, and the ball is often knocked on; the player chasing the ball may even be able to catch the ball or tap it back allowing you to retain possession, this can be a great one to test the fullback but as always, if its not working stop doing it.

- The chip, a small kick over the oppositions head, you want to be able to catch the ball behind him.
The chip is used actually used more when you make a break and you only need to beat one or two players.

- Cross kick, a kick across the length of the pitch for the winger to catch.
This is used when your're inside the oppositions 22 meter line, you kick towards the opposite side of the pitch around 10m behind the opposing line for your winger to catch and hopefully score; similar to the chip its not used an awful lot because its hard to pull off but when you do its an amazing moment, remember to communicate with your winger that you're doing this.

- Putting the winger under pressure, now i mentioned this above, its for when you see that there winger isn't great so you put him under pressure by putting in a kick behind him and getting your winger to chase it up, under pressure he might fumble it or your winger could tackle him into touch.

Okay, remember to practice;
Passing;
Tackling;
and kicking.

Have fun :)