Innovative Football game plan

Randomness in football play calling is powerful.

Here's a link about a football coach who changed the paradigm of how the game was played. Great stuff, creative stuff....Asymmetric at every play.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95035232

New article on brain mapping

London cab drivers brain activity when planning routes.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/14/inside-a-london-cabd.html

Why concussions are serious: Kevin Higgins

This is an email I sent to Brian Vizard about my chance encounter with Kevin Higgins, it high lights how serious concussions are. Kevin took his life, his depression could have been a result of concussions. Our discussion should have brought back positive memories, but his damaged brain might have distorted them into a depressive spiral.

Seeing this story brings a very sad memory about how close the American rugby family is. I might have been the last rugby person to have talked to Kevin. He was working in the Big 5 in El Segundo. I ran in quick before practice to see if I could get a pair of cleats as I had forgotten mine at home. I looked a the selection and decided none were good enough even as back ups, the sales person tried to convince me that cleats were cleats. Kevin came out from the stock room asked what I needed the cleats for, I said rugby, which caused him to light up and introduce him self. He asked where I played--I said Belmont Shore, and his eyes lit up more, and he told me he played for OMBAC and we chatted briefly about rugby and perhaps the last epic OMBAC Belmont match. I was in a hurry to get to practice, and promised to stop in again and say high--he told me to say high to the Belmont players and I left thinking how neat it was to have a rugby legend working in the sporting goods store across the street from my work (I was very young and did not know how tragic it also was that a dedicated elite athlete athlete was selling shoes at Big 5). I told the Belmont guys who I had met, Dan Porter, and Rich Schurfeld both jumped out of their skins about knowing Kevin's where abouts-- they said he had kind of fallen off the map and that I should invite him to to come to Belmont and coach, or at least re-engage with rugby. As quickly as the next practice Dan had tried to contact him at the store and was told the bad news. Given the proximity of my meeting him and his passing I can't help but feel I must have triggered a downward spiral about glories past that contrasted with his current situation, and that he did not have a safety net or the ability to break out. It's sad to think that our reach out to a member of the rugby family was coming, but that it came too late (possible just hours too late). I've thought about that chance encounter often without a context to assimilate the randomness of the event, and without knowing the full biography of the greatness I had come into contact with. We should all be reminded of the seriousness of concussions. Thanks for honoring his memory, its filled a void in my life, that some how in a five minute meeting with a person I learned of a fantastically gifted, yet tragic hero. This award fills a longing I've carried for Kevin since that meeting, for him to be recognized by the American rugby community and remembered for the competitor he was. Please continue with your work on promoting rugby, this scholarship, and continue funding the studies on injury prevention and especially concussion awareness. A donation to the fund has been sent.

To donate
https://www.kintera.org/AutoGen/Simple/Donor.asp?ievent=278187&en=5nIHIMOiGdLDIFNnFcLAJFPpEhIPJSMpHiLIJPPvGkKTK4I

Strategies for the new laws

New laws will cause referees to call more free kicks which leads to different strategies which we are already familiar with:
-quick tap to restart
-call for a scrum
-even kick for distance


Scrum, with 5 additional meters of space:
-need to focus on attention on scrum moves to attack quickly

Faster pace of the game (with more quick taps and fewer penalties) this will require:
-Fitness
-Quick decisions

Fewer penalties for defensive rucking will require:
-better ball handling skill to avoid contact
-better in contact skills to power step, and get around tacklers

The game will be more wide open, more fun to watch and advantage will go to the teams that adopt new strategies best. Turn on your brain and open up the attacks.

Advice when attending trial venues

I've coached and participated in a few select side events and the advice I would give you is the following:
-come prepared--have equipment, attitude, food water, and good attitude.
-be serious--all-star time is about performance and a chance to make midwest, and possibly all-american teams.
-keep your cool--select sides are difficult ego fest by players coaches and competition, be competitive but don't be an asshole, a coach will sometimes give the nod to the team player over the asshole even less talented.

Here is what selectors are looking for in the tournament:
-Fundamentals--a solid ability in all basic aspects of the game, passing, tackling running, kicking, rucking ect..
-Position specific dominance--great spin passes from scrum halves, decisions by fly halves, dominance at prop, winning lineouts for second rows, crunching tackles by flankers and centers, and great tries by wings ect...
-Explosive play--ability to make pancake tackle, explode through tackle on offense, quickness and speed.
-Speed, speed, speed at all positions--usually the fastest at every position will get serious points over slower but more fundamentally sound rivals.
-Game changers--big hitters, quick deciders, length of the field runners--great ruckers are expected, great passers are expected--but guys who make big plays are make all midwest and especially all american sides.

If you are going to commit the time, money and effort to trying out you need to do a serious pre-trial preparation. Those committing should consider the following speed and agility workout I found on the crossfit site. Seems like it covers all the basics for getting faster and quicker. Also include flexibiliy stretches I gave you in December, and hit a few crossfit workouts for general fitness on non-speed days.

I think 5-10 or you could make the midwest side, Jared is lobbying hard. I think one of two of you could be all-american possibilities with great performances.

Go for it. Make the club and the university proud.




Here's a workout I found on Crossfit that will help fine tune your body to make the team, and to be considered for All-American: http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=677&page=2
Over the course of 6 weeks, I decreased my 40 time from 4.92 to 4.71, while gaining 15 lbs. We focused on doing explosive high knee movements to strengthen the hip flexors and did plyos to get better get-off. We did all our sprints at a 10:1 rest to work ratio. This ensures that you are working at maximum output every sprint to increase your top speed. Many people get confused with maximum output and maximum effort. Maximum effort is key for developing endurance and mental toughness (vital for rugby), but to increase your top speed and explosiveness, you must be firing on all cylinders (not be fatigued).

To increase lateral quickness and movement, plyos as well as work on the agility ladder are beneficial. Lateral plyos are good for increasing the overall distance you can move side to side. Using the agility ladder makes your body able to manage that distance.

When it comes to all out speed, it is essential to get proper rest in between reps to really get results. However, when it comes to agility and fast foot movements in a confined space, maximum effort while moderately tired seems to get the best results. You just have to make sure your feet continue to move quickly.

This is what I do to get faster and improve my agility:

Speed Days:
Dynamic Warmup-
high knees run 2x10 yd
high knee skip, forward 2x10 yd
high knee skip, sideways 2x10 yd
high knee skip, backwards 2x10 yd
lunges (good stretch) 2x10 yd
butt kickers 2x10 yd
fire hydrants (on all fours, lifting leg laterally) 3x 10 reps
tin soldier (with leg locked out, kick leg up in walking motion to touch horizontally outstretched hand) 2x10 yd
high knee run (cycle your legs as many times as possible in the 10 yds) 2x10 yd
- this warmup is supposed to be tiring, so don't be suprised when it is. Also, don't take long rests in between sets or exercises.

Plyo- Here you can get creative. Pick two plyos that are running related such as broad jumps or high skips. Do 3 sets of not a lot of reps of each.

Sprints- Here we want at least 10:1 rest/ work ratio
Get offs: 6 reps of 4 to 5 hard steps

- Pair the following sprints in twos so that you alternate the two sprints for their sets

10's: 4 reps
40 yd build ups: 4 reps (accelerate so that you are going 100% at 40 yds. As soon as you hit 100% coast to a stop.)

