Saturday 26 November 2011

rugby tips - crash ball guide.

Crash ball is when you run straight at the defense's line, the desirable effect is to break the line but usually it just gains a couple meters over the gain line (gain line is where your last player was tackled so your advancing towards the oppositions try line).
Crash ball is a good way to mix your attack up and repeated crash ball can give your backs time to organize, a great tactic teams often use is to do crash ball a few time in a row with the forwards, this draws the opposition into and around the ruck which leaves space for you backs on the outside to make a break and gain some ground and even score.


Pick and go:
There's a couple different ways you might use crash ball, the first is pick and go, basically this is taking the ball from the back of the ruck and going straight into the immediate defense around the ruck, go in very low, head down and drive your legs, make sure you tuck the ball in to your chest so you don't lose it or get held up and create a maul. Also before taking the ball make sure you've communicated with your scrum half and its okay with him or he'll get annoyed.

Proper crash ball:
This is where you stand off the ruck and run at the opposition from a depth.
The two most important things when doing this is to make sure you have at least one other forward with you, but its better if you have two or three, and not to stand in the fly half's channel!
What you need to remember is that when calling for crash ball ( by saying your a runner or whatever other call you want) is that your giving your scrumhalf an option and by standing in the fly half's way your blocking the scrumhalf's other option and when you do that both your scrumhalf and flyhalf get very annoyed, so the trick is to stand slightly behind the channel of the flyhalf (the channel is basically the line of the flight of the ball from the scrumhalf to the flyhalf).
So like i said above shout a call like 'i'm a runner' so the scrumhalf know's your there, if the scrumhalf gives you the ball, you need to run straight and hard at the opposition- this is kind of common sence but run at the gap between two players making it harder for them to tackle you and making it more likely for you to gain ground- also like with the pick and go run low and tuck the ball in to your chest and run low but not as much  as with the pick and go because you want to keep going.
When you go in to contact don't go straight down, keep going with your legs with small and powerful strides, don't go down easy!
To make as much ground as possible, your teammate's will also help by pushing you which also makes it easier for them to win the ruck as they have the momentum going forward and the opposition are 
going back.

The video above shows Munster doing 33 phases of crash ball, it shows you exactly what it should look like and at 2.55 it shows how it can lead to an overlap.
Note though in this case there main aim was to hold on to the ball till the end of the match as they were winning.

Thursday 24 November 2011

How to get better at rugby - getting fit and pumped up.



Getting mentally and physically prepared.


There are numerous ways to improve your game: practicing and perfecting skills, getting a good knowledge of the game (either from watching high level players or from experience) and knowing exactly what to do in your position (reading my position guide's may help!).
The two aspects of your game i'm focusing on now are fitness and your mindset before going into a game.
These are things important to any competitive sport and so isn't always rugby specific.

Fitness:

Fitness is important for obvious reasons, having good fitness means you can keep up a high intensity through out the game so your constantly getting to those rucks or are in support and in the right place at the right time.
The type of fitness you need differs from forwards to backs, in the forwards you should be constantly running from each breakdown, so mostly its low intensity for long periods which is stamina.
With the backs (excluding the scrumhalf) its more high intensity, making runs, for short periods of time so speed endurance because even though you'll only be sprinting for short amounts of time you'll have to be able to do it  many time's and when your tired.


different methods of training you can use:

Its good to use a variety of different training methods, cross train, to improve fitness as no one training method will improve all components of your fitness equally well.

Fartlek:
Fartlek is a the Swedish word for speed play and its exactly that, you go at different passes for a set amount of time, for example you might sprint 50 meters, jog 50 meters, walk 50 meters and then run (75%) for 50 meters and repeat it again for a set amount of times, you could do this with cones in a square or could also instead of doing distances you could do timed sprints, jogs etc..
Fartlek is great for rugby and other sports alike because in an actual match you will be constantly changing speeds, its also great because its easy to change to suit your fitness by making it harder or easier, you could do this by extending the time you sprint and run to make it harder or vice versa to make it easier.

Continuous training:
This is simply exercises like running or cycling at a constant rate, go at a pace your reasonably comfortable at for as long as you can.

