Hold the ball in two hands , turn with the impact of the tackle , if your arms are free and no other tacklers are about to hit you , pass to supporting players or ,if none, take the ball to the ground , landing on the back of your shoulder, placing (or passing) the ball so that you or your teammates can regain it.
You can help the landing on the back of your shoulder by rounding your shoulders ( hugging the ball helps) bend your knees , keep knees tucked up and tuck your chin into your chest when you land.
When turning with the impact it is important to turn far enough to land on the back of your shoulder and not on your shoulder , as you want as big a surface area as possible to break the impact with the ground ie not hand wrist or shoulder but back of shoulder bum legs.
If you continue to carry the ball in two hands you will not shoot out a hand to break your fall and thus making that hand take considerable force and weight , yours and the tacklers......turn and get the back of the shoulder on the ground!
In this turning with the impact of the tackle you will offer the ball to the supporters from your team which are usually on the inside coming from where you got the ball.
Common faults:
You cannot turn for your support or you get turned the wrong way in the tackle....you need to be more aggressive in the contact...HIT or BE HIT , tackle the tackler .You lose the ball as you attempt to place it.....concentrate on the turn with the impact round your shoulders and place the ball with two handsYou place the ball but the opposition take it ....slow down if your support is not there or as more and more players are doing now place it close to your bodyand get up over it and be your own looseforward.....ie don't lie there and wait for teammates and think you have done your job , get up over the ball and when your knees are off the ground pick up the ball ,stay low and take the next best option , which may mean getting tackled again and going to the ground again but all this has brought time for your support to get there and be your loooseforwards!
And a little snippet from the league coaches group on post tackle ,which for them is get up and play the ball......have you seen any of the latest rugby on the tv? if so you may have seen quite a few players that , when isolated from support and in trouble in the tackle area , land on their hands and knees and trap push the ball under their body and between their legs...thus buying time for teamates to get there and protecting the ball.....here was the snippet from the league group...
Getting quick play the balls or for us wedging bridging or protecting the ball!
1) Land On Hands Knees ... need to rehearse at training ... but get players who are held and not going anywhere, to stop struggling, surrender to the tackle ... but drop down so that you land on hands and knees ... then start struggling to get to your feet.
...and the following may be useful for us as well especially if we are by ourselves and having to be our own loose forward........
2) Clearing the tackler ... if a tackler is around your legs, then draw your knees up to your chest ... that will free your legs from the tackler and allow you to get up for a quick play the ball. If a tackler is across your back, draw the top of your body back towards your knees (chest to knees) ... this will loosen his grip and he will either give a penalty by making a second grab or you will be free to get up and play the ball.
More onthe ground contact topic can be found here at coaching rugby.comas well as here in their mini rugby section which also has great diagrams and drills as well as a teaching tackline progression
Here is an example of their content.....
Having accepted that the Game should be essentially taught as one of evasion, the reality is that at some stage the players will make contact with either a player of their own team, an opponent or the ground.
The major need of the players is to understand that static contact is not really of any use to their team either in defence or attack.
All contact must be dynamic i.e. it must move up the field. This keeps the opponents moving backwards, surrendering their territory to your team.
Dynamic contact does not mean hitting into the contact area as hard as possible; this is how injuries occur. Rather it means making strong contact and driving the legs so that there is constant, steady movement forwards. This allows your team to control how the contact area will develop so that your players can release the ball or defend on their own terms.
Coaches need to constantly question the players' understanding of their different roles and what they and other sections of the team are trying to achieve.
Making contact with either ground or player is a skill which requires very sympathetic teaching and coaching. For the few young players who enjoy the rough and tumble of the Game ..............