20's: 4 reps
flying 10's: 4 reps (accelerate to 100% for 30 yds and sprint for 10 yds)

30's: 4 reps
flying 20's: 4 reps (like flying 10's but sprint for 20 yds)

40's: 4 reps (don't pair, rest well)

Hollow sprints: 2 reps (sprint 20, coast 20, sprint 20, coast 20, sprint 20) don't pair

Start out with reduced reps and work up to doing the workout as specified. This should take you about 45 min to an hour from start to finish. Do it once a week.

Agility:
Start with dynamic warmup.
Do a plyometric that has lateral movement associated with it (side to side leaps, zig zag leaps).
Do the agility ladder with an array of exercises. If you search online, you can come up with lots of movements that you can do. We did 4 times through the ladder for each movement and would do 3 movements total. Make sure that you keep your feet moving fast.
Do cone drills that make you start and stop in all sorts of ways. These you can find online as well. We would do two drills, with three reps in each direction (since most cone drills either have you start from the right or left).

We did one day of each workout a week. It is hard work, but the results were definite. When combining it with crossfit, the total fitness required for rugby will be achieved. If you have a choice, do the speed and agility workouts before the crossfit ones. You want to be fresh so that maximum output is achieved. Hopefully this helps you. Take some of the workout or all of it to fit your liking. Good luc

Some Science based rugby

1. Kicking form matters--read this link to see what they are saying about how Johnny Wilkinson's arm swing affect his accuracy.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071005213308.htm

2. Concussions---Rugby players suffer from concussions more than thought, and concussions are serious in the short term and in the long term.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011011065700.htm
--Injured players more likely to become concussed:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/09/000913205911.htm
--multiply concussed players my develop neurological problems later on:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051011000046.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/09/990910080015.htm
--If you get a concussion your are more likely to get another on:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/09/000913205911.htm

3.Better spinal chord safety awareness has reduces spinal chord injuries:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070518062358.htm

4. Weight lifting reduce sever injuries
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1997/10/971022155847.htm

5. Brain training improves fluid intelligence:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505075642.htm

Kaizen rugby

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/business/04unbox.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Continuous change, the Kiazen concept--does not cause the flight or fight response that causes people resist changing. Small incremental changes help map the brain to new patterns and habits, this stuff increases intelligence, and permanently changes how your brain in mapped.

Division 2 scoring benchmarks

Sat, 19 Apr
Utah Valley	13	Final
East Carolina	11

Sat, 19 Apr
Middlebury	34	Final
Northern Colorado	12

Sat, 19 Apr
Coast Guard RFC	34	Final
Loyola	12

Sat, 19 Apr
Michigan	13	Final
Radford	48

Guys,
Here's some insight into how wide open Division 2 is and some benchmark scores. A good team will scores about 12 points in a game. Michigan is such a team. To win you need to be able to score about 40 a game, and hold you opponent to about 10.

Taking the leap from being a good team, to a dominate team will take just as much hard work in the coming year as we put in to the last year.

We've gotten to the point of holding a quality opponent to about 10 point a game. Now we need to stretch for the next bench mark scoring 30-40 points a game every game.



Toby

Benchmarks for team performance

Round 1 of division 1 national playoff results:
UC Berkeley Tennessee 102-3
San Diego State 32-15 Arkansas State:
Kutztown 27-23 Bowling Green:
BYU 48-22 Dartmouth:
St Mary’s 52-40 Air Force:
Cal Poly 51-27 Army:
Colorado Utah 31-30
Penn State Minnesota 52-24,

-Half the winners scored more than 50 points. Lowest winning score: 27.
-Midwest Union 0-2 in first round--BG lost to a relative minnow Kutztown, and Minnesota got blown out.
-Losing teams Minnesota, Utah, Dartmouth, and Army have paid semi-professional staffs, stadiums and every advantage a team could have.

This time next year we need to be capable of scoring more than 50 against a solid opponent or winning a close game against an equal opponent, or putting up a huge score against an inferior opponent with our b-side.

http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/college/Ups_and_downs_of_the_Round_of_16.shtml

Will power goals and performance

Goal setting, goal directedness and goal achievement are the most important skills you will get from you rugby experience. Theses traits will set you on a path to success, get you better interviews, get you better jobs and make you more money.

This New York times article has some useful tips:
1. practice makes will power stronger and better
2. blood sugar affects your resolve
3. getting better on one area of you life will improve other areas.
4. spending energy in one area, reduces will in other areas

The article is short and full of references to real research results so read it, and if you are really interested track down the original sources.

Here's how we apply it to rugby.
-practice setting goals and attaining them, and you will get better.
-eat good food in the right quantities at the right time for performance, also focus on replenishing energy as needed--you'd be surprized how much energy you need to really perform.
-set and achieve rugby goals and your discipline for attaining other goals will increase.
-when concentrating on goals in one area, this may require setting aside other goals, for example if we are working hard for playoffs, we delay achievement in other areas--don't study for the MCAT's during the playoff push if we can control it.

Goal setting and achievement is another important self programming skill useful in rugby and in life.

A crystal clear example of a high performance team

I hate to keep harping on Cal, but they are the epitome. Read this article and see if there is anything magical about them that we cannot do ourselves. Its a matter of collectively getting up each morning and saying today I will be better than yesterday.

The Long Blue Line

Creating a high performance team

Creating a high performance team is really simple. Look at what other successful organizations do and emulate them. Here a short list off the top of my head.

-Use the best personal equipment possible. This means uniforms, balls, shorts, cleats, and pads. This applies to game and practices. You can't practice or play if you are wearing crap.

-Use the best practice equipment possible. Rucking bags, cones, whistles, scrum machines, agility ladders, tees, and balls. Good practice equipment makes practice meaningful, constructive and enjoyable. Good practice equipment teaches proper form and reduces injuries.

-Practice and play on the best field possible. A good level field is essential.

-Have plenty of water and sports fuel available. You simply cannot learn, exert, and excel if you do not rehydrate and refuel throughout practice. Every practice should have water, Gatorade, Accelerade, Endurox for recovery plus sports gels. Its not weakness to hydrate and fuel, its essential.

-Have structured, efficient practices that build skills, patterns and athletic abilities to a game plan.

Other broader high performance ingredients include:
-Have a set pre-season, in-season, and recovery training plan.

-Practice 4-5 days a week, goal is 10 to 1 practice to game ratio.

-Play meaningful games.

High performance teams prepare for games in the following ways:
-Organization-everything is taken care of so that players and coaches can focus 100% on performance.
-Nutrition-players prepare for competition with balanced, nutritious meals.
-Hydration-players begin hydration days before the match, and ensure they are hydrated before, during and after.
-Sleep-often overlooked, sleep patterns affect performance more than realized. This is related to travel strategies to game and the hotels the players stay in.
-Mental preparation-players use mental imagery, goal setting, relaxation, and focused pre-game arousal to prepare for competition.
-Physical preparation-teams use dynamic stretching to prevent injuries and prepare the body for explosions, contact and exertion.
-Strategy-each player knows the entire team strategy in each important game situation and their role in the strategy.

In watching high performance teams dominate outsiders might observe that they have better coaches, more money, better players or some other advantage. This is not true coaches coach better, players play better, and money is spent more efficiently if teams follow high performance strategies. Successful team cultures are build one high performance characteristic at a time. Stronger team cultures attract, develop and keep better coaches and players. Nothing is as attractive as success.

Expert performance

I like this article on the freakonomics blog about expert performance. It really gets to the heart of how to be great at sports or anything. Your college years are designed for you to focus on self improvement. The habits you set making your self a better rugby player will pay tremendous dividends later in life. The challenge of rugby in America is to find good models of the skills you need, and to find good feedback mechanisms to measure your attainment of skills.

Enjoy and keep working hard.




http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/how-did-a-rod-get-so-good/

What you do and how you do it changes your brain

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/02_26_08.html

This article talks about how jazz players manipulation their brain activity to perform. Its something we as coaches and players should incorporate into our practices, game preparation and game plans.

Interesting read.

Crossfit workout for in season fitness

I hope many of you tried the Cal preseason workout. It was designed to give rugby specific conditioning. It provided strength, explosiveness, cardio and flexibility. I've done it a few times and had the Air Force Academy team do a similar workout. Unfortunately its an old school workout. Most top rugby programs now use different styles of training.

Belmont Shore, the most successful superleague team in America follows crossfit. Last December I talked to Josh Burgin a 2001 alum who plays for them about the fitness program. What he said is that the workouts are short, high intensity, highly varied and effective.

I've been doing crossfit since December and love the results, can't wait to see what the workout of the day is and can get in and out of the gym in under and hour most of the time.

I have recommended to Jared and Tim that they adopt elements of crossfit into your training. In a sense Jared's functional strength stuff, hippity hops, 400's and other things are crossfit.

I am strongly recommend you checkout crossfit.com and spend an hour reading about the program. Its a great site, the greatest thing about the site is the free workout of the day that you all can start doing right now. It also has great instructional videos for all exercises.

Start doing it now. I recommend you do crossfit on Sundays, and Wednesdays. Jared and Tim will give you crossfit like workouts in practice.

Most importantly start practicing it now so you can do it over spring break.

Two caveats about the program. First, its really intense and some exercises like hand stand push ups, and muscle ups are almost impossible. You need an internal goal to overcome this initial frustration. Beating OSU and IU would be mine. Making all-midwest, or all-american is another good goal. Second the workouts put stress on the groin, the squats, and olympic lifts take a period of time to get used to. Pay attention to this and skip of modify the workout of the day until you adapt to the new program.

There's no motivation like self motivation.


Toby

Mark Cuban played rugby at Indiana

This stuff rocks, it filled with insights in to Mark Cuban's mind. I've been quoting several Cubanisms for years. Next year how about we schedule a match against the Indiana mudsharks, which Cuban finances and beat their ass!

http://www.blogmaverick.com/

This article rocks

http://www.physorg.com/news118592975.html

10 Reasons to do the Cal offseason training

9 weeks is a hell of a long time to dedicate to off season training. I thoroughly recommend it. I've done the Cal work out twice in the last year and have thoroughly enjoyed the results. Link to workout is here: Cal pre-seaon workout. Here is why you should do it.

10. You will be a bad ass rugby player--check out the video of Cal playing 2007 National Championship The biggest difference from your level of play and their level of play is power and speed. Compare to you best game Miami vs. Michigan Fall 2007. Count the number of tackles you break of the number of 1 on 1's where you run over, around or through the opponent. There aren't that many. The Cal work out will give the the power, and explosiveness to dominate.

9. Women will dig you. You will be cut and ripped, you will not only play like a stud you will be a stud.

8. You will get a better job. You will look the recruiters in the eye your senior year and tell them yes you played rugby, no you didn't just party. You woke up at 7am to do your pre-season work out, you went to classes you at right, you slept right and you did it just because you wanted to be the best. You will prove self motivation, dedication, team work, and long term commitment. You will get a second interview every time.

7. You will change your body forever. You will increase muscle mass, increase bone density, reduce fat, increase neuro-muscular reaction, increase balance, and strengthen you heart. Your future middle-aged, and elderly self will thank you.

6. You will be smarter. Vigorous exercise increases blood flow to the brain, explosive movements change the patterns of your brains neurons and complex movements force your brain to work overtime to control your body.

5. You will be able to play a higher level of rugby. Miami as a team made tremendous strides to increase your level of play. The limiting factor is now your body, not your rugby skills, or the pattern of play.

4. You will get better grades. You will have to manage your time better to fit in a pre-season work out. If you commit to a 5 day a week work out you will skip class less, because classes will be on the way to or from the gym. To get to the gym you will have to get your ass out of bed, or get off the couch, or turn off the tv or put down the xbox remote, and therefore your brain will be actively working instead of passively absorbing during your work out. You will have to use a calendar and set a schedule to find time to get your workout in, and while you are doing this you will also figure out when to study.

3. You will establish a fitness and skill base for life long enjoyment of rugby. Men's rugby is awesome, and old boy's rugby is even better. The better you are now the better you will be later.

2. You will win individual rugby honors. Though not the point of rugby, it is nice to play select side rugby. Everyone on the team has the athletic potential to be all-Ohio, 5 or 6 players could be all Mid-west and one or two will have a chance to be all-Americans. Few of you have played up to your athletic potential because you do not have the explosiveness a pre-season work out will give you.

1. You will win a national championship. I guarantee it. Will you guarantee it to yourself.

Building up the Brand of your team

Your rugby club is a brand.

Check it out.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200710260130.html

Blowouts

Having been on both ends of blowouts I don't like them. Blowouts in meaningless games are even more useless. At Air Force we were only on the receiving end of blowouts and since they came at the hands of Wyoming, Cal, BYU and superleague sides (Denver and Aspen), we knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that there was a lot of work to do when we got our asses handed to us. Every practice from blowout losses to the rematch the next year was a chance to atone for our mistakes. Not matter how good we felt in practice, no matter how hard we did fitness, or practiced out pattern, or honed our skills we feared what our opponents were doing to get better, while we were still trying to catch up. 70-0 is a long way to catch up against a league opponent. We never intentionally played a team we could blow out. It simply wasn't productive.

Just ask the 2007 All Blacks the benefits of thrashing opponents in pool play, only to meet a determine side in the playoffs. Frankly the All Blacks got soft, the got out rucked, they were out jumped in lineouts, and out defended.

Tearing apart a team is only useful it they are a stepping stone to a playoff berth.

I worry that Monday you will wake up with a unjustified sense of accomplishment, having thrashed a bunch of hapless hillbillies. Erase it. Remember you lost by 5 tries to OU, you list a nail biter to UD. These are the games that should motivate you through another hard week of practice.

You have collectively busted your asses to get fit. You need to get fitter to dominate your opponent.

You have worked hard to play a dynamic pattern, make quicker decisions, and play tougher defense. You can still execute faster and harder, see and exploit opportunities faster, and shut down on defense more aggresively. You have two weeks to go until playoffs to see if you've come far enough as players and as a team to beat a quality opponent.

I have talked extensively to the coaches this week. They praised your work effort this week, and your commitment. I could tell they were proud of how far you've come, in such a short time. You are all obviously having a blast, and want to do better, and you strive to be a playoff team. You are on track to being a playoff team, but need to play over your ability to go to the midwest.

Here's an honest assessment of your readiness:
-You are fitter, but not fit enough to win a close game playing this pattern.
-You haven't driven a lineout maul in for a try, and you need to be automatic.
-I'm still not hearing how dominate your kick offs and kick off returns are.
-You lack depth at several key positions.
-I haven't heard about you having 'sharp' backrow moves.
-Rucking has not dominated good opponents.

Keep striving to be better at all the above and you will start blowing out better teams--you only have two weeks of practice to get it done.


The only blowouts I like are playoff blowouts. Keep working hard and you will achieve them.