Circuit training:
Circuit training is where there are a number of stations which have different exercises at each one, it usually includes lots of different muscle groups, upper (arms), core (abs), lower (legs).
It also usually includes exercises such as jogs or sprints.
Circuit training is great because it works such a wide range of muscles, it may be hard to make your own circuit due to not enough equipment or space so its usually done at gyms with lots of people so check at your local gym to see if they do sessions.

Interval training:
This is where you use a fixed patterns of exercise, so you might alternate between exercises like a 100 meter sprint and then a 200m jog and then repeat, this is quite similar to Fartlek training and will improve your fitness loads because your doing aerobic exercise (the jog) while recovering from anaerobic exercise (the sprint) which is very beneficial but it is also very hard and exhausting.

Speed endurance:
Speed endurance training is done by running very far distances at a sprint, for example you might run a 300 or 400m sprint, you then rest till you are completely recovered which might take 20 minutes.
For more on speed endurance visit this guys website http://speedendurance.com/2007/02/12/what-is-speed-endurance-training/

Rugby mindset

Its essential to get in the right mindset before any game.
I know its easy to get distracted and talk to your friends and have a joke but for at least 10 minutes before you start your warm up for the match should be your time to start concentrating.

Ways of getting you pumped up for a game:
-Listen to music which pumps you up and which will also allow you to focus on the game, everyone has there own personal music taste so its up to you to find something which pumps you up.
-Imagine yourself playing well and start thinking about what you need to do, often i think about a big tackle i'm going to put in or a try i'm going to score.
- Watch rugby highlights! I think this is a great way of getting pumped up, here's a few to get you started, jonah lomu highlightsrugby big hits, more rugby big hits, kurtley beale highlights from when he was at school, shane williams highlights

Remember what your aiming for is to be pumped up and concentrated, not over the top excited though,  by your warm up you should be performing plays and skills as you would like to in a game, make sure you take the warm up seriously!
Some teams or players take 10-20 minutes to get in to the game but that can be disastrous if the other team have taken advantage of that.
So make sure you find your way to get in the zone, good luck!

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 :)







How to play at scrumhalf.

To play at scrum half, you need to have good vision, good decision making and great passing- left and right!
Your the link between the forwards to the backs at all times, line outs, scrums and break downs.


General play:
In general play, e.g. break downs, your main aim is always to get to every single breakdown, there isn't to much to it.
Always be looking at your options, the best way to gain ground is to do something the opposition isn't expecting so use your different option, a lot time you'll just pass it down the backs line but look to pass it on the blind side if the options open, or to one of your forwards to crash ball.
As a scrumhalf you should boss the forwards about telling them what to do e.g. get out of my way, get in the ruck, take the ball, don't be shy to yell at them!


Lineouts and scrums:
Here its all about getting the ball away as quick as possible, on the line outs its simple as soon as you catch the ball pass it and you should be fine.
on the scrums the opposite scrumhalf will be pestering you but he can't tackle you untill you put two hands on the ball so its important to block him out otherwise he could psych you out which could lead to a bad pass.
On the scrum you want to have your feet either side of the ball, when you pick up the ball you want to shift your weight on to the leg in which is the direction your passing the ball, so if you passing left shift your weight on to your left leg, simple!


Passing:
Now this is the most important skill of the scrum half and you should spend a lot of time working on your pass, you should be able to pass from your left and right hand so make sure you work on your weaker hand! and just remember that the hand at the back is the stabilizer and the hand at the front is the one that spins the ball.
It may be worth investing in a training ball or a pass developer ball (different names for the same thing) its just a heavy rugby ball but it improves your passing tremendously, you can get one from amazon around £8.00+.

Box kicks:
The box kick is usually used by the scrumhalf to clear the ball under pressure but it can be used in other situations as you'll see in the video below.
The box kick is where the ball is kicked by the scrumhalf from the back of the ruck, to do it make sure your facing sideways and when you pick up the ball take a step sideways and slightly back with your front foot and kick the ball from that sideways position, you should do a lot of practice to be able to do it well and quickly as the forwards will be trying to charge you down.
Look at how they do it in the video below.



How to play at second row.

Typically locks are very tall for jumping in the line outs, they're also generally strong for in the scrums.
Lots of people say its essential to be tall if you're going to play at second row but in less your playing at a very high level of rugby you really shouldn't worry about it.

