my most recent cut and pastes from everywhere...on the brumbies and other things
...from bob... it is the basics and the man management skills that make the difference... most of them won't believe it, they think that there is some bloody great secret that is being kept from them ... but it is just basics, basics done well, basics done well at speed, basics done well at speed under pressure, , basics done well at speed under pressure in the game ... and that is the sequence I try to get coaches to coach.
A good coach needs to educate his team to think on their feet and provide them with options so that they can re-evaluate at certain stages of the game and turn an ineffective strategy into a working formula. Remember, to be kicked by a donkey once is unlucky; to be kicked ten times is just foolish
......on the brumbies success.....Those relentlessly slick moves are the result of endless hours of training drills which seem destined to revolutionize how rugby union is played. For six weeks at the end of the year, a large Brumbies squad design their moves and then walk them through in training, over and over again.
Adjustments are made during this period, and slowly the pace is increased to match level.
We sit down in October and November and work out how we are going to attack the Super 12. That includes having starter moves, and we sit down and decide where and when we want to use each play.
We have session after session developing and understanding those plays. We practice them over and over again. It is all about practice and repetition.
We want the moves to become second nature because that is what you rely on when you are under pressure in games.
Brumbies fringe players like flanker George Smith, a replacement in Saturday's match, undergo special extra sessions in November and December to learn and understand the drills. Understanding those moves is the prime objective of the back-up team, who play various opponents every fortnight. The aim is to make players easily interchangeable.
.....To beat them you have to control possession and be so strong ... because a lot of what the Brumbies do runs off three phases
First phase, Larkham will get rid of it and stay out of the play - it will be off [inside-centre] Rod Kafer; second phase, Larkham will come back into it - they'll look for runners, but he may have a go himself; and the third phase, Larkham will really have a go.
.... He uses both feet well, and moves the ball through his hands very effectively. He recognizes that he can attack at the same time as moving the ball, which means he draws the defense on two fronts.
That starts to prey on the minds of a defense. ..
It had to happen because there's a lot more tackles being made these days. There's a lot more phases in the game, a lot more time with the ball in play.
Guys who weren't making tackles before have to do it now, and they are..
You only have to look at the tackle sheets for front rowers. They're making six to 10 tackles a game this year. Last year it was an average of four to seven and before that anything from one to four a match.But we work as hard on our defense as we do on our attack,
..You ask yourself whether you are happy with your ball-winning, and how you are going to put pressure on the opposition. You ask yourself what your plan is in moving the ball forward against the defensive pattern you will confront.
The answer to these questions gives you a game plan. The key is to stick to the easy things in preparation, because the individual ability of the players will take care of the difficult things. It is essential not to make the end result your main focus; instead you must look at the quality of your own performance....... that in sport you are in a contest with yourself as much as you are in a contest with the opposition
.. ...Conversation with Dan Herbert: Asked him why he is so successful in tackles. We were right, all he does is get as close as possible to his man and upper body tackle him, not using either shoulder but the fast wrap and his strength
.....Remember, that if there are forwards standing around on the field, there are opponent forwards, out of an attacking perspective, who did not do their work properly. From the point where the ball is put into the scrum, very little opponents look to see what is going on in form of them. Attention is usually focused on the scrum and the ball inside the scrum.
Positional changes in terms of the above-mentioned can go relatively unseen, this can make the variation of play very effective.
.....What must be remembered is the fact that it is the inside-back line players who must created the opportunities for the outside-back line players, by occupying the loose forwards as well as the direct opponents.
This is and will always stay their primary function. Variation of play is the answer.
One moment the fly half plays individually, and he takes on the advantage line and the following moment he plays a immediate distribution of the ball to the inside center.
.....Why are the players spread out across the whole field? Where are their opponents, the attackers, the team that has possession of the ball? What does their own productivity look like in terms of their attack? ..
....We must always remember that in each case, where player A has got the ball and player B is defending, that there is a mini-competition taking place on the field. This always results in a winner, looser situation. For example, the attacking player A is trying to beat the defender, player B, by either trying to run over him, or by using a range of different techniques. He can try and beat his opponent, for example, by using his speed effectively, by making use of side step, a goose-step, a swerve, or a dummy pass.
In spite of all these different options that players have to choose from, we constantly see them using the same option over and over again, which is to try and run over their opponents. One aspect that the attacking player is not always taking into account, is the fact that he is keeping the defender 100% in the mini-competition by trying to run over him.
Because defending is usually less creative, it is sometimes easier to achieve. The question to ask ourselves is, if the attacker and the defender are equally strong, equally aggressive, equally fast, and also equally heavy, which of the two players has the best chance to win this mini-competition?
Is this not the reason why we see so many of the attackers on the ground, and that there is so little continuity in the game? What we are thus looking for is attackers that can beat their direct defending opponents.
This does not mean that we expect the attacking players to run through their defenders every time they get the ball. What this means is that the attackers should maintain the initiative in a mini-competition situation.
This is possible because the attacking player stays on his feet, moves forward, and the remains in a position to pass the ball to one of his team-mates, so as to maintain continuity of the attack initiative..the most successful teams have continuity of attack due to individual skills in common.
Repeatedly we have seen that the successful teams are those teams that are capable of ensuing individual attacking skills, which are in turn supported by guts and determination by the rest of the team, so as to get to the breakdown point, thus ensuring continuity of play.
..the French perspective on play..When training it's right we prefer to work the general movement(Villepreux) or general play . We try to be always in situation. We modify the situation by 3 ways :
1. modify the shape of the field to oblige players to understand or find the best playing choice
2. modify the place you give the ball to one of the teams and(or) the place where playersenter in the field (for example, you can play 8 vs. 8, but 4 defenders are obliged to run behind a line or a post before defending).
You can also use static situations (lineouts or scrums)
Combinations are very numerous between 1 and 2
3. modify the number or the type of players ( for example you can play 8 against 6, or forwards against 3/4), the combination with 1 and 2 will provide an infinity of real situations of play. These principles are good in practice for little boys or girls(under 10 for example) and for seniors.
Why are we here?What are we going to have at the end of the season from all of this? Why do the players come down on a Tuesday and Thursday and get ground in to the deck, play on Saturday's and then repeat.
They are there for a reason. Have you as coaches coaxed that out of them?
Basically, individuals fall into three categories; those who're there for the process (getting better, learning), others for the product(winning/losing, black/white) or the praise (pats on the back, socializing...).
Depending on the dominant style within your team, should dictate your coaching style. Trying to motivate a 'praise person' by using the result of a season is unlikely to work, however, there are little bits of each in all of us, and you may strike it lucky.
Giving the players ownership of their team is important. Are they contributing to practices? Are they being listened to?