Blowout ability wins championships. See below.


http://web.usarugby.org/cgi-bin/viadesto/championships/show.pl?competitionId=73

http://web.usarugby.org/cgi-bin/viadesto/championships/show.pl?competitionId=143

Army Boston College Rugby patterns

Lineouts: Both BC and Army used 5 man line out a lot. BC used the lift and drive technique (lifters binding in gut vs rebinding) to get a great 10-12 meter drive. Sadly they did nothing this great drive, chosing instead to pass to the backs when the maul stalled--better options would be to try and restart drive, quick attack weak, box kick or roll ball out. Both lifted 2 pods in defense. BC's scrum half started infield on quick taps causing him to run to tap, turn around and back to fly half wasting 3-4 steps and vital fractions of a second. When ball got to backs it was often always a turnover or really bad ball.

Penalties: Army tried some crazy penalty play and never tried to quick tap. Play took several seconds to setup and of the three I saw2 were turnovers, and one was a try from the 5 meter line. This might have been the best option as the Army offensive scrum sucked ,lineouts were iffy, and BC shut down quick-tap opportunities also Army was down 17-0 most of the match and needed tries not 3 pointers.

Kickoffs: both teams played purposefully on kickoffs. BC lost the game on three consecutive kickoffs to start the second half. They didn't pressure Army enough, let Army play their pattern and lost the game on three kickoffs. BC did try to pressure, but on one the deep kick did not have enough hang time, on another they kicked short (which is useless against a good team) and on the last Army got possession, hit a mid field ruck and busted a 30 yard run. At high levels of rugby slight lapses on kickoffs will lose games.

Scrums: Neither side won clean possession on offensive scrums. Wow offensive scrums nearly impossible to win. You need to work hard to do quick hooks and attack quick. Both teams had their 8 man pulling the second rows back by their waist bands to let the scrums launch into each other a very new techniques.

Tackling: Elite teams never tackle one on one. Defenses always hit the ball carrier two on one. Usually both defenders hitting high and smothering the ball. Tackling drills need to emphasize this technique.

Observations from Boston College Army Game

I watched Boston College play Army. BC is a solid division 1 team and Army is routinely one of the top programs in America, perennially in the final fours and producing numerous all Americans each year.

They both played good college rugby. Neither played a spectacular game. What was spectacular was that both teams had equal rugby skills, both were athletically similar and both were fundamentally sound because they had great coaching staffs.

The game was a spectacular event Army marched onto the field in step, in form fitting black gold uniforms, BC in maroon and gold. They played on a superb pitch with several hundred fans cheering on. Each had a coaching staff of about 5. The A-side played at 1, with cside opening at 11 and bsides closing the rugby day at 3. With subs and starters each side played about 60 players on the day. Army had 2 more games scheduled on Sunday against Hofstra for their D and E sides. There were trainers, water at each breakdown, and positive comments from players, fans and coaches on both sides. Minus the hugh stadium and thousands of fans this game could have been a top college football game. Had the game been at Army they would have played in their new stadium.

The coaches are paid BC pays their coaches a few grand a season (5-10K) (Harvard pays about 50K a season for its staff for 4 sides) Army's head coach is 'director of rugby' whose sole job is to coach rugby, he probably makes $60K-$90K a year.

Both schools have and explicit mission of character development, and screen their coaches and monitor their players accordingly. Army builds officers to lead soldier, BC is a Jesuit run school, building future Catholic leaders. Check out their websites BC, Army. Both are well funded by their alumni, all players have sharp uniforms, warmups, travel by bus to games and often get hotels before games even for short away trips. Post match events usually have a meal at a school dining hall or catered in their club house. There are lots of moms and dads and family on the side lines.

The most important part of this game is that it had meaning, the BC kids I know worked every single day of the off season to win this match, the players were fit, strong and explosive, the coaches had worked hard creating game plan and techniques to win this game. BC lead 17-0 at the half. For these players, coaches and fans this was the best rugby experience of their lives. This is the rugby experience I would prefer for Miami. Having talked to players and coaches this year I think this is what they want too.

For both programs attaining this level of professionalism, and tremendous player experience it is 100% alumni driven. Sure they have great players and have found great coaches but the constant is the alumni who keep funding, keep interested, and keep coming back for alumni weekend.

At Miami we are 1000 miles away from this rugby experience, but we are approaching it. We the alumni are seeking out coaches, improving the game plan, getting equipment, seeking a field and mentoring presidents and coaches. The current players are taking steps personally to advance their game, they stay in Friday nights, they attend organized off day workouts, they have high school experience. The current players want a competitive rugby experience-to play in meaningful games, have a shot at play-offs, and to perhaps make and all star team.

We have $60K in the bank BC probably has $600K Army probably has $6M. Lets keep trying to not just keep rugby at Miami, lets make it the best rugby experience we can.

Toby

Backline Plays From Dike Ajiri

Against modern defenses, the options for the offensive backline is limited. Against an average or higher defense, the offensive backline will probably never advance the ball past the gainline let alone make a long break.

That being stated I’d like to discuss the options for the backline from first phase:

Scrum Right (backline out to the left) or Scrum Left (backline out to the right) from behind our 22 meter line; Offensive options are:
1. Kick for touch
2. Kick for field position. This means kicking deep to the left wing or right wing putting the retreating wing in a position where they’ll have little time and support. This ensures a tackle for the kicking team or forces the opposition to kick out of bounds. This is achieved by reading the placement of the opposition’s deep three and responding accordingly.
3. 6 in. If the scrum is close to the sideline the wing will be coming into this area often, if the 6 in play is called or not. This forces the opposition’s opposite wing to think about defensing the run and kick.
4. 1-2 crash
5. 1-2 scissors
6. 2-3 scissors

Scrum Center from behind our 22 meter line: This is certainly debatably depending on the strengths/weaknesses of your team. If you have a solid scrum, go backs left and your offensive options are:
Right hand blind. 8 Man picks up and before contact dishes to the scrum half whom before contact passes to the flyhalf. Yes, the flyhalf. The Flyhalf did line up in backs left but AFTER the scrum half puts in the ball in the scrum the Flyhalf times it to run the right side. Options are then to run if open, pass to the wing or if even #’s defending, kick deep.
Although most people consider any running from behind your own 22 risky, with the opposition’s wings and fullback have to cover the deep kick, running opportunities are greatly enhanced.
The same options listed as the ones for Scrum Right or Left.

Scrum Right (backline out to the left) or Scrum Left (backline out to the right) from our 22-40 meter line; Offensive options are:
1. 6 in
2. 1-2 crash
3. 1-2 scissors
4. 2-3 scissors
Kick for field position. This means kicking deep to the left wing or right wing putting the retreating wing in a position where they’ll have little time and support. This ensures a tackle for the kicking team or forces the opposition to kick out of bounds. This is achieved by reading the placement of the opposition’s deep three and responding accordingly.
3. 6 in. If the scrum is close to the sideline the wing will be coming into this area often, if the 6 in play is called or not. This forces the opposition’s opposite wing to think about defensing the run and kick.

Scrum Center from behind our 22-40 meter line (Backline left). Your offensive options are:
Continue to run Right Hand Blind as described previously for Scrum Center.
The same options listed as the ones for Scrum Center.

Endowments.

Stanford

http://www.rugbymag.com/archive/2003/june/intervw.htm

Army
http://www.rugbymag.com/archive/2003/december/sixkfund.htm

Scrum half skills

Good post on scrum half skills.

http://www.rugbymag.com/archive/2004/january/scrumhvs.htm

Finding A Scrumhalf Among Young Players

By Peter Kingston

Peter Kingston is coach to the England Schools’ 18 Group. He works at Gloucester Academy as well as teaching full-time at Pate’s Grammar School in Cheltenham. He won five caps for England as scrumhalf from 1975-1979.