Scrums:

The binding of a second row.
The Second row in the scrums are located behind the prop and hooker, you put your head between them, you first bind with one arm in between the props legs grabbing the props shirt or the top of his shorts.
You bind with your other arm on the other second row, its important to get a strong bind and to get pull yourself tight together as it helps creates a strong and stable scrum.
You want to have your shoulders on the props and hookers ass, also have your legs shoulder width apart and place them as far back so your hips are below your shoulders, meaning your driving upwards, but not to far back otherwise your legs will be to straight and you'll have no power coming from them.
Another thing to do to make sure you drive upwards is to have your eye's looking forward.


Line outs:

Like i said before most the time the locks are the one's jumping in the line out because of their height so learn how (this information comes straight from my guide on lifting and beings lifted in line outs) -
There's lots of ways people like to get into the jump, for example you could have one foot back and bring it forward just as your about to jump or you could simply have both legs together at the start so there's no need to move them untill you actually jump, its down to you to work out your routine as long as the people lifting you know it.
First of all you want to make your actual jump as high as possible so you get to your maximum height as quick as possible, this is very important to winning the line out, you want to elongate your body so your legs are straight and together and your arms are out stretched in the air; during the jump your need to keep your legs straight, move them as little as possible by tensing your legs and core- you may want to work out your core so you can keep rigid and balanced in the air- if your able to stay relatively still in the air it then allows you to completely concentrate on catching the ball, another tip is to always lean towards the center of the line out during your throw as if your hooker doesn't throw the ball straight down the middle then it can make it seem like he did and will occasionally save you from free kicks against you.
When you catch the ball then there will be two options, you should already know which one your going to do based on the hookers or scrumhalf's call.
The first option is to give the ball to the scrumhalf now when doing this take your time to give your scrumhalf a good pass right to his hands, you should have at least a second or two from catching the ball to do this which may not sound like much but its plenty, otherwise your scrumy could be crushed by there flanker or one of the other quick forwards.
The second option is to take the ball into a maul, now once again this will be communicated before hand and all you need to do is turn so your back is to the opposition and your lifters should bind either side of you and then you should hold the ball out for the next player into the maul to take.

Open play:

In open play you should be making lots of crash ball runs (scum half or other back passing ball to you to run at the enemy's defense) or pick and go's,  run hard and use your power to break through the line, learn more about this from my guide here.
You should also know how to ruck.


PCDRU6WGXFCU

Monday 21 November 2011

how to lift and be lifted in the line outs.

General lifting:
When lifting you want it to be a fast explosive action to get the player to his max height as quickly as possible and so you can lock your elbows, put your legs in a powerful position as you lift with your legs first.
Be in a low position like a squat but it differs from it as you want to be leaning forward, you may want to put one leg back and bring it forward in the motion of lifting the player its whatever suits you really.
You should also look straight forward (at the other lifter) during the lifting instead of being tempted to look upwards to the player being lifted.


There are two different ways you can lift a player, either by the shorts or the legs like in the picture above, lifting by the legs is a lot more popular although i'm not sure why.

Lifting by the legs:
Lifting from the front- when lifting from the front grab his leg just above his knees and under (or at least as close as possible to under) the main part of his muscle, the quadriceps.
Get a good strong grip, don't have your elbows square, have them out at a comfortable angle and have your fingers partly round the leg as to get a good grip.
Lifting from the back- lifting from the back isn't quite as a nice job than from the front.
You basically need to cup his ass with your hands in a position so that your thumbs are facing upwards, although not straight up as that won't be be comfortable or a powerful position, so put them at an angle that feel comfortable and right, once again get a strong grip.

Lifting from the shorts:
Lifting from the front and back is basically the same when lifting from the shorts, all you do is grab his shorts at the bottom so your fingers are curled round the shorts on the outside and your thumb inside, have it so the back of your hands are facing up.
That's all there is to it, as all you change is your grip, you use exactly the same technique to actually lift the player.

