Finishing first

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Scoring tries is too often a given skill. This session makes a virtue of good body positions. It creates a hard session which the players will enjoy because of the obvious potential outcomes, scoring tries. Your team will also learn how to protect the ball close to line and how to coordinate a last ditch defence.

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

What to think about

How can I encourage my players to get low and drive for the line?Players can often be a bit reluctant at first to get low when going for the line, especially if the ground is hard. This is a great exercise for when the ground is a bit wet allowing the players to slide across the line with momentum.
How can I develop effective leg drive when players are so low?Get players running at a pad or bag held low to the ground. Just in front of the pad or bag hold a pole about three feet off the ground. The players have to dip under the pole and drive into the pad.

set-up

Go forward with purpose and aggression.
Don’t give up until you are over the line and have scored.
Be accurate with your passes to beat the defender.

What you get your players to do

Start a ball carrier on the side of the 5m square with a defender on a corner opposite him. He has to score on the line by beating the defender and touching the ball down.

The defender can’t move until the ball carrier starts running forwards.

Development

Start the defender in different positions. Move him closer if the player finds it is too easy to score or back if he finds it too hard.
Add a second defender to create a 1 v 2 situation and put more emphasis on the ball carrier getting low and driving for the line.
Add another attacker so there is one pass before the potential 1 v 1 or 1 v 2.

Related Files

Core-95-finishing-first.pdfPDF, 188 KB

The ball carrier gets as low to the ground as possible to make himself difficult to stop.

Game situation

Play a four-a-side full contact game in a 10m square. Throw the ball to the attacking side who then have 15 seconds to score. Whether they score or not reset the game after 15 seconds with the same team attacking. After six attacks the teams swap over. The game is quite intense so it is ideal if you can have a third team resting while two teams play.

The passer needs to create space for the receiver.

What to call out

“Get low and drive to the line”
“Slow down, then step and accelerate to the line”
“Attack the sides of the defender”
“Always move forwards”

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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