Don't switch out of the game

Teaching the switch pass is a bit of a nightmare.

So much of it depends on timing, and younger players, especially, find it hard to co-ordinate all the movements. 

Over the years, I’ve changed the way I coach it by using one of the tricks in this session. 

I have the ball carrier run diagonally across a box, and when they reach around the middle, they simply ’leave the ball’ on the hip. By this, I mean they put the ball on their hip nearest to their try line, and just pop up into the air a little. 

If there’s no one there to take the ball, it simply falls to the ground. However, you encourage another player to be running diagonally across the box in the other direction, so they can take the pass. 

The ball carrier simply leaves the ball on the hip. The whole emphasis is on the support player. Don’t even try to get the ball carrier to pass towards the support player.

The mathematical calculations to work out the interception velocities would make your eyes water, so a ball that is ‘left behind’ is much easier to catch than a ball passed towards the support player.

In this session, expect lots of dropped balls – well, initially, anyway. The ball carrier must trust the support player, and the support player must work out their intercept line and be prepared to accelerate onto the ball when they can.

But the switch isn’t over once the pass has been delivered. The passer needs to work hard to get back into support. 

First, they will probably be blocking a defender from getting to the ball carrier – legally, of course. After that, they should turn back towards the flow of play. 

In the session, we encourage the receiver to ’wrap’ back after taking the ball, which, in essence, means facing up the pitch. If they are half stopped, or even make a bit of a break, the original passer is an excellent option to use as a supporting player.

Training games and switches

Using switches in touch rugby games doesn’t give much reward.

The main advantage of a switch is to attack the ’weak’ shoulder of a tackler. If the tackler isn’t setting themselves to drive into the passer, they certainly won’t be unbalanced enough to miss a player coming onto a switch.

Some coaches award points for switches. I’m not a huge fan of this, because it creates an unnatural outcome – you’re not rewarded in the right way. 

Instead, how about telling the players that a switch pass means the receiver should be touched by two players before they need to pass. That at least has a better effect.