Being lifted in the line out:
There's lots of ways people like to get into the jump, for example you could have one foot back and bring it forward just as your about to jump or you could simply have both legs together at the start so there's no need to move them untill you actually jump, its down to you to work out your routine as long as the people lifting you know it.
First of all you want to make your actual jump as high and as possible so you get to your maximum height as quick as possible, this is very important to winning the line out, you want to elongate your body so your legs are straight and together and your arms are out stretched in the air; during the jump your need to keep your legs straight, move them as little as possible by tensing your legs and core- you may want to work out your core so you can keep rigid and balanced in the air- if your able to stay relatively still in the air it then allows you to completely concentrate on catching the ball, another tip is to always lean towards the center of the line out during your throw as if your hooker doesn't throw it straight then it can make it seem like he did.
When you catch the ball then there will be two options, you should already know which one your going to do based on the hookers or scrumhalf's call.
The first option is to give the ball to the scrumhalf now when doing this take your time to give your scrumhalf a good pass right to his hands, you should have at least a second or two from catching the ball to do this which may not sound like much but its plenty, otherwise your scrumy could be crushed by there flanker or one of the other quick forwards.
The second option is to take the ball into a maul, now once again this will be communicated before hand and all you need to do is turn so your back is to the opposition and your lifters should bind either side of you and then you should hold the ball out for the next player into the maul to take.
Adam Thomson (L) and Ross Filipo of the All Blacks are lifted in the lineout during a New Zealand All Blacks training session at So Kon Po Sports Ground on October 29, 2008 in Hong Kong, China.  (Photo by Ross Land/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Adam Thomson;Ross Filipo

Tuesday 15 November 2011

how to play at number 8

Often the number 8 is the tall powerful one of the pack, as a number 8 you should be making a lot of runs, run straight hard and low! you will often be making runs from the back of your scrum but you should also look to be making runs in open play either by supporting your team mate who off loads to you or doing crash ball.
You should train to get stronger and faster.
Pierre spies is the South African number 8, as you can see he make lots of powerful runs and breaks the line on numerous occasions, he is also extremely fast despite weighing 108 kg's!

scrums:
In the scrum the number 8 is located at the back pushing behind both of the seconds rows, your job in the scrum is to support the seconds rows by pushing them forward and keeping them tight by using your arms to pull them together.
If you win the ball in the scrum then when the ball comes back to your feet you need to use your feet to keep the ball in the scrum and relatively still for your scrumhalf.
If your near the oppositions try line then you have the option to take the ball, go blindside and run your self, when doing this its best to do it as soon as the ball comes to the back of the scrum as to surprise the flanker who if any good will be expecting you to do it, you also want to explode out of the blocks as fast and powerful as possible, if your not able to get to the try line then you can always draw there player, either the flanker or scrumhalf, and pass it to the player outside you.

Open play:
Similar to a flanker you should be trying to be one of the first to most of the rucks and securing the ball for your team, as well as that though if there's no need for you to go into a ruck either because the balls already won or lost then get the backs line!
Having an extra man in defense is also helpful and when your attacking there's a couple things you can do depending on you and your backs, you can firstly just join the backs line and act as a back, this is mostly fine because you should be strong runner with alright ball handling skills but if your backs like to run lots of moves then you can get in the way and then they get annoyed at you; you can also run lines of your backs so stand behind your player slightly on his inside, this can work well is your running  fast and straight and attacking a gap, people find harder to tackle on there inside shoulder, if you do this well it can be a great way to break the line; finally you can simply stand behind the line again and just support the player with the ball so when they get tackled your the first to the break down and securing the ball.
Read my guide on rucking here.

Line outs:
Often you'll be lifting or occasionally be lifted in the lineout, you can see my guide for that here.

Monday 7 November 2011

how to play at wing.

to play at wing in rugby ideally you should be very quick, it also helps to be powerful and have good balance.
You should know skills such as handing off and side stepping and be able to use them well.
Not only does it help to be quick as a winger but having a good change of pace (quick acceleration) is important.
A good thing to note is that not all winger are the same, take for example Jonah lomu (in the picture below)
hes strong, powerful, fast and has great balance and he tends to run over players more than he avoids them.
Then there Shane Williams who's small, fast and evasive e.g. tends to avoid contact.
Now these are two extremes of great wingers, but you can see from them how you could play as a winger.



General:
A lot of being a winger is simply being very athletic, you should look at area's where you could improve for example your speed, your fitness or your strength and power.
You've also got to have skills such as sidestepping, it was a major part of Shaun Williams game and should be a big part of any wingers game.
You should also be able to use your hand off, Jonah Lomu loved this and was a great asset to him
this video shows Lomu's strength.
Shows Lomu's pace and power.

