Ball placement

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One sign of a well coached team is the quality of the ball placement after the tackle. These vital moments can give you the best chance for recovery and continuity. Your players need to use a variety of styles of placement, depending on the type of contact they take.

Warm up time: 5-7
Session time: 5-10
Development time: 8-12
Game time: 15-20
Warm down time: 5-7

What to think about

There are five placement techniques.

Traditional: The ball carrier places the ball back from the tackled position. He can either keep the ball close to his body or at an arm’s length.
Jack knife: The tackled player thrusts his upper body back towards his own team.
Long placement: The tackled player lies prone with his feet towards the opposition.
Squeezeball: The tackled player rests on his knees and posts the ball through his legs.
360s: The ball carrier rolls in the tackle before placing the ball.

Each has strengths, and not every type is suitable for the situation the ball carrier finds himself in.

set-up

Fight to the ground when you are tackled, to give yourself the upper hand in the tackle situation.
Use the ball placement technique that secures the ball first for your team and then provides the best ball to play with.

What you get your players to do

Split into groups of three with a ball. Nominate a type of placement. Have the ball carrier run into another player. He drops to the ground and places the ball. Rotate the players and the types of placement Also, change the height of the tackles, using ruck pads and tackle suits to act as different stimulus. Finally, have the third player act as support to drive off or over the tackler.

Four different ways to place the ball. Players need to choose which one suits them and the tackle situation best.

Development

Set up the players as in the bottom picture. Throw the ball to either player 1 or 2 and call out letter “A” or “B”. The ball carrier aims to score at the other end, whilst the lettered player comes out to tackle him. In the meantime, the other players run to the nearest corner to support their team mate.

Related Files

Advanced-218-ball-placement.pdfPDF, 155 KB

The tackled player uses his forward momentum to roll over once before placing the ball, creating a moving target for would be poachers.

Game situation

Split into two teams. Put some of the players from each team in the box and throw in a ball. The team in possession has to retain possession for 20 seconds or score a try. They get one point for either. After each attempt, change personnel. Ensure that sometimes the attacking team has more or less players than the defence.

Shout out the letter of the tackler as you pass the ball to an attacker. The other players run to a corner before supporting.

What to call out

“Land on your body not the ball when you fall”
“Use your legs and shoulders to twist and turn in the tackle”
“Be secure first”

Dan Cottrell

Dan is a practising RFU Level 3 coach and coach educator. He coaches with the Bristol Bears DPP programme, is head coach of Bristol Schools U18s and the Rugby Performance coach for Bristol Grammar School.

He was head coach of Swansea Schools U15, Young Ospreys Academy, assistant coach with the Wales Women's Team for the 2010 World Cup, director of rugby for Cranleigh School, Surrey. He played for Bath, Bristol, Esher and Clifton, South West division, Gloucestershire and Surrey.

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