Defence - 8. Compromise Alignment

The widest defender is often better placed to assess situations

It may be that the discipline of the defence shape needs to be compromised to reduce attacking options

This is often a calculated gamble

Broncos 6 - Attack to Defence 8 v 5

A combination of skills are tested, both technical and tactical with the defenders moving from a passing activity to defending 8 attackers. The coach can change the attack with different starting points and number of attackers

8. Attacking a Drift Defence

L2 - Attacking a Drift, Blitz and Cover Defence

Skill Practice Description • Within a game of touch the coach can at any breakdown - call blitz, drift and the defenders must run and touch the appropriate line. • The coach may also give players numbers in order to call specific defenders to leave the defence line which will create the need for defence to realign quickly. • Attackers must face the other way and attack when the ball is rolled from behind them. • On the coach’s call, the attack turn and the closest attacker picks up the ball and plays. • This ensures the coach can vary each player’s role and make the defence react. • Coach can then develop game by giving a visual clue to the defenders thus making the attackers react to an unexpected type of defence. Key Coaching Points • Visual Acuity-Looking for space. • Spatial awareness. • Highlighting defensive systems and attacking them appropriately. • Decision making. Relevance to the Game • This game is excellent for visual acuity and attacking differing defensive alignments. • Spaces are created by the leaving defenders, which the attackers have to identify

Defence - 4. Spacing

It is usual for the forwards to be defending around the break down areas. These players may need to align with tighter spacing than wider defenders for the direct attacks that may come from the breakdown. The spacing may be able to spread as the defence shape gets wider. This will prevent the defence becoming too narrow.

Attack and Re-align

Players are required to continually attack the gain-line, and re-align after each effort. They should try to use their inventory of attacking methods, not randomly, but to control the defence to eventually create gaps to exploit.

Game - Defence Touch

Another conditioned game that will test your players' fitness. This requires all defenders to perform a 'down-up' after each touch, before re-aligning. As players become tired, more gaps will appear, testing the defence even more.

Blitz Defence - Its simple If You Know How

When the experts explain things in simple terms it all makes sense. The Blitz defence can be confusing and delivering the coaching blocks to develop this policy can be tricky. Richard Thorpe explains things in easy to understand language

Tackling 18 - Man on Man Defence

Tackling 18 - Man on Man Defence

Defence Policy - What Is It?

Richard Thorpe has been a professional player for a decade and is now an RFU level three coach. He see's defence as the key to success and in this clip explains what "Defence policy" means

Defence - Defensive Systems

This clip shows past footage, but from this bird’s eye view, it clearly illustrates the organisation required to be a sound defensive team

Defence - Improving Defence Game

A good Defence is about players working in units and staying "Connected". This exercise develops the skills required to improve a players understanding of what to do and when to do it

Tackling 15 - Drift Defence

Tackling 22 - The Out to In Defence

Fringe Defence at the Breakdown

Building a defensive system starts with the first three defenders and what they need to do at the breakdown. The Northampton saints coaches go through the steps and progressions to help younger players learn the key movements and techniques

L2 - Scatter Defence Game

Skill Practice Description • Ideal practice for when defences break up later in games or with counter attack decision making. • Attackers stand in front of a numbered cone and ball. • The coach calls a number and all attackers must run around their own numbered cone but whichever number was called, that ball becomes active. • At the same time a colour is called for the defenders and all defenders must turn and run around a cone of that colour. They must however choose different cones. • If a touch is made, the teams swap over roles. • If a try is scored, the attackers stay the same. • First to five tries wins. Key Coaching Points • Spatial awareness • Communication • Quickness of attack at a disorganised defence • Skills to attack space • Footwork and evasion skills • Scanning skills • Decision making • Importance of getting behind defenders Relevance to the Game • Great for coaching counter attacking disorganised defences from different angles. • Any player can be ball carrier and communication is vital as is decision making in identifying space and the best way to attack it successfully • Cones can be placed to shape different types of defence. Organised or scattered

Sevens - Uncovered - Defence

The leading international coaches explain why defence is so important and how much emphasis they put on it. This clip features a variety of tackles and techniques and post good defence the opportunity to turn the ball over. Most coaches will use a system for their defence and here are some insights