And then there's more basic skills such as passing and catching, these are just as important! and its not just catching from a pass you'll need to catch kicks as well, so make sure you practice this

Basic play:
Often as winger you don't do a lot untill the ball actually gets to you, but there's subtle thing's such as if your blind side and you think there going to kick, probably because there under pressure in there 22, then you need to stand a bit further back and always be ready to run back and support your fullback.
Another thing, when the ball comes out wide but doesn't quite get to you and your player gets tackled then sometimes your forwards won't be able to get there quick enough so you need to get in the ruck your self, if you need help with rucking, some of the stuff in my rucking guide might help you.

Getting faster:

Now there's many plans and program's out there you can follow to help you sprint faster but i'll give you some tips and exercises that i know to help you out.
A great type of exercise for speed is plyometric's, plyometric's is high intensity and explosive movements.
Examples of plyometric exercise's are jumping lunge's this is where you do a lunge, say with your right foot in front, then jump in the air and land in a lunge with your left foot in front; do this continually for a certain number or reps.
Another plyometric exercise is tuck jumps where you jump in the air as high as you can and bring your knee's in to your stomach, once again do this continually for as many reps as you can take.
With plyometric's make sure you have a soft surface to land on as to not injure your self and you should have long rest in between sets.
Another thing you can do is sprinting, funnily enough this is the best way to get faster; keep in mind in rugby you usually won't run more than 20 meter's or so, there's no point running 100 meter's then its best to do 50 meter or less sprints, you could do something like 5 50 meter sprints then 4 40 meters 3 30 meters and so on.
Its really up to you to get a routine that works for you.

How to sidestep:
To sidestep you need to trick your opponent to think your going in one direction and then go the other, the two main parts of sidestepping are change of pace, so you can get past him before he can readjust himself and then there's timing, and that's something you can't be taught, its either natural or learnt through experience.
All there is really to teach about the sidestep is that you need to put all your weight on one leg so it seems like your going in that direction and quickly shift your weight to your other leg, but like i said its really all to do with  timing, if you time it wrong all your going to do is run right into the player that's going to tackle you.
This is just a very brief overview of the intricate skill of sidestepping if you want to learn more from an experienced guy visit this site- http://www.rugby-sidestep-central.com/index.html

If you want to see visually how to sidestep just check out the video of Shane Williams.

Sunday 6 November 2011

how to play at hooker

Having a good hooker is a great asset to a team, he basically controls the set pieces (scrums and line outs).
The hooker throws in the ball at the line outs and hooks the ball at the scrum- hits the ball back to his side with his foot.

hooking at the scrum:

so first i'm going to be focusing on hooking the ball in the scrum, as a hooker you don't bother with driving at the start, your only concern is hooking the ball- that is untill you either either win or lose the ball and then you should join in with the push
In general hooking should be a very quick and precise strike, its very much to do with timing you should practice to strike where the ball will land, so as the ball lands your already striking it.
Your scrum: you have the advantage on your scrum because you can communicate with your scrumhalf when the balls being put in, how you do this is up to you and your scrumhalf working it out before hand but generally the scrumhalf taps you on the hand or shoulder with the ball to tell you he's about to put it in.
In your scrum the ball is going to be put in from the left, if your right footed the best thing to do is using your right foot swing it round so you strike it into the channel between you and your loose head, so outside your left leg. If you can, try and pivot your foot so you strike the ball with the inside of your foot directing it the back of the scrum. As you can see, you have to be reasonably flexible to do this.
If your left footed its fairly simple you just strike it into the same channel but with your left foot, so no need for any twisting.
Oppositions scrum: it can be very hard to win the ball on the oppositions ball because not only does the oppositions hooker know when the balls coming in but often there scrumhalf feeds the ball, so the ball goes further towards them rather than you (note that this is illegal but still very popular).
So basically you just do the same method to strike the ball as you would when its your ball, But there is an alternative to this if its not working out which is instead of trying to hook the ball to your side simply kick the ball, this can achieve 1 of 3 things:
first; is that you can simply make there hookers job a lot easier, this is obviously the bad option.
secondly; it can make the ball go through the scrum and come out of the scrum surprising there scrumhalf and putting him under pressure, the flankers should be all over the scrumhalf, this is a good outcome.
Finally; it can rebound off one of the oppositions front rows legs making the ball come your way and you could potentially then win the ball, hopefully now you can see that kicking the ball isn't always a bad option!

