Pre-match warm-up

In my article ’Get players primed’ (RCW 175, Aug 23), I challenged coaches to rethink their warm-up routines before a match, because it may have a direct impact on a team’s start to a game or performance away from home.

To help guide your thoughts, I have put together an example of how you can structure your warm-up to meet the expected demands of the match your team is about to play. 

Naturally, there are many ways of preparing a team for matches. Often, teams have their timings worked out, so, as a starting point, this is a suggested structure for a team that only has 30 minutes on the grass before kick-off.

The templates shown here can be adjusted to suit your personal needs. 

For example, you could decide that, as the season goes forward, the time spent on unopposed back play or scrum/lineouts could be reduced, to allow a more physical element to the warm-up. 

Also, by increasing the time set aside for a team run-through (see fig 3) from eight minutes to 15 minutes, you could finish by taking the players behind the posts, where you can set up a series of 5x5m grids. 

In these grids, you can ask a ball carrier to score a try, while a defender performs match-intensity tackles. You can add in a second defender to look at jackaling, and a further attacker to secure the ball. All the time, build the intensity to matchplay levels.