Break through the defence

Sometimes your players will have no choice but to go through a defence because it is well organised or there is no time to pass the ball out. Your players will need to use good footwork, body positions and support players to win the ball back. This is a bread and butter session.

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

What to think about

Combine work you have done previously on footwork, body positions and rucking. In your warm-up you can focus on one or two of these factors and then check the players are using them in the main activities. One of the main issues might be how players hold the ball going into contact. Ideally they keep it away from defenders. They can either hold the ball in two hands, close to the body, or in one hand using the other hand to fend.

set-up

1. Attack the edges of defenders, not the middle.
2. Keep driving forward, don’t twist in contact.
3. Look after the ball and if you have to go to ground, fight to get a better body position to place the ball.

What you get your players to do

Put three ruck pad holders at one end of a 5m square (see picture 1). Instruct a feeder to pass to any of three attackers on the opposite side of the box. The ball carrier has to step to the edge of the ruck pad holder to get through. If he is blocked then he either goes to ground, offloads or gets driven through the gap (see picture 2). Make sure the feeder does not always pass to the middle player.