When I first attended Lydney Grammar School as an eleven-year-old , the master in charge of Physical Education was Ted Parfitt. Ted knew much about scrumhalf play from a lifetime’s experience as a player. He had played scrumhalf for Cardiff and progressed as far as a final Welsh trial. He also became a fine schoolmaster coach who was well respected in rugby circles.

Find The Scrumhalf

Ted’s philosophy on organising a team was simple: find the scrumhalf then worry about the rest.

Our very first rugby lesson was attended by over forty of us. The first activity was carried out in pairs, each with a rugby ball. The dive pass was demonstrated and then we were let loose to find out who could replicate it best. The search for number 9 was on from the first session.

The scrumhalf emphasis did not end there. We did gymnastics during indoor physical education lessons but the warm-up for the main feature was always pairs running the length of the gym while passing a rugby ball.

I became his choice for the prime position but the education did not end at school. I remember walking back to school after lunch one day and Ted stopped me and gave me a bit of a telling-off for having too long a walking stride! He wanted me to take shorter steps so that I would develop fast feet. The man was obsessed with attention to detail and he would regularly find the three or four decision-makers in a year’s group and mould a team around them.

Some of his methods can assist coaches who regularly deal with newcomers to the game; coaches who can determine whether or not a young player stays in the game. The big task is finding the player who can act as a lively pivot between forwards and backs.

Sparkle

Ted Parfitt looked for sparkle, just as you would look for a bit of life if you were choosing a puppy from a litter. This may be condemned as unscientific and too reliant on a bright-eyed method of selection, but it may be as reliable as any other. I would definitely look for the lad who is eager to play, one who wants the ball and wants to get into action. It’s the type who is always kicking a stone if it is in the path, a cheeky sort – he might just be the one.

Agility And Balance

If I were coaching a group of newcomers to the game I would concentrate on small games of 3 v 3 or 4 v 4. There would be no contact and I would be looking immediately for instinctive handlers who have agility and balance. Though it might not be the most important consideration for a future scrumhalf, I’d also be aware of the player’s physical build, as a too tall, gangly player may not have the necessary speed and agility later in his career.

Passing With Either Hand

The first specialist skill that I would concentrate on would be the pass off the ground with either hand. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect; the important thing is to see players passing comfortably both ways.

If a player is able, but favours one hand over the other, some very simple drills can assist in becoming two-handed. The easiest is to bounce a tennis ball against a wall and catch it with the ‘wrong’ hand. It can quickly have a positive effect on a young player’s perception of becoming two-handed.

Proper Size Ball

Whatever you do, don’t worry too much about a player’s skills being perfect in the early days. Get him a ball he can handle easily, even if it’s smaller than the one his age group should play with. Make him comfortable with the skills of the game, even if it means getting him to practise with a size three ball.

Speed Before Accuracy

There is inevitably a debate over the relative importance of accuracy and speed. I would suggest that the coach should develop quick hands rather than accuracy of pass. The over-long pass may be accurate, but it is rarely what the flyhalf wants, as it may be accompanied by an opposition defender. The quicker and shorter pass may not be as accurate but a good number 10 will turn that to his advantage, so try to find out what works for the young scrumhalf. Don’t become too technical too soon; try to develop speed of reaction and execution rather than technical precision.

Keep It Simple

Once you get into a session, keep the main points for the scrumhalf (or any other specialist position) to one or two. There is a danger that coaches can overload a young player with too much information and coaching. Stick to a couple of themes and make sure that they can be practised away from that session. Many parents will be only too willing to help – as long as they know what they are helping with.

Balance

Balance is very important in a number 9. But I would not use the word when coaching a young player, as it may confuse him to have a name for something that he produces naturally and instinctively.

A useful practice is to arrange a row of balls and get the player to run towards them. As he approaches each ball, gently tap it to either side so that he has to move his feet quickly side to side to get into a strong passing position. If this occurs naturally, keep practising and make it harder by decreasing the distance between balls. If the player struggles to get his feet placed correctly, then (and only then) should he be helped with suggestions on how best to place the feet; if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. And if it is happening naturally, try not to give it a name.

Dive Pass

The dive pass has gone out of fashion, but there is a place for it in a young player’s armoury. It is a skill that is relatively easy to produce, gives good direction and allows a scrumhalf to get out of trouble. It is also part of the game that your ‘type’ of player will enjoy. The dive pass will be very useful in wet weather and there is a type of boy who relishes getting muddy and wet. The small, lively player will get up very quickly and will have thoroughly enjoyed the pass.

Unfortunately, too many coaches play their physically bigger players in key position to win games. This is often a short-term solution and may deprive the natural 9 of exposure to the game.

Speed Of Pass Over Accuracy

Even as the scrumhalf gets older, I would still stress speed of pass over accuracy. Place six balls in a line and get the scrumhalf to pass them as quickly as he can to a receiver who is calling for the ball from no more than five metres away. Do not worry about length and try to develop a pass that does not require a look to find the target; the call from another player will be enough.

In this process you will start to develop speedy wrists and once again the trusty tennis ball can be useful. Young players can work beneficially with tennis balls that are passed to them. The frequency and speed can be adapted to suit the skill level of each player, but the outcome should be that a step (or steps) is taken when each ball is in the air to get in a strong passing position. A two-handed catch makes foot placement even more important.

Fast Feet

Getting the feet organized is vital for an aspiring scrumhalf and any ball work that develops good movement will pay dividends. The player has to be encouraged to move his feet while the ball is in the air and to get a strong passing position before he takes possession.

There used to be many natural aids to fast feet through playground and street games, but we now seem to rely on a scientific approach through SAQ (Speed, Agility and Quickness). This is important, but there are older ways.

Skipping is excellent, hopscotch used to be a playground regular and the only equipment needed was a piece of chalk. These activities are not difficult to set up and many more will be appropriate – you just have to make them up. Young players will start to develop fast feet without knowing what they are doing.

Specialist Skills

There’s a danger in trying to teach everybody all the skills of the game so that we have multi-skilled, multi-positional players. That process might just lose a few specialists and I see scrumhalf as one of the specialists with specialised skills. Austin Healey is an international-class player in many positions but still begs the question: is he world-class in one of them?

Pace

Pace, with all the other specialist scrumhalf skills, can be devastating. The type of player I am talking about will want to get in behind defensive errors and missed tackles. Genuine speed will allow this to happen after speed of thought and a rapid weighing-up of the available options.

Kicking

Kicking is a vital skill and it can be fun. Encourage young players to practise, even before they can use the skill in matches. The player you have picked as scrumhalf is probably a very able soccer player (he’s probably good at every sport!) and you need to arm him with a wide range of skills. He will already have been told how good he is at other sports, so get him on board with skill practices at the various rugby kicks.

You can make up your own games and a version of Gaelic Football is not hard to devise. The simplest version would be touch contact, then any sequence of kicking or passing in any direction to follow the touch. You might rule that only a designated scrumhalf can pass the ball after the touch

Don’t be afraid to make it up as you go along. You’ll soon sense what is working or not working.

Whatever you do, though, make it fun

Professionalism of the game of rugby

I love this article as well. Rugby has changed. Lets be professional.

Toby

http://www.rugbymag.com/archive/2000/october/airforce.htm

Great article about modern rugby

http://www.rugbymag.com/archive/1999/October/coaching.htm

read it if you have time.

