Rugby coaching session for the place kick

What you tell your players to do:

• Concentrate on striking the ball on the “sweet spot”.
• Follow through with the kick to the target.

The "sweet spot"

• The best place to strike the ball with the foot is about a third of the way up the ball on a seam. The shape of the ball fits the foot.
• Your players need to experiment to find out what point feels most comfortable. They must keep their eyes focused on this point in their run up.

What you get your players to do:

• Put a ball on tee or cone. Aim a seam towards the target. Place the non-kicking foot next to the ball and step a couple of paces backwards and to the side.
• Look at the sweet spot (as shown by an arrow on the picture below), then the target. Breathe in and then out.
• Jog towards the ball, keeping your eyes on it. Plant the non kicking foot in line with the ball. Keep the arm on the side of the non-kicking foot horizontal for balance. Kick through the ball towards the target.

Practice 1: Put a rucking bag or tackle pad 1 metre in front of the kicking tee. The kicker practises hitting kicks into the pad to improve rhythm.

Practice 2: The kicker stands on the try line, facing one post. They aim to hit it from various distances.

A game situation

The session can be developed by playing the "goal-kick competition". The first player puts the ball next to the kicking tee. He then runs around the posts and has 45 seconds to tee up, step back and kick the goal. Repeat for each player, recording the times and scores.

Development

For conversion-type kicks, instruct a defending player try to charge down the kick. Put another player 10 metres away shouting at the kicker to put extra pressure on the kicker. (Players cannot shout during a match when an opponent is kicking a penalty or conversion)

This article is from my Coaching Rugby manual, specially created for coaching core skills.