L2 - Penetrating Defence Game

Skill Practice Description • The playing area is marked out in 5m channels. • When defending, players must stay within their channel throughout the game. • The attack must look to penetrate the defence by creating and preserving space. • The defence must use a two handed touch. • There is a 5 tackle turnover rule and once possession is turned over, the defence must get into a channel as the opposition can attack immediately. Key Coaching Points • Support players to hold their opposite number as long as possible before cutting a line to take the pass. • The defender can close the space as far as the edge of their own channel. • If the support player cuts too early or the ball carrier does not move their defender enough, the support player will be touched/tackled. Relevance to the Game • This game will help develop the footwork and running lines to effectively move defenders in order to penetrate the tackle line.

Drift Defence from Breakdown

After starting with a defence-focused game, this drill can be used to focus on organising a drift defence from the breakdown. The four defenders touch all cones in the tackle area to simulate chaos before getting into position.

Lions 09 - Team Defence

Practice of team defence is important for reinforcing effective systems of defence that require aspects such as communication, pressure and drifting

Drift Defence Game

Practice being overloaded in defence. This game teaches your players when to be patient in defence and when to go for the tackle.

L2 - Attacking a Condensed Defence

Skill Practice Description • Two teams play normal touch rules. • 5 touch turnover. • When a touch is made, the game pauses and all defenders need to close in and place a hand on the shoulder of another defender. So all the defenders are bunched and in contact with each other. • The coach calls ‘play’ and the attack restarts. • The progression may be to leave one defender out of the bunch, which may provide a different challenge to the attack. • Then leave two defenders out of the bunch and slowly release the conditions to see if the attack can consistently identify opportunities to outflank or penetrate the defence. Key Coaching Points • Peripheral vision and general awareness. • Intuitive decision making. • Communication • Support and team work. Relevance to the Game • This game is designed to challenge the observation and decision making ability of the attack. • For the defence, it challenges the ability to cover quickly with both drift and sweeping defenders

Coaching 7-a-side Rugby - 7 up defence

In Defence:

Stay alert, keep on toes, specific communication, react, work hard

Defend what is happening – not what you think is going to happen

Trust the defence system, trust your team mates – trust yourself

Scrum Factory - 11. Flanker Channeling and The Role of the Number 8

The roles of each player in channelling the ball to the number 8

Dean Ryan: Intellect at 8, 9 and 10

Dean Ryan explains how the intellectual players at 8, 9 and 10 can help the cohesiveness of a rugby team.

L2 - Half Back Development

Skill Practice Description • Each player is given a number. • From any tackle point or breakdown, as the attacking team is about to start another attack, the coach calls out a number and the defending player with that allocated number retires three paces before moving forward as the others step up. • This leaves a miss alignment in the defence line. • The fly half is required to notice the opportunity and attack the miss alignment and deliver the ball accordingly. • A progression is for the numbered player to step forward early, creating the opposite miss alignment. • If the forward player is the wing, then the fly half may chose to use a kick to get behind the defence. • The opportunity may appear on the short side and the fly half needs to be aware and communicate to the scrum half. • Now develop the decision making further by even numbers step up and odd numbers retire. Key Coaching Points • Scanning skills. • Attacking an opportunity offered by the defence alignment. • Decision making skills. • Appropriate passing (short, long, flat, deep etc. • Appropriate kicking (grubber through, chip over, cross kick etc.) • Look-Think -Do Process

Lions 09 backs defence 4 man on man

Lions 2009 defence clip

Back Row Defence

Back Row Defence

Defence Philosophy - Collin Osborne

Ex Harlequins coach Collin Osborne walks you through his defence philosophy and explains why your team would benefit from a philosophy or buzzword/phrase!

JWC 2012: Defence

Statistics from the 2012 JWC show that teams with stronger defences performed better.

Men's - Lineout maul good defence 1

Men's - Lineout maul good defence 1

Defence

Here are some good examples of defence to help you in your coaching process

Lions 09 Backs defence 1

A clip from the 2009 on defence systems

Quins Defence - 1 v 1 tackle skills

Close contact in a small channel ensures the players work their movement skills in both attack and defence. The coach reinforces the skills for contact prior to progressing this exercise

IRB 7s - Stronger Defences

The statistics showed that defences in the Sevens World Series are improving, and this is changing team's tactics.