Throwing in at the line outs:

Grip: first i'm going to start with your grip on the ball, grips will varies slightly from hooker to hooker its just what suits you best.
But typically (if your right handed) hookers holds the ball with there right hand at the back, the one that gets the spiral, and hold the front of the ball with your left hand, the one that stabilizes it.
The hold is similar to the way you would hold it when passing the ball but the opposite way round, you can simply hold the ball in front of you with your hands on it as if you were making a pass and then swap them round, this is your grip.
Placement of your feet and posture: once again the placement of your feet will vary from hooker to hooker, you could take a take step forward, you could have your legs square to each other, you could have one leg further back than the other.
You should try different feet placement to see what suits you best.
For posture, its important to keep your hips square to the line out and have your abdominal area (stomach) tucked in. Its also beneficial to keep your elbows in, this doesn't meant having them facing straight downwards but avoid them being wide apart.
Throwing the ball: before you bring the ball back to throw you should visualize where exactly your going to throw the ball and hold the ball in front of your face so that you can look down the length of the ball at your target.
You then bring the ball back behind your head, don't move your elbows positioning so you throw the ball down the line of your target.
 The line out throw  
bring the ball back slightly just before throwing it, this increases the power of your throw, then throw the ball.
To effectively throw the ball you need to get it to spiral, you do this by rolling your right hand. it should but a fast but controlled movement, at the end you want to follow through with your hands outstretched forward.

The line out throw
look at how his arms and hand are facing forward.
Getting a better technique: to get better simply comes from practice untill it becomes second nature.
luckily throwing in is one of those thing in rugby you can practice by your self.
You can simply draw a target on a wall and then try to hit from different distances away or instead use a bucket hanging from a branch and do the same.
Another important thing with throwing in is timing, desirably you want to throw the ball so it hits the hands of the person just as he gets to his peak height, this comes from practicing it with your jumpers.

Open play:
in open play you want to act as another loose forward, so you want to always be in support and be the first to breakdowns (read my guide for rucking here). This is a combination of reading the game (seeing where your needed by judging whats happening) and fitness.

top tips:
get fit!
learn how to hook.
practice throwing the ball in at line outs - remember the technique, foot placement, posture and your grip on the ball.

Friday 4 November 2011

How to ruck in rugby

ruck on Ireland's try line 












The main thing in a ruck is to get in a strong position, you always want to try to be in a lower position than the person your driving off, a good thing that could be used at any time is to grab the leg of the player your driving off and drive upwards as it puts him off balance.


General rucking rules:
I'm going to give a list of the most basic rucking rules as rucks, ruck are probably the most common time when penalties are given. If you already know the rules then skip this section:
1) You are not aloud to use your hands once a ruck is formed- so if your in a ruck and you see the ball on the floor in easy reach, don't touch it! your feet can be an important tool in getting the ball back to your side which many forwards seem to forget in the thick of the ruck.
2) You must come in from the back foot. This rule is a bit more complicated and may be confusing to new players but it just means you can't come in from the side of a ruck- you must come in straight over the player on the floor.
3)  When you are tackled and a ruck is formed you are aloud to place the ball back towards your side but after that you are not aloud to play the ball again.
4) The tackler must roll away, if the tackler gets in the way and blocks the way of the ball so the opposition can't get to it its a penalty.
5) When you drive over a ruck you must attempt to stay on your feet, if you start driving in a ruck and go straight down over the ball its considered dangerous and killing the ball and will result in a penalty.

General rucking:

A ruck is formed when a player is tackled, players from each team try's to drive the opposition off the ruck in order to gain possession of the ball, the team who has the possession of the ball usually manages to win the ruck and keep the ball as the ball is placed on their side.
The main thing in a ruck is to get in a strong position and drive players with your shoulders not your hands and arms!
You always want to try to be in a lower position than the person your driving off, a good technique that could be used at any time is to grab the leg of the player your driving off and drive upwards which puts him off balance and then making him easy to push off.