World cup rugby patterns

If you are reading this as you are watching the world cup, you are seeing video about how to play this pattern. Nearly all teams are doing the basics of this pattern.

1. Running scrum half off ruck
2. Pod running off fly half.
3. Using a wide field, and then switching directions.
4. Lift and drive lineout technique on offensive and defense.
5. Off the top lineouts with scrum half catching ball in stride.
6. Quick taps, quick lineouts.
7. Defensive pressure in scrums (which ruins most offensive scrum attack possibilities)
8. Lack of structured back moves.
9. In open play every player is a rugby player, all ruck, all run, all tackle, all pass.
10. 0 man defensive rucks.
11. Forwards pick and jamming off rucks.


What you don't see from old time rugby:
1. Forward pods running off rucks.
2. Short kickoffs to forwards.
3. Lots of defenders in ruck.
4. Complex back moves.
5. Open field mauls.
6. Lineout peels.
7. Penalty plays.
8. "Slow ball"
9. Defensive rucks.


Rugby has definitely changed. You have a game plan that is ahead of the curve in America. Watch the USA Tonga game and see the 'slow ball' tactics, the slow lineout mauls fail to get a drive, and understand just how difficult modern rugby is if you play slow.

Scrum moves

Great scrum moves come from great hooks, and quick explosive attacks from the 8 man.

Great hooks come from practice against a live scrum or a scrum machine. #9 puts in a consistent ball to hooker, on hookers hand signal. Hook is fasts, purposeful and consistent, ideally to 8 mans feet.

The best 8 man moves surprise the defense. You can surprise them three ways:

1. Very rapid move almost instantaneously from hook. Practice the mental and physical characteristics of this. Hook, explode out.

2. Rapid move with varied timing from hook. After ball is hooked 8 man calls a drive, and as the surge goes forward he picks and goes. This is very advanced but should be practiced.

3. Rapid 8 man moves both to the right and left, or 8 man passes to scrum half. Vary the moves. Make quick easy calls with scrum half--left or right, pick or run. Many teams chose not to run left because the opposition scrum half is there. I believe you must try left hand moves 1 or two times a game just to keep the opposition honest.

8 man run should be a few explosive steps to get around the scrum, then a hard cut up field. This means being an athlete, and using you explosive plyometric work to make fast moves and hard cuts.

To practice hooks use 5 balls having hooker snap back ball in quick succession. On the 5th ball 8 man makes his move and forwards follow quickly setting a quick ruck or playing dynamic rugby.

This must be worked in practices and games, to perfection.

Kicking off

Lots of teams will do the standard short kickoff to the opposition forwards and vainly try and regain possession. Sadly the result is usually a mass of collisions, with the opposition retaining possession. Another tactic teams try is to get tricky kicking short kicks of kicks to opposite fields. Unfortunately these moves are usually not practiced, and often result in unproductive results.

Focusing on kickoffs is the best way to establish and change momentum in a game. If you are kicking off you are either starting the game or have just been scored on. Either way you need to make a statement about your willingness to win the game.

Before going into the kickoff pattern lets look at the results we are after: a turnover, a poor possession, a kick and counter attack, or a kick to touch.

First start with a kick. In my book the best option is a high deep kick landing just in front of the 22 meter line between the 5 and 15 meters markers.

Hang time is essential your forwards must run about 28 meters, so you need 3 or 4 seconds in the air for them to get there.

The forward pattern is this 2 men on the ball catcher, 2 men beyond the ball catcher, and 4 in frin defense. The 2 on, and 4 in fringe defense are obvious. The 2 beyond need to be there as well because the kick is open play and catchers mess up kicks a lot, and even if they catch them they often tap directly back makes sense to me to take advantage of common occurrences.

Centers should be rushing on closing down space for the backs. #9 and #10 should hang back at about the opposition 10 meter line. The back three should be on the back 10 meter line depending on the strenght of the opposition kicker. Goal is to be prepared for a counter attack, or quick line out. Don't be afraid to be a good athlete.

I am not a fan of cheeky kicks of short kicks to the opposition forwards. Though I applaud aggression and creativity, the long kick to the 'dead zone' with a blanket of forwards attacking is so productive, I say perfect this pattern, and ride the easy wave to extra possessions, pressure ball, and scoring opportunities. Bottom line is in College rugby this pattern is the gift that keeps on giving. I don't mean dictate patterns, but this one needs to be paid attention to.

Pressure, dynamic attack and quick decisions.

Recieving Kickoffs

I believe that there is not facet of the American college game as overlooked as the kickoff phases. This is regrettable because giving and receiving kickoffs offers more game opportunities for possession, dynamic play, counter-attacks and turnovers than any phase of the game. Teams that concentrate on this phase, especially in division 2 will have a competitive advantage like no other. When building the Air Force game plan adding the kicking set pieces wound up being the key ingredient, the results quickly paid off, generating turnovers, counter attacks, and quick easy scores. In the 2003 semi-final against Cal the Zoomies scored a non-contact try on a counter-attack on the opening kickoff 45 seconds into the game. They also scored the game sealing try in the second half after recieving the kickoffs. Receiving kickoffs is important because it gives you the chance to dominate and get back to back scores, to complete deflate the opposition.

This blog will deal with receiving kickoffs.

Good kickoff reception begins with a good catch.
1. First player in best position to catch screams "my ball". Best position means they are running towards the ball, not running back to catch it.
2. Catching player sprints into position, and jumps up with arms up, hands in field of view, and hips perpendicular to goal line. (a picture would be better and I will post one later.
3. Supporting players retreat behind catcher to do one of two things:


A. If defense is right on receiver, form a maul.
B. Play dynamic rugby with goal of creating a quick ruck in the center of the field.


Attacking pattern requires 15 people on the same page making and executing decisions faster than the opposition.

If the maul is formed, drive it low hard and fast. I remember first playing Cal in 2001, the recieved a kickoff, formed a maul and literally sprinted in formation 30 yards and then launched an attack. Scrum have determines attack--either a weakside break with wing/fullback in support. Or scrum half can box kick down sidelines. Or get the ball to the fly half quickly for a fast play to the wing.

If the ruck forms backs should form line to one side and forwards to the other, forcing the defense to cover all 70 yards of the field. Scrum half has the freedom to attack weak if he sees a gap. Fly half can call for the ball if he sees and overlap.


In either scenario the goal is to get quick dynamic possession, and get past mid-field in 2 phases. If something goes awry, don't be afraid to kick for territory.

This phase wins champoinships.

Keys to winning division 2 national championship.

1. Fitness & fundamental. You cannot be too fit to play rugby. You cannot run, pass, tackle, catch, line out, scrum, counterattack with fundamentals that at too good. What do you see NBA players doing in warmups--360 dunks, or lay-up drills, free throws, and box out drills.

2. Lineouts. Mauling lineouts in for scores is essential for winning in division 2.

3. Bonus plays. Quick taps, kickoffs and kickoff returns give you the extra advantage in and even game practice them, prefect them, dominate.

4. 22 man roster strategies. Freshness, committment to winning, and cohesiveness win in Division 2.

5. Preparing for success. Eat, train, hydrate, mentally focus, dress, warm-up, like a champion. Team-wide commitment to details wins championships. Wear a team uniform to travel, eat a team breakfast, have a team dinner.

Preparing for the Playoffs

Play every weekend of your season like it was the playoff. Playoff require you to beat a good team saturday and a better one sunday.