Turning defence into attack

The Northampton saints approach to defence is to "Turn over ball" and to this end the tackle is only the start of the process and the coach outlines this approach and provides some examples

8-man Scrum

A demonstration of how to construct a full, 8-man scrum.

Defence - Blitz or Drift

In the last ten years two defence systems have been coached and implemented. The Wasps academy coach provides some of the latest ideas and how to use games to coach the skills and cement the understanding

Quins - Beating a Drift Defence

Some warm up exercises with varied catch & pass skills in preparation to move onto fixing defenders and how to beat a drift defence

Attack vs Defence Continuous Drill 4V2

The attackers work to beat the defence, setting up a 'tip' (running a hard line) and 'pull back' option. They should read the defensive movements and make a decision to hit the tip option or pull out the back.

Coaching Defence with Games

The Wasps academy manager uses games as the central learning principe for coaching defence and the systems he wants to introduce to his players

Blitz & Drift Defence Drills

This video takes you through the basics of both blitz and drift defences and provides great drill ideas.

Alignment exercise in 3s

A handling progression for developing speed of handling & alignment

Defence - 6. Groups of Three

The defence should work and communicate in groups of three. This means the individual player and the two defenders either side

Defence - 5. Team Mate Awareness

It may be that a slower forward is in the midfield defence between two faster players

These faster players should to be aware that they may need to close the space around the slower defender

Defence - 9. Widest Players Organise

The widest players are most often best place to assess the threats and have a major role in directing the defence

Performance Analysis - Scrum 8 use

Performance Analysis - Scrum 8 use

Men's - Lineout maul good defence 3

Men's - Lineout maul good defence 3

Quins - Defence Spacing & Line Speed

Tony Dirpose from Harlequins delivers a unit defence exercise on spacing and line speed

Women's - Lineout mail good defence

Women's - Lineout mail good defence

Men's - Lineout maul good defence 2

Men's - Lineout maul good defence 2

Simple hands beat Bunched Defence

When a defensive line is 'bunched up', a single pass can take several defenders out of the game. Here, Richard Hale benefit from a bunched Filton College defence, executing lateral passes along the line to attack space out wide.

Defence - Exit & Kick-chase

Defence - Exit & Kick Chase

QBE - Attacking a Drift, Blitz and Cover Defence

QBE - Attacking a Drift, Blitz and Cover Defence

Step 8 - The Tackle Game

Chapter 8 - The Tackle Game

Attacking a Drift defence game

An advanced game for fixing defenders trying to drift

British Bulldogs - Defence game

The classic schoolyard game. Played full contact but with tackle pads. Attackers must get to the other side of the field without dropping their ball or being pinned to the ground by defenders with tackle pads.

Quins Defence - 2 v 2 tackling

A progression from the 1 v 1 drill this exercise adds extra players to make the decision making process more realistic. The coaches can vary the delivery of the ball and the width of the area to put different conditions to the players

8-man Scrum v Machine

Testing your scrums in training using a scrum machine / sled helps to ensure all of your pack practice the correct body position and timing in cooperation with their team mates. This is a great time to try out new combinations of players before match day.

Structure & principles of how to coach defence

A brief overview of the importance of strong defensive structure and some basic exercises to build it.

Defence - Folding

When moving from set piece to breakdown, teams usually have a defensive structure
Subsequent folding may also have a frame work. This may vary from team to team

In this illustration, the guards do not move and defending players fold to the outside of the guard

Lions 09 Backs defence 2

A clip from the 2009 Lions

Broncos 5 - 2 Ball touch to test the defence

This exercise tests the defenders ability to keep a peripheral view of where the next threat might be coming from and to keep communicating with colleagues. Attackers are always looking for the next opportunity an so should defenders

Principles of Defence - Stay Square

Ex Harlequins coach Collin Osborne explains his second defensive principle - Staying Square

Broncos 1 - Scramble defence - Tracking back

Use this exercise to replicate a line break with one defender to beat. The attackers need to move the defender and execute a 2 v 1 while the initial defender tracks back to stop the pass. Also works movement at top end speed for the main attacker

Lions 09 Backs defence 3

A clip with a progression on defensive systems from the 2009 Lions Tour

Team defence Session

The team warm up with individual tackle techniques, progress to unit