Grabbing your teammates shirt:
In situations where there's no opposition immediately coming over the ruck- this can be when your team has driven of the first couple of opposition off the ball or when your the very first to the ruck- then the best thing to do is instead of stepping over your teammate, which is pointless because your not driving any one off and there just end up going round you and taking the ball, just grab your tackled team mates shirt with both your hands and get in a strong position e.g. wide feet and low, this make you very hard to drive off as your in a difficult position to push against and you have the weight of your team mate on the floor to push against as well. This then secures the ruck and gives your scrumhalf time to look at his options.

What to do when they have the advantage on you:
In a ruck where the opposition forwards have the momentum and are coming over the ball in a lower position than you, one thing you can do is grab one of them from above wrapping both your arms round there waist from above and roll over on to your side using your weight to roll them over and out of the ruck with you, this might leave a gap for one of your teammate's to ruck through.
Another thing you can do is grab them by there shirt and pull them over (toward your side) and out of the ruck, This also can present an opening for you to drive through.

knowing when to get in a ruck:
If your a forward its important to learn which ruck you need to get into and which ones to leave and join your line, this is basically common sense but i thought i should mention it anyway.
Generally rucks you should leave are one's where it makes no difference whether you go in or not- this could be where you see that you already have loads of players in and they're winning the ball or where the opposition are in close support and have already secured the ruck before your players have got there and there's no chance of a counter ruck.

Counter rucking:
At the start of a match counter rucking can be hard, you often won't be able to do it if the team is decent, but when you get further into the match the opposition get tired and make mistakes, they may fail to get enough players to the ruck and leave gaps or some of there players may not get in a good position which  allows you to get the advantage and drive them off, judging a ruck and looking for a position to attack from is a great skill and you will find if you attack one weakness it opens up mores point of attack for your teammate's to drive through and you might win the ball or at least disrupt it.


Preventing the opposition ripping the ball from a tackled player:
When one of your team mates get tackled and the guy who tackled your player gets on his feet and try's to take the ball- which is legal because hes the tackler and the ruck hasn't formed yet- you need to get him off quickly.
If they manage to get there hands on the ball you need to hit the which should knock him over before he gets a decent grip on the ball

Ripping the ball:
Now I've given you some tips of how to protect the ball the ball from players trying to get the ball from the tackled player but you need to remember its also a great way to get the ball yourself! if your a flanker this is especially important to know and perfect.
So you can do this at any time if your the tackler or the first person to get to the ruck.
When you tackle a player and there forwards aren't close enough because there lazy you need to learn to get on your feet as quick as possible, release the player (even for half a second) and then your free to go for the ball from any position, try to get in a strong position over the ball so any forwards coming in will have a hard time getting you off the ball
Remember the tackled player has to release the ball!
So if he holds on to the ball don't say 'okay fine keep it'  keep battling for it and don't let go of that ball untill you get it or the ref pins the player on the floor for holding on!
This is a great instructional video were you can see it in action.

how to play at flanker.

The flanker should try to always be in the action whether that's in a ruck, maul, supporting a player or running with the ball.
If your flanker you should try to be the first to the ruck and securing the ball as often as you can- you can do the first by closely supporting a player and rucking over when they get tackled- if you see that your team has already won or loss the ruck and there's no point in you going in then you should either go into the back line and act as an extra player and you could pass it along or hit the oppositions defensive line or you could go behind the backs line and make sure your near the player which gets tackled so your the first to the ruck.
The best flankers know what they can get away with and play the ref, if you look at Richie McCaw hes always doing this, this just comes with experience and knowledge of the rules.

Richie Mccaw tackling.




















In the scrum:
The flanker in the scrum is at the side binding on to the second row and the prop.
With the arm binding to the second row don't have the bind close to you, you want your arm outstretched over his back, you then bind with the prop in front of you by grabbing a piece of his shorts/shirt on the outside of his leg.
Have you shoulder just under the props butt so your supporting him and pushing him up, you'll be in quite a low position and so you need to have your legs quite far back so your butt his lower than your head which means you will be pushing up.

