Coach's Corner

Lads,

Lads,

As we have seen at practice last weekend, an aggressive defensive line who takes time and space from the attacking team is a very effective way to slow-down, disorganize and even force turnovers from the opposition.

Have a look at the awesome defense of the All Blacks off their line against the… Les Bleus....

The All Blacks’ defensive line comes up so fast that the French center receives the ball at the same time as the tackler at reaches him well behind the gain line. After that, the French team is disorganized and the scrumhalf makes the mistake of not continuing playing to his left, instead he goes back toward the middle where all the All Blacks pack is waiting...

You will also notice that the Blacks do not commit more than 2 players after the tackle in each ruck, leaving a lot of guys available in the defensive line.

I hope we can emulate some of that this season.

Lads,

This year we want to increase the pace of the game by reducing the number of slow balls at the breakdown. We will achieve this by looking for an off-load solution before going to the ground.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s practice, we will be working on various aspects of the breakdown including:

- Commitment to clearing the ruck area

- Effective techniques to remove the defender from the ruck

- Timing and position to slow down the attacking team at the breakdown

Have a look at this very informative video: