Rucking and Rolling

Hopefully by now you have given plenty of thought to the many variations and techniques you can use in phase play so that smaller, skillful players are provided with as much opportunity to have fun and be successful as their larger team mates or opposition.

Countless rucks with few passes in between may be the way many of the 'big boys' are going, but this concept should not be the model for all teams. In fact it shouldn't be the model for many teams at all, particularly those who are together for 10 months of the year and have ample time to come up with something that threatens the defence through having to 'think' rather than threatening them with size and power alone.

Watching the first three minutes of a recent Super Rugby game presented a dramatic example of how the 'big boys' play.  A team with a forward pack averaging over 112 kilograms a man and 95 kg per back created 22 rucks and an average of two passes following each collision.

Obviously the team were playing to their strengths based on going forward as soon as possible and having teammates close by to clean out as required. They did manage to go from side to side five times, not in one flowing movement of course, and they did finally create a 4 v 2 situation only to have the ball carrier set up another tackle situation which saw the play die.  Of course who could blame him, running hard and aggressively is what he was no doubt taught to do.  Passing was a secondary consideration.

Nowadays with team defence patterns so finely tuned and covering the whole width of the field does make life a lot tougher, but anything under the professional level still provides plenty of attacking opportunities by using the ball and skill to beat defences. The important thing is that you as the coach believe in phase play patterns that encourage lots of passing and movement and you make a plan. You owe it to your players.

Of course you are never going to stop teaching the skills required for contact and in particular winning ruck ball, but what needs to be thought about is what your team are going to do once they have recycled the ball.

In the articles 'Snook on Coaching' I have hammered this topic on many occasions. There are articles on: 'Open field Play'; 'Tactics at Phase Play'; 'Wide Attack at Phase' ;

Establishing Patterns from the Ruck'; 'Structured Phase Play'; Structuring Phase Play on the Run'; 'Decisions after the Tackle'; 'Off the Ball Decisions'; 'Decisions on the Run'; and now 'Rucking and Rolling'.

Phase play is the aspect that joins together your set pieces and just how you approach this determines your philosophies and game plan. The simplest methodology is to make as few passes as necessary, run straight and hard, and have support players close by to clean out and retain the ball.

This requires coaching of contact techniques in carrying the ball in to the tackle area, contact techniques in the support roles in the ruck, and understanding the situation by sending the required number of players in to the ruck to retain the ball. This in itself is the basis of keeping the ball in phase play and does require a certain amount of rugby 'thinking'.

For example the ball carrier may well turn his body early and present the ball to his own team if he is on his own and is running in to a number of defenders. There may also be the requirement of him staying on his feet slightly longer than normal so that the support player has time to get on to the ball. It may also determine that more players are required to retrieve the ball and it is going to be slightly slow.

On the other hand the ball carrier may only have one tackler in front of him and so he will keep his body facing forward and keep driving his legs so that he gains momentum and the support players are able to recycle quick ball with only two or three supporting in this ruck.

The technical side of things also requires constant attention. Bending knees to crouch and get in a low driving position; using the front arm to fend; keeping the chin up and eyes open; taking small steps to get in to balance. The support players doing much the same and making decisions whether to latch on to the ball carrier or clean out the tackler and so on. There is much to do as the starting point but if you want your team to do more than just ruck at the tackle zone then there are many more techniques and patterns that must be developed.

These of course will take much more time to establish and many coaches may believe that their team does not possess the required skill set or game understanding to implement these within their team. However, as a coach it is your responsibility to introduce new concepts and develop the skill base and game understanding of every one of your players. You don't have to carry out a whole host of changes, but one or two new aspects on top of what you are doing already will provide a new enthusiasm in your tactics and player interest.

If you already have forward runners operating off a pass from the halfback look at it and come up with a plan so that a single runner can more often than not run at a single defender. It might mean the first man is bypassed and the ball is received by the second player out and he is on the fringe of the close-in defenders.  It could be that the first player receives the ball and makes a short pass to the second player just before contact. Just imagine if you had a third player available who might be a back, and the first receiver could pass it to the third attacker. These are very simple improvements on a player receiving the ball and running in to the defenders.

When you achieve this you may well improve it further by teaching the ball carrier to step laterally in front of the tackler and drive through the hole on his outside shoulder. Quite often the defender is already caught square with his feet planted, and if the attacker is nicely balanced he doesn't need to accelerate until he has stepped to the side. Don't forget to coach the techniques associated with the ball carry and what to do in the tackle. The low body position; the leg drive; body before ball; driving forward in the tackle and recoiling back once on the ground. There are many aspects to get these techniques correct, not the least of what the support players are to do based on the actions of the ball carrier.

Of course the ball carrier in close could be the second man running on an angle back towards the pass to slip in to the hole between the first and second defenders or he might even pass it to the first player running an angle behind him who might hit up or pass to that third player you have brought in to the play.

As an alternative these same plays may well be conducted outside the first back receiver so that 9 is passing to 10 and the forwards are lined up outside 10. This could create more time and space and there is even more likelihood of the possibility of the attacker being able to get off a pop-pass after the tackle.

This is a new skill to be taught as well as game understanding as to when to pass and for the attacking player to recognise when it is important to get in and run off the shoulder of the ball carrier. Not only is the ruck now not necessary, but the continuation of play is far quicker and the defence are under a great deal more pressure.

If there is one new skill that should be taught it is the pop-pass after the tackle. This is not a rushed action but a clearly thought out and calmly executed skill. Once the team have injected themselves in behind the opposition defenders pop-passing and early passing should be utilised along with energetic support play. The ruck is the last option once a team has made a line break. The off-load or pop-pass, whatever you like to call it, is the one skill that needs to become a tactic in your team play if you wish to create continuity and place the opposition under maximum pressure.

The next aspect of your game plan is to create an awareness and understanding amongst all your team members as to where they should head to on the field. This will be determined by what you want to achieve and how you are going to go about it.  It is not uncommon for forwards to keep following the ball, particularly at lower levels, so it is your responsibility to discuss a plan and how all the bits and pieces fit together. The players will love coming up with something here. If they watch Super Rugby they will see the likes of Kieran Read receiving the ball on the far side of the field in amongst a lot of backline players.

Of course, once you get the plan in place there are many components that need to be worked on before it will be successful. How deep should the re-alignment be? How do you get the forwards in midfield running straight? Where should they start for example? Would it be a good idea for the forwards in the middle of the field to run off the backs or the other way round? Should the forwards be decoys? How do you 'hold' the defence with angle changes? The list is endless so start small and build it up.

At the end of a season or a block of games you can check the progress. Give yourself a pat on the back if there are some exciting things happening.

Quite simply, the contact point is the crucial part of any game and this needs to be well coached, but to threaten oppositions to the maximum you must come up with some solutions that get your attackers in behind the tacklers as often as possible. You need to threaten and make the defenders make decisions on which player they have to tackle. Once you have them thinking they are far less dominant. Don't make it easy for them by running straight at them time and time again.