In response to several questions over the last week regarding defence, such as;

Q. Do you have a drill to help my team move up quicker in defence as I get three or four moving up quick while most of the line waits for the attacker to come to them?

Q. What basic defence patterns should I teach my 11/12 year olds?

I thought the best way is to ‘show you’:)

In the video below the first part is a drill to get the players moving off the line quickly while the second part is a drill for the whole line while still moving forward.

Regarding coaching 11/12 year olds, I think in any sport the best way to progress is to learn the basics, practice the basics, perfect the basics. So whether you’re coaching 11, 12 open age you need to spend a percentage of your training week on basic core skills.

With regard to which defensive pattern, I would say concentrate on the correct technique and coach them how to tackle, front, side, rear and stay man on man. As they get older and their basic skills improve, then possibly introduce more complex systems.

The only system I would coach the younger kids is a tight ruck defence. Implement a system so that everyone knows each others job at marker, 1st,2nd and 3rd off the ruck. It’s a pet hate when a defence gets broke down the middle because it puts your line under all kinds of pressure.

Anyhow have a look and see if you can implement the drills into your sessions remembering the main coaching points;

1. Move off the line quickly
2. Body and hips facing forward
3. Correct head position
4. Communication

Best Wishes

Neil
http://1RugbyCoach.com

Following a recent email to a few hundred amateur rugby coaches, I asked what their two burning questions about coaching a rugby team were and I was overwhelmed by the response. There were several questions centering around coaching a sliding defence and here’s one of them,

Q. “What is the best way to teach sliding defence? and on the whole,
is this the best defensive structure to use?”

Firstly I would have to say that most professional coaches would mix and match their defensive structure, depending on which area of the field they are in and the quality of their players.

For instance, if you’re in your opponents red zone, you can afford to condense your line and  put pressure on them for the first few tackles. As they advance up the field your defence would spread out more and go for man on man. Of course if your blessed with loads of speed in your outside backs then you can afford to leave a bigger gap and trust the ‘Slide Defence’

The main coaching points when teaching a slide defence are:

1. Line Speed

2. Always keep your body position facing forward (never turn sideways to run)

3. You only slide when the ball goes past you.

4. The talk MUST come from the inside man

If these points are carried out you can defend a large space with less defenders than attackers, the emphasis being on the inside man talking and pushing the line out.

With regard to “Is this the best structure to use” I would have to say I would primarily coach man on man and only use the slide if your caught short and have to scramble or you have an abundance of speed in your side and they can afford to condense the line.

Rather than explain the drills I think it’s better that you watch them and look for the coaching points. The first few examples show the slide working fine and the last clip shows how it can go horribly wrong if you don’t get it right.

Give it a try and let me know your comments.

Neil Harmon

http://1RugbyCoach.com