The Rugby Coaching Manual

There are also various ways in which you can condition your players in the pre-season phase without using a ball and these techniques can easily be carried on through the season. We can learn a great deal from boxing, wrestling and judo and some of their skills and techniques can translate effortlessly to contact in rugby.

The first ‘steal’ would have to be skipping, much used over many years in boxing. It develops fast feet, co-ordination and cardiovascular fitness and costs virtually nothing. You can soon get your players to use this as a very effective warm-up technique and once they start to compete with each other, anything is possible.

There is a lot to be said for punching a hand-held tackle shield. The aim should be to develop very short periods of short, sharp punches and players very quickly start to improve their feet position and body shape for effective contact. This exercise can be timed so that you work the players in these short, sharp bursts of activity but the hands must be protected. You can buy lightweight practice gloves and they are well worth the expense, because bare-knuckle hitting against the tackle shield will certainly result in torn skin on the knuckles. If that is too expensive, try old towelling – but you must use some form of hand protection.

Judo has many elements that are useful to any player in the manipulation of his own and the opponent’s body weight and balance. There is almost certainly a judo club near you and you might be able to find a friendly and willing instructor to take a few pre-season sessions on grappling, throwing and falling techniques. However, safety could be an issue so make sure that you get somebody who is used to controlling learners in groups – especially competitive rugby players.

The martial art that looks the easiest to introduce is wrestling. The rugby-related faults that you, the coach, might identify in wrestling will probably be related to balance during contact: feet too close together; feet too wide apart; over-extension of the body; centre of gravity too high; extending the centre of gravity beyond the balance base; crossing the legs; failure to modify the feet and body position; and losing concentration.

These exercises need the minimum of equipment but you do need to watch closely to ensure that your players stick to the rules of engagement that you give them. You can do without a skill practice that degenerates into a fight, so keep your eyes and ears open. If you have any injured players and/or other coaches, spread them out to ‘referee’ what is bound to become quite competitive and sometimes heated.

PARTNER DRILLS – WRESTLING TECHNIQUES.

A. PUSH/RESIST.

• Partners number themselves one and two then place their hands on each other’s shoulders.
• On your command, number one pushes number two.
• Partner two resists the push by constantly adjusting and modifying his stance.
• Push/resist for timed periods of 15-30 seconds and change roles after each period.

B. PUSH/RESIST

• As in A, except that the working partner attempts to push his partner into the ground.

C. PUSH/PULL/RESIST

• As in A, except that the working partner attempts to pull his partner to the ground.

D. WRESTLE/RESIST

• Partners grasp each other in a wrestling stance.
• On your command, both partners attempt to wrestle/push/pull the opponent to the ground.
• Both wrestlers constantly adjust and modify their stance.

E. SUMO WRESTLING

• Partners face each other 1 metre apart.
• On your command, both partners attempt to push/pull the opponent outside a 3 metre diameter ring that can be marked with cones.
• The loser is the first out of the ring or the first to touch the ground in the ring with any part of the body other than the feet.

F. SUMO WRESTLING WITH BALL

• One partner holds a ball and partners face each other in the ring.
• On your command, the ball holder tries to stay in the circle and maintain balance while the other partner attempts to break his balance and push/pull him out of the ring.

PARTNER DRILLS (ON GROUND)

G. ROLL OVER

• Partner one lies on his belly on the ground.
• Partner two kneels beside him.
• On your command, the kneeling partner tries to roll his partner over onto his back.
• Partner one resists by constantly adjusting his body position.
• Partner two must remain on his knees all the time.
• The drill can be modified later by starting partner one on his hands and knees.

H. HOLD DOWN

• Partner one lies on the ground on his back (or belly, or hands and knees).
• Partner two kneels beside his partner.
• On your command partner one attempts to get to his feet while partner two attempts to hold him in his starting position.
• Partner two must remain on his knees at all times.

All of this wrestling work is extremely physically demanding so you need to be very careful regarding the length of each repetition. You can achieve total fatigue, especially in the players’ arms, in a very short period – so beware. You may leave them in such a state that they cannot carry out the next part of the session. Try to keep a record of how long they worked in previous sessions so that you achieve a balance and you can gradually build up the amount of time spent on each activity.

The Rugby Coaching Manual is now available for easy order from Amazon. This book will greatly help any rugby coach whether they are an old pro or overseeing their first training sessions.  For more tips or information on the book, please visit The Rugby Coaching Manual official site.  And check out a preview of the other chapters from the book on Rugby Rugby.