During the scrum you want to have your head up and if you can looking at the ball waiting for the scrumhalf to put two hands on it, as soon as he does you can unbind and then you want to put pressure on him by trying to tackle him and hopefully make him give a bad pass and if possible tackle him.
number 8 taking ball, flanker quickly coming of the scrum to tackle him.
If the scrumhalf passes the ball before you get him, which sadly he will most of the time, then if your open side (on the side of where most of there back line players are standing) your job is to make sure there flyhalf doesn't cut inside your flyhalf, because if he does your there to tackle him.
If your blindside flanker and they have a scrum close to your try line then you should always be ready for there number 8 to pick up the ball himself and run down your side and you need to make sure you tackle him
There is a dirty trick that flanker on your own scrum, if the opposite scrumhalf comes round the scrum on your side you can stick your leg out in his way to stop him coming round or at least slow him down which gives your scrumhalf a bit more time and it makes your scrumhalf's life a whole lot easier!


line outs:
In the line outs you may be getting lifted or be lifting, you can read my guide on that here.
If your not doing either of them then you'll be at the back of the line out, if your here then all you have to do is be ready if the ball is dropped and try to get it by diving on it or if there scrumhalf gets it put pressure on him by running and trying to tackling him.
Open Play:
Like i said before as a flanker you should try always be in the action whether that's rucking or running with the ball, being able to ruck well is an extremely important trait for any forward but especially important for the back row (number 8 and flankers), you can see my guide for rucking here.



Thursday 3 November 2011

how to play at prop

Props are usually the beef of the pack, they're very important at the scrums and located at the front of the scrum on either side of the hooker.
The most important thing about prop is there technique at a scrum so having great technique will really give you the advantage on your opposition because it will win you scrums!

scrums.



The binding:
At the scrum the tight head prop binds with the hooker first, the tight head is on the right side of the hooker and will put his head on the inside between there hooker and there loose head.
The loose head prop does the exact opposite (funnily enough), which mean he binds on the left hand side of the hooker and has his head on the outside.
When you bind you want to get a tight bind with your hooker because it stabilizes the scrum, The hooker will lift his arms up in the air reach round his back and grab a piece of shirt at around about the side of his ribs and pull it back so with both props doing it, his shirt will be tight around his belly.


positioning
straight back, eye's looking forward and feet wider than shoulder width.
Now to your positioning technique in the scrum.
You need to squat your with your legs while having your body leaning forwards. its important to keep a straight back by sticking your backside out.
Another thing you should be doing is looking forward with your eyes, don't put your head to far up though as its unnatural and you'll want need to lower it when engaging, have it so your eyes are at the top of your head like you would do when looking over the top of sunglasses (you can even practice with sunglasses if have a pair).
For the positioning of your feat, if your tight head it should be a bit wider than your shoulder width to get in a very strong and balanced position, if your open side though you should have them still slightly wider than your shoulders but less so because you need an empty channel where the ball can get hooked through.
Also you want your weight on the balls of your feet (the front)  without taking your heels off the ground.
If you can remember to do all this then you'll be doing great!

Scrummaging
Now when every one is bound up tight and ready the ref will shout crouch, touch, pause and ENGAGE!
Crouch is where you squat into the position i have just talked about above.
Touch is were you touch the opposite props shoulder quickly and then let go and bring your arm back.
The pause.. well i think you can guess that one and then ENGAGE! engage is where both scrums hit together in a brutal clash (its not as bad as i make it sound but you may want to consider buying some shoulder pads).
Now this part is the most important, what all the preparation was for, now the position you got in wasn't for no reason this is the best and most powerful position for pushing, so while pushing try and stay in the position i taught you.
The best and most effective way to drive with your legs is with quick and short steps, another thing is be pushing upwards, by keeping your eye looking forward you should be doing this automatically.


Open play:

Chances are as a prop your not going to be as agile and fast around the pitch as the back rows (flankers and number 8) but fitness is still key for any position on the pitch, and if you're able to get around the pitch, be in the action and get to lots of rucks it'll improve your performance ten fold.
Also prop are generally quite strong so taking crash ball will also be a good part of your game, read my guide on crash ball here to learn how to do it effectively and without annoying your scrum half.
Now if you can't get to the break down, its usually best to stay out of the line as to not annoy the backs, so if your team has the ball, what you want to do is stand behind the line so your right there when your team mate gets tackled to ruck over, you can also read my guide to rucking here, you can also stand on the inside of your flyhalf and center and when they get the ball call for it and they may pop it to for you to do crash ball

Lifting:
If you currently in a age group which does lifting, often you'll be the one lifting so its good to learn how, you can look at my guide for lifting and being lifted here (the being lifted section most likely isn't for you).