“WINNING ISN’T EVERYTHING, BUT STRIVING TO WIN IS.”
Score blow-outs are seen as an on-going concern in Small Blacks rugby. The winning coach may be concerned with having his team play to their potential and not care about the score. The losing coach may be most concerned about the fairness of the situation. So how do we bring these two attitudes closer together?
If score blow-outs are occurring (i.e. 35+ at halftime), both coaches must meet and come to an agreement as to how they can generate a more even contest. A range of strategies that coaches can consider when they meet are:
Often the answers lie with the Winning coach:
- Don’t stack your team with all the best players.
- Use all your players - it may be a chance to use some of the players who don’t get a lot of game time.
- Try a few new tactics, moves or combinations.
- Rotate some of the playing positions around. Place some players who don’t often get the ball at first-five-eight or halfback.
- Swap your forward pack and backline around (consider age and safety requirements).
- Encourage support play and passing to space rather than running through or around defence.
- Construct a minimum pass concept to score, i.e. team must do five passes before someone can score.
- If you score a try come off for a break.
Together the coaches can:
- Make the second half a coaching lesson. Play the game as usual but when there are lessons to be learnt, stop the game and control the game environment with instructions for further learning, e.g. offside at ruck - what makes a ruck? Where are the gates?
The Losing coach can:
- Give their team meaningful and attainable goals which are essential to success, not the score.
Option for the brave:
