Old dogs, new tricks
We had a guest coach last night for the juniors. He coaches at Caldy Grammar and for one of the clubs in Cheshire. He has been here a week and seen enough Canadian rugby to confirm some of my suspicions about the weaknesses in our game. It was quite fascinating and I learned a lot.
Tackling. British coaches are now teaching a whole new way of tackling. Going low is out. The new technique aims to prevent the tackled player from off loading in the tackle, drive him back and put him on the ground while leaving the tackler on his feet. It looks very promising though doubtless it takes a lot of practice to get it right.
Running lines He spent a lot of time coaching how to create and attack space rather than defenders. This is something our kids (and many older players) are really bad at. Partly it's because they are not really confident in their passing skills so slick offloads into space just don't come naturally. Far easier to hang on to the ball and hope not to get tackled!
Body positions There's a really strong emphasis on using a 'power' body position. Tackling, rucking, basic defensive stance is all built around the three point stance that American footballers use. The basic idea is that one is always driving up from a strong, low base and trying to lift the opponent or being in a position where it's very hard for him to lift you. It seems like common sense but we don't always do it.
Drills The point of drills, besides practising basic skills is to teach awareness of space and other players and staying alert. I've never seen someone take two very simple drills and run them simultaneously thus forcing players to think about which one they are in at any given moment. It works really well.
I'm still fairly pissed off with a small minority of the U18s. Last night was really good but there were still a few guys goofing around or trying (and failing miserably) to prove that they were so far beyond needing to practice basics that they could showboat instead. What annoys me is not so much that it's disrespectful to the coach but that it's disrespectful to team mates. I firmly believe that if one makes life hard for team mates at practice one is unlikely to play as a team player in a match and it is, above all, a team game.
Tackling. British coaches are now teaching a whole new way of tackling. Going low is out. The new technique aims to prevent the tackled player from off loading in the tackle, drive him back and put him on the ground while leaving the tackler on his feet. It looks very promising though doubtless it takes a lot of practice to get it right.
Running lines He spent a lot of time coaching how to create and attack space rather than defenders. This is something our kids (and many older players) are really bad at. Partly it's because they are not really confident in their passing skills so slick offloads into space just don't come naturally. Far easier to hang on to the ball and hope not to get tackled!
Body positions There's a really strong emphasis on using a 'power' body position. Tackling, rucking, basic defensive stance is all built around the three point stance that American footballers use. The basic idea is that one is always driving up from a strong, low base and trying to lift the opponent or being in a position where it's very hard for him to lift you. It seems like common sense but we don't always do it.
Drills The point of drills, besides practising basic skills is to teach awareness of space and other players and staying alert. I've never seen someone take two very simple drills and run them simultaneously thus forcing players to think about which one they are in at any given moment. It works really well.
I'm still fairly pissed off with a small minority of the U18s. Last night was really good but there were still a few guys goofing around or trying (and failing miserably) to prove that they were so far beyond needing to practice basics that they could showboat instead. What annoys me is not so much that it's disrespectful to the coach but that it's disrespectful to team mates. I firmly believe that if one makes life hard for team mates at practice one is unlikely to play as a team player in a match and it is, above all, a team game.