1. You must develop team wide habits to play all 22 players in your saturday match. Pick as strategy and stick with it. Either start top side Saturday and then pull key players to rest them when you are dominating, or start weaker side and sub studs if you are losing. Whatever the strategy work on it. Share it with the players, get them on board.

2. You don't have to list your 7 subs by name on saturday, this took AFA 2 years to discover. Use your first 15 saturday, sub b-siders if you are dominating sub your studs if you are even or losing. Whatever you do play 22 players every a-side game.

3. Our AFA sub strategy way 3 player at 3o minutes, 3 players at 50 minutes, and 1 player as needed where ever. This give players a change to get in the groove before and after half time.

4. Sunday should start 5-8 fresh players. Really 5-8 players--your A-side who did not play a minute saturday.

5. Getting the team psychologically, and physically ready for playoff is essential. Psychologically they need to understand the need for subs, the need for starters and the need for a top squad of 25-35 players. Div II teams might only have 25 top player, but you need everyone to be ready to have their position substituted and to be ready to come off the bency.

6. Physically playing 2 games is brutal. Have subs sit down--standing is taxing on. Have all players take and ice bath saturday night--it reduces swelling and healing. Good diet and nutrition and sleep is required to heal between playoff game. Laying down, resting physically and mentally is the key to winning on sunday.

7. Every player and coach need to understand this strategy. Regular season is significantly different from playoff rugby.

Off the top Lineout

Off the tip lineouts require scrum half to get the ball in stride. Scrum half should stand at 5 meter line, and wait to run into the ball ass the jumper taps it down to him. This requires tons of practice. the purpose of this technique is to get to ball to the fly half as fast as possible. Typical college teams will have the scrum half standing in the middle reacting to where the ball comes. The scrum half with reach for the ball, set his feet, and then pass from a stationary position.

Lineout Mauls

The lineout maul is the most important attacking platform of the American college rugby game. Teams are either successful at lineout mauls or they are not. The modern college game demands fast hitting mauls. The old time college game focuses on brute strength. In watching a good team maul, and in practicing the maul focus on the speed of the attack, not just the power of the mauls. This patter requires speed.

To set up the maul three things need to happen at the same time:
1. The jumper must make a clean catch, this requires a good consistent throw and a sure handed catch. This requires consistent throws which require a hooker to practice dozens if not hundreds of throws a season. Get to practice early stay late if you want to throw in.
2. The lifter must practice the lift and drive technique given in the defensive lineout blog. The key difference between this technique and others you may have been taught is that the lifters pull the jumper down quickly and bind hard across the jumpers gut. Other techniques teach the lifters to reach around the jumper and rebind, this method is too slow and allows the defense to form to oppose the drive . the point of this technique is to set the drive quickly and violently.
3. The drivers must come at depth while the ball is in the air and be accelerating and ready to drive immediately.

See the picture of a perfect Cal lineout maul forming. Notice that the drivers are not binding before the drive. #4 will bind on the first lifter, and # 1 will either rip the ball or drive between the first lifter and the #4. Done correctly you will be sprinting past the opposition.

How to practice the pattern and get fit

Team of 15 starts at try line (if b-side is short they just play short)
Coach at mid field calls a pattern the team must set-up at mid field.
Team jogs to 22, runs 3/4 to 40 meter line, and sets up pattern at 50 meter line.
Patterns to be worked on:
-5 man offensive lineout off the top
-5 man offensive lineout maul
-Offensive scrums at various points across the field, run 8 man pick right and left, 8 man pick and pass to 9 to right and left. Make sure everyone talks about right hand blind.
-Penalty pattern (run quick tap, kick to touch and form lineout)
-Defensive lineout with team executing first phase defense, simulating second phase set-up and then simulating second phase turnover and quick attack, or coach kicks to backs for counter attack.
-Defensive scrum simualte 8 man drive, calling balls out (left or right) and froming second phase defense.
-Kickoff return pattern (setup quick ruck center, read gaps and attack, or kick for territory)
-Kickoff pattern (kick high for hang time and deep to 22, two men on, two men beyond, and 4 in fringe defense, backs ready to counter attack quickly) coach can kick to team to simulate counter attack.
-22 pattern
With everything (except 22s) team jogs, 3/4, then sprint to mid field, quickly set up pattern coach calls, runs the first phase pattern, and when they get the ball run dynamic phases across field, then attack back until the opposite goal line is reached. Use pick and jams, running scrum half, runners off the fly half, and hands to backs to get across field. Emphasis fitness, decision making, playing the pattern, and most importantly quick assembly, communication, and execution. This practice is essentially how to execute the pattern. You will wear down all division 2 teams with this pattern.

Speeding up the offensive ruck

Perhaps the most frustrating thing for me to watch in any collegiate rugby game is how teams approach the offensive ruck. A player will go into a tackle, and struggle to get a few more yards, present the ball slowly, and hope that his teammates will bail him out by rucking over. If the ball happens to be presented the entire team will wait for the scrum half to arrive and he will wait for the forwards to get into position or for the fly half to give him a call. If the scrum half gets the ball out to a forward they will run head down full speed into an established defense. If the fly half gets it he will try and run some complex triple flip move into an established defense. The most likely result is a turnover, or another static ruck. God forbid the ball gets to the wing where the poor soul will be smothered by a pursuing defense. Trust me every American rugby team has a predisposition to break the game down into easy to practice and easy to understand static rugby moments. I hope to show you four techniques to make the game more dynamic: the presentation, forward plugs, running scrum half, and weakside attacks.

First you need to swear to give up one classic aspect of the American game the static scrum half pop passing to running forwards, the is the Maginot line of rugby.

A dynamic ruck begins with presentation. The ball carrier must decide about 5 yards away from the tackle that he is going be tackled and prepare to take the tackle on his own terms. The photo below of BYU in blue vs Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a perfect example of tacking the tacking on you own terms, BYU player has low body position, and is falling so he delivers the ball to his team even though he is double teamed. Keep you legs driving, keep you body low, maintain control of your momentum, go to ground on your terms. Don't try and pass, don't try and break the tackle. Going into a tackle is a fundamental skill every player must have.
Second key to a dynamic ruck is the forward plug. The next player into the ruck should see the ball and make and immediate decision to either ruck over or pick and plug the ball. If the ball is available, and there is a disfigured defense the first impulse should be to immediately pick the ball, run with a low body position into the path of least resistance. This should be a team wide mind set. Against a good opponent this opportunity might happen two or three times a game. If there is not space to pick and run the second player should set the ruck. This is more of a very high speed art than something I can articulate here. Below is an example of a Navy player executing the pick and plug technique in a dynamic ruck. He has a low body position, has the ball tucked in one arm and is quickly attacking a disfigured defense. In order to do this he must make a quick decision to attack.


The next key to dynamic rucks is the running scrum half. Instead of standing static dishing to forwards or back the scrum half reads the defense and runs to daylight ready to dish to forwards running at pace. Below is a prime example of Navy executing the dynamic scrum half move. He is running parallel to the goal line, and you can see the forward running at pace. this is extremely hard to defend.
The final dynamic ruck technique is the weakside attack. The idea is to keep rucking across the field with plugs, running scrum halves until you run out of field. Usually it is very hard to defend the weakside. Ideally you will attack all the way to the 5 meter line and put a man away with a few feet on the side lines. Trust me no team can keep defending the weakside all the way across the field. Below is CAL Navy 2005 game with Cal setting up the perfect weakside attack. Notice how Navy is forced to commit defenders to both sides of the ruck.

