How accurate skill execution can break down defences.

How accurate skill execution can break down defences.

Many matches come down to critical moments. These may be decision making moments or a matter of simple skill execution. As teams look to develop their decision making they often neglect the importance of skill execution. The ability to catch a ball and deliver it accurately can prove to be the winning or loosing of a match. The higher the level of rugby the less opportunities a team has to score a try. Success or failure can come down to a split second.  For example take a ball on the shoulder, adjust it and pass it on OR take the ball early and immediately pass to a player in space. Just the hesitation or need to reload the pass can change a situation drastically. In the instance below, if the ball was caught late and inside the plane of the receivers body*, he may have been hit ‘ball and all’ or have been forced to reload his pass. Both options would have failed to produce the try. Missing a player here was needed to clear space and with the receiver being so flat there was no recovery time for the inside defenders.#Vid1.mov 

‘Meet early’

‘Speed is a weapon.’  In rugby, this term usually refers to a players running speed. However speed is also a weapon in ball transfer and the flight of a ball through the air. In our search for space, when on attack, our objective is to get the ball as quickly as possible to a player in space. This forces the defence to react to prevent a receiving player from further exploiting that space. #Vid4.mov

We are seeking to allow our attacker enough time on the ball to attack space while at the same time reducing the time the defence has to adjust and defend it. Good sides defend as a team so a good attack must work hard to find space while making sure to engage the defence and control their ability to adjust. #Vid3.mov

‘No engage’

In the image above we see a common site in many teams. The desire to get the ball to the man in space on the edge has many looking to throw a long looping pass, missing a couple of players in between. A common outcome here is that the defence drift off and smash the end player into touch. In the video we can see that there was a 4 v 2 with around 20m of space to work in. The defence is in real trouble. Because of the space the first player with the ball needed to pass quickly to the 2nd set of hands who was flat and already outside the closest defender to him. Simply running square would have engaged that defender and another quick pass to the next attacker would have left a 2 v 1 on the fullback. That close to the line, the fullback would be forced to make a decision, race up on the player with the ball or anticipate a pass and hit the player on the end. However that pressure was released by the looping, double cut-out pass. For me, a try gone begging and a common site in many matches at all levels.

Catch and pass is a foundation skill in rugby and when performed accurately can really take a team to that next level. However it is also not a complex skill and there are many examples on the rugby site that provide all the information needed to execute this skill to a high level.

* Inside the plane of the body. This is the space between the shoulders of the player receiving the ball. Meeting the ball early is outside the plane of the body towards the ball, Inside the plane of the body means catch late and on the shoulder or chest, while taking the ball on the drift is catching outside the plane of the body furthest from where the pass is coming from.