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Rugby
Union is a game of running
and ball movement, so your players will need
to become expert at sending the ball to other
members of your team while on the move. Teams
that have players who can pass well will cause
their opponents many defensive
problems. Accurate, early passing prevents the
defence
from dominating the attack.
By constantly moving the point of attack, the
defence will find it impossible to become set.
Teams that play like this need to be very fit,
because there is little opportunity to rest
by attackers and defenders.
The
ball is continually passed away from would-be
tacklers, so the passing team needs many players
running in support
of the ball carrier. The main purpose of this
strategy is to make attack so overpowering that
at some stage there will be more attackers in
one area than there are defenders. With accurate
passing and receiving, the attacking team can
strike around the edge of through the defence
to score.
When
you are running
close to tacklers, it is safest to carry
the ball in two hands slightly out in front
of the chest. From this position it is possible
to make most passing movements. This position
helps protect the ball when player are running
in open space, they can hold the ball along
one forearm tucked to their lower rib area.
This position helps the ball carrier balanced
when running at top speed.
There
are many types of passes in the game:
In
this section, we look at these passing skills.
There are a number of other passes (e.g., miss/cut
out pass, pop pass, gut pass, screen pass, overhead
pass, pass of the floor, pass out of a tackle,
close support passing etc.) which are simply
slightly different ways of making lateral passes.
We will consider these further in passing the
ball in contact
situations
A
good pass has a number of requirements - accuracy
is perhaps the most important. Your players
will be required to pass with power and other
times softly. It is far better to pass with
too little rather than too much power. A soft
pass will draw the receiver to the ball. This
will help keep the attack
moving towards the goal lines, the defence
will be unable to drift across the edge of your
attack, and therefore space around the edges
of the defence will be maintained for the next
attempt at a score.
A
powerful pass often pushes the receiver away
from the most effective running
line, which will normally parallel to the
touch line. Your receiver may be forced to run
sideways, which makes tackling
by the defence easier and the attack less likely
to penetrate or overlap the edge of the defence.
Once your players can control the weight of
pass, they will begin to send out passes that
will allow support
players to make the best use of the attacking
options.
The
height at which the passed ball arrives is crucial.
If it arrives below chest height, the receiver
will have to look down to catch it. This means
that the player will look away from the defence
and may lose sight of an attacking opportunity
Passing too high has the same effect and will
also expose the receiver's ribs to a hard tackle.
The ideal pass arrives at about chest height,
with enough power (whether soft or hard) to
allow the receiver to play to the best advantage
of the team.
Although
there are only three basic passes, there are
various ways to pass the ball. All involve some
movement of the arms, wrists and fingers. A
short, punched lateral
pass may require just a flick of the wrists
and fingers. For long passes you may need to
use the full swing of your arms and also of
larger parts of your body, such as the shoulders,
hips and legs.
There
are no right and wrong ways to pass the ball.
Your players may have already developed a style
that allows them to send out accurate passes
that they can vary in height, length and power.
If not, then try to introduce different techniques
during practice sessions. Once they find a style
that suits them, it is correct. Your main concern
is to develop a technique that your players
can use to send accurate passes that vary in
length, height, power and direction. These techniques
are also key to coaching 7-a-side rugby
During
play there will be many opportunities for attacking
players to create space for support players
to run into. The task of the attackers nearest
the space is to recognise it in advance or create
situations in which the attack outnumbers the
defence: two attackers versus on defender and
so on. A key ingredient of success in these
passing situations is to draw the defenders
towards your team - committing them to tackling
the ball carrier - to create space for another
attacker to push through (see Figure 2.1 &
Figure 2,2). You can use these drills to help
practise these skills. As your team develops
their passing game, you should seek to create
and take advantage of these situations.
When
practising passing and receiving skills, defensive
players should use two-handed touch tackling,
touching the ball carrier on the hips with both
hands instead of full contact tackling. If you
wish to use full contact tackling ensure the
players are fully kitted out with IRB
approved tackle suits or tackle shields and
ensure that you referee
the tackle situation as it would be refereed
in a game. These techniques will allow players
to refine passing skills under defensive pressure
without exposing them to the risk of serious
injury.
For
the greatest success at passing, players should
always keep the ball in front of their body
throughout the passing movement. Dragging it
around and behind either hip causes inaccuracy.
The
passer needs to turn their chest to face the
receiver when passing to a support players 2
or 3 metres behind them and "pull the ball
back".
It
is important that your coach passes of different
lengths when developing passing skills. Very
short passes will use just the forearms, but
long passes will involve arms, shoulders, back
and legs.
The
longer the pass, the less likely the passer
will be able to support the receiver. Passers
will find that swinging the ball with straight
arms is not very effective when passing over
distance and it helps if the passer bends their
arms slightly and shortens the length of swing;
this allows more use of shoulder and back muscles
to add power.
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