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