![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Nathan.jpg\" "\\"Nathan\\"")
<\/a>\t BSc (Hons) Sports Science, P.G.C.E\nFounder of NM Sports Performance,
\nVideo analyst and Coach for NM Sports Performance
\nwww.nmsportsperformance.co.uk Click Here<\/p>\n
BLOG 3 COACHES CORNER: Defence structure \u2013 It\u2019s not just a nice idea any more… It\u2019s a necessity!<\/strong><\/p>\n Last week I decided to look at the tackle situation and which type of tackle is the best to encourage the younger generation to adopt. So many times have we seen young rugby players trying to emulate their rugby idols, and the number of scoring chances I have seen missed, whilst refereeing club youth matches is astounding. One main idol is Brian O\u2019Driscoll and his one handed slide and dot down the rugby ball when scoring a try… It was a trade mark move that was used when he sped clear of many a defensive line. Cue now all the young O\u2019Driscoll wannabes, trying exactly the same technique, but this time, the ball being dropped…. Flung out in front of them and a perfectly good score is wasted… By no means am I blaming Brian O\u2019Driscoll for not scoring in text-book manner, what I am driving at is that our young players look to our older ones for inspiration and as coaches we need to ground their feet lest we want a losing scoreline on game day or to see that player not reaching his optimum level.<\/p>\n This brings me back to the subject matter for this week, defensive structure and more importantly defensive structure around the breakdown. <\/p>\n When I first started out in my rugby development officer work I moved to a club in Mid-Ulster and started work in recruiting 2 and \u00bd youth teams… I say \u00bd as there was already a number of 16 year olds but I set about recruiting a U14\u2019s, U16\u2019s and U18\u2019s. These players came from the majority of GAA schools and some non-rugby high schools, all had good individual talent but had never played the sport before. We went straight into league fixtures and it was like the boy who plugged the dam with his fingers… When plugging one damaged hole another appeared. All we could do was address the issues when they appeared. The major one which came in every week from the coaches was about defence, not the tackling but the holes in the line of defence. The teams who we were playing against were good established youth teams and could put support runners into any gaps they could find.<\/p>\n This defined our goal for the season…. We would become a club that would be hard to break down when we defended and set about teaching and educating all age groups on the delicacies of a defensive line. Our motto and outlook was simple \u201cThey can go round us! But they must not come through us!\u201d. It was simple… If a team was good enough to get the ball out to the wings under extreme pressure from the defensive line and still score then you have to applaud the attacking team! 9 times out of 10 someone in the attacking line will not pass the ball and will be hit in a tackle. We spent lots of time in training on this structure and getting all players to adhere to the system. In the following year the points difference in the games against the \u201cbig\u201d youth teams dropped considerably. Instead of them winning by 3 to 4 tries they may have won by 1 or 2 points and some were even beaten by some of the age groups. The U14\u2019s nearly took a league title, losing in the playoff, and the 16\u2019s and 18\u2019s were in the top half of their tables. This was only the second year these young players had ever played rugby.<\/p>\n Many coaches out in the profession have difficulty in sharing their drills and ideas as they feel it will give the opposition an edge over his\/her team. I do not really share that ideology, I train my players in the attempt for them to be able to read any situation and adopt the best practice to produce a successful outcome. Therefore I have no real issue in sharing my drills or thoughts and ideas. So that being said let\u2019s build a basic defence off a ruck. Defence structure is simple and I apologise if this article seems condescending to you as a coach in any way, but I always like to start from scratch then over the weeks I will build it up until everyone including the players completely understand this defensive structure.<\/p>\n So in the diagram below this is how we would set it up.<\/p>\n