Why Not Use Tap Penalties More Often?

There are many opportunities in a game when it would make a lot of sense to carry out a well-constructed tap penalty move rather than choosing a scrum or lineout.

The guaranteed advantage of a tap kick is that the attack team are already in possession of the ball and do not have to compete in a set piece to secure the ball before beginning their attack.

Base your plan around the ‘Principles of Play’: ‘Go forward – support – continuity – pressure’. Think about the concept of ‘grouping and spreading’ so that the team manipulate as many defenders as possible in to one zone (go forward – support), before spreading them so that they become disorganised (continuity – pressure), repeating the process until the attack finds the space to get in behind the defenders and through support and continuity are able to score.

In simplistic terms attack a zone, move from it quickly to another zone and start looking for spaces to attack and get in behind the defence where the support play keeps the attack moving forward.

Designing a play is not difficult. Very little imagination is required to be successful. In fact, the players can quite often come up with their own plan. The key is to practice and fine tune the plays on a regular basis and not just hope that they will be successful after a couple of practice runs, and to make sure that the halfback gets their hands on the ball before someone rushes up and takes a tap kick before charging in to the opposition.

A simple starter could be: divide the pack in to two groups of 4 who are 5 metres away on either side of the halfback / the halfback taps and passes to the group closest to the posts / they carry forward and hit and drive hard to recycle the ball quickly / the far group wrap around the ruck and receive the ball and hit up as for the first group / the backs decide which side they are going to run to – generally back the way the team have come from / they have a play organised (if necessary) and the forwards from the first ruck will get up and support the backs.

A ‘quick tap’ is a very important part of the team’s armoury and it too must be planned and practiced so that a big advantage can be gained by using it. Make a plan that can work with about half of the team making an instant reaction upon a call made by the player taking the tap kick. The remaining players will soon play their role so long as everyone knows what they are supposed to do.

One of the most disappointing aspects of many games is the lack of organisation and understanding when a tap penalty occurs. Make sure you get a jump on your opponents by practicing for a ‘quick tap’. Work with some basic guidelines so that any team member can instigate the play.

The player who has the ball makes a call or the call comes quickly from the captain/decision maker. The player who takes the tap runs forward and in to space; generally, towards the goalposts. At least two players run up on their shoulder to take a short ball and hit in to a thin defensive line. If there are a number of defenders in this area the second option is to pass behind these two players to get the ball in to space and the attack running at a thin line once again.

From then on it is a numbers game. Because you know what is happening your team should be able to get more players in support a lot quicker than the opposition can reorganise their defence. If you get this first part working quickly then all sorts of opportunities can open up and you can make a plan on how to best effect the continuity and pressure aspects.

So: ‘call is made – run to space [generally towards the goalposts] – two closest players look to support on the shoulder – players near the ball start to wrap and get in to good support roles – if a short ball is taken another couple of players need to get in to the contact zone – if a pass is made behind the runners the ball is moved to deep and fast runners who should attack in 1 v 1 situations trying to keep the ball alive at the tackle’.

Plan: “call-posts-2 burst-core wrap-ball in to space-keep alive”.

Good luck. This will be fun and it will need to be practiced just like any other aspect of the game.