The last example is of Air Force vs Army in 2004 with AF scrum half reading the weakside attack. Army has no one defending, this is an easy long run if not a try if he just looked before automatically passing.

Keep it fast. Practice fast, think fast, be fast. Or as Coach Wooden would say "Be quick don't hurry."

Speeding up play offensively

Back in the old days of American rugby, before it turned professional when tries were worth three points the state of the game of rugby (to paraphrase Hobbes' description man's natural state) was solitary, poor, brutish, and SLOW.

The game, especially in America was solitary because there was no world cup on television, no live streaming rugby on the web, no internet coaches forums, not Amazon to buy coaching books or DVD's. As a result American rugby teams were left for fend for themselves adapting techniques, tactics and strategies from anyone passing through a practice with an accent. What trickled down to American college rugby was a hodgepodge of different playing styles melded together into a messy morass of slow ball in the forwards, and overly complicated back moves. The brutish forward play is a hold-over from the British origins of the game where fields were soggy, balls slippery, and close play was required. The fancy back play is imported from the relatively dryer pitches of the southern hemisphere that allowed for faster paced rugby. Unfortunately the mix of styles would be the American football analogy of running a west coast passing game with a power running blocking scheme--the line would be smashing their opposition off the line, and the wide receivers would be running fantastic routes but the quaterback would be trying to hand off to a running back who was trying to run a pass pattern. The end result is a relatively poor level of rugby.

The brutish forward tactics of giving pop passes to the forwards un-necessarily slows the pace of the game down. Ball coming out of the ruck is slow allowing the defense to set-up. The scrum halves are usually stationary popping passes to their forwards into the teeth of the fringe defense. Since the defense is established the offense must commit more energy and men to the ruck, slowing the delivery of the ball down and perpetuating the cycle. Occasionally the backs will receive the ball and attempt a complicated back move into the established defense and continue the slow ball cycle as well.

Combine this offensive slow ball cycle with another aspect of the modern rugby game aggressive rugby league like tackling and defensive patterns. These modern tackling methods of chest high smother tackling, aggressive head on, low body position tackle, and the defensive pattern which look amazing like an American football defensive scheme are more easily adopted by American teams. Thus we have American college teams vainly trying to play an old time rugby offense against a modern rugby defense perfectly adapted to the strengths of American football players.

The most frustrating part of these cycles is that players and coaches will return to practice the next week thinking that players need run harder off the ruck, commitment more men to win it, and work on the back timing more to make their moves successful. This is not the modern game of rugby.

The world game has moved on, and a few elite college and mens teams have adopted fast paced tactics of quick hitting scrum and lineout moves, running scrum halves, weakside attacks, forwards with the ability to decide to pick up the ball on a dynamic ruck, backs rucking, forwards in the backline, quick tap penalties, passed before contact rather than in contact and quick decisions.

The intent of the posts is not to be pejorative, but rather enlightening. Certaintly there are aspects of old time rugby which are useful in the modern game, but many traits of the old style of play have gone the way of the three point try.

The next few posts will detail how to play this modern style of game. Coaches, captains and players please pay close attention. These posts will accelerate your understanding of the game, and enable you to outplay your opponent by playing faster and making quicker decisions rather than by perpetuating the Hobbesian path of solitary, poor, brutish and slow rugby.

Think fast, act fast, play fast,
Toby


Here some Miami photos showing the old style game

2001 Miami tour of Florida--static scrum half dishing to a pod of forwards. A running scrum half could have drawn the Florida defender and hit the forward at pace.













2001 Miami vs Cleveland Rovers old time maul. A quicker hitting maul could have created or exploited space and fewer Miami players in the maul could have attacked the space.











2001 Miami Florida tour static scrum half again dishing to a pod of forwards. Static scrumhalf failed to draw defenders, or read the possible overlap on the near side of the field. Although the distance from the ruck of the forwards is a good start to a more dynamic game.















2005 Miami penalty play runs into the teeth of a well formed West Virginia defense. Need I say more about running directly into the teeth of a formed defense. If your gonna hit a penalty play make it a quick decision against a unformed defense.

Fitness vs Energy

There is not substitute for fitness and the only way to get fit to to dedicate yourself to running sprinting and other cardiovascular activities. A good training regime will do wonders for every team. There is probably no such thing as an over trained rugby team. There are two things coaches and player often overlook: rest and replenishing energy.

Rest is important for the body to rebuild and adapt to a training routine. With proper rest intervals players bodies can do more than with constant work. Miami players should not kid themselves that two practices a week and a game is over training and that they need more rest. Elite rugby teams practice five days a week, some do two a days during the season during bye weeks. You will be amazing how you body can adapt to a rigorous training routine.

Food is also required to replenish the bodies energy and provide the fuel for vigorous workouts. Eating well is as important to an athlete as training and learning the game. There is enough information out there on how to eat right that each player should investigate sports nutrition on their own.

An often overlooked facet of rugby is replenishing energy during the game, even a super fit athlete will drag ass during a game if they run out of food. Experiment with energy gels, sport bars, oranges, bananas. Recent studies of endurance athletes have found frequent replenishing of energy boost performance. So add gel packs, sports bars and energy drinks to every water break.

Also don't be afraid of caffeine it is a proven performance booster, it can delay fatigue, increase brain activity, and heart rate. Contrary to popular belief it doesn't dehydrate as fast as people would believe. Just take caffeine in moderation, and remember coffee is a natural laxative. This isn't and endoresment for red bull, but it might help.

Your second half fades last season might be the result of a failure to replenish energy and not fitness, or substitution strategies.

Remember use your head to solve your performance problems.

Toby

Winning lineouts

There are three keys to winning any lineout: quick, stable lift; shoulder position; and hands with a wide range of motion. Notice I didn't say height. Any team can get a jumper to maximum height, but only teams that really work on shoulder position and wide ranging hands can consistently win lineouts.

See how the Cal jumper has his hands forming a basket in front of his face, with elbows slightly bent. This allows the jumper to quickly move his hands to where the ball is thrown. If its thrown low, or high or inside he has plenty of motion in his arms to reach the ball.

Also notice the stable base the Cal lifters are providing.



The other key to winning lineouts is shoulder position. It doesn't matter how high you jump, if you are jumping behind your opposition you are almost always at a disadvantage. The key is to have lifters and jumper work in unision to read the opposition and jump in front of the opposition. This is an art and required many repetitions to get right.



Remember good base, wide ranging hands and shoulder position.

Lift and Drive Technique

Downloaded directly from BBC.com I am reproducing here so I won't be a bandwidth stealer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/skills/4198376.stm


Note this should be used for both offensive and defensive lineouts.

Create a comfortable base to jump from.

Listen out to the call from the hooker or scrum-half - most teams will have practised set moves on the training field.

Most of the momentum for the jump will come from your knees.

So as the ball is released, coil your legs and prepare to jump, using your arms for extra power will also help get them in position above your head ready for the catch.

Keep your eye on the ball and jump.

Keeping your eye on the ball, catch the ball in your hands.

Both teams should have a one-metre gap between them before lift-off and players are not allowed to push, charge or hold an opponent.

But that doesn't mean there isn't often a lot of bumping and barging!

So make sure you have full control of the ball before you make your way down to ground.

Get ready to make the ball available for the scrum-half to collect.

Turn your back to the opposition as soon as your feet touch the ground.

This creates a wall, preventing the opposition from getting their hands on the ball.

Make the ball available for your scrum-half.