Rugby coaching session to get players practising the rear tackle

What you tell your players the session is about:

• Bringing down a player from behind.

• Covering back to make a tackle.

What you tell your players to do:

• Aim to tackle the ball carrier by putting your shoulder into the back of their shorts.

• Slide and wrap your arms around their legs and pull tight.

What you get your players to do:

Rugby warm-up: Play a game called “truck and trailer”. Split your players into pairs, each pair with a ball. One player without a ball runs away from the other, who has to try to touch them on the shorts with the ball.

Main practice: In a three-metre channel, 10 metres long, stand a pair of players back to back in the middle. You stand outside the channel. You pass a ball to one player and shout “GO”. The ball carrier jogs towards the line, the other chases and tackles.

How to develop the rear tackle coaching session

The training session can be developed as follows:

• Allow the ball carrier to run faster.

• Change the starting distances between the players.

Game situation

The coaching session can be developed further by playing the “balloon burst” game.

In a 20-metre square box, two defenders stand on an edge facing into the box. Two attackers jog around five metres away from the edge that the defenders are standing on.

You stand behind the two defenders. You throw a ball into the box towards an attacker. Once it passes over the defenders, their balloon is burst and they chase the attackers, who have to score over the line at the far end.

Adjust the height of the throw and the length of the box according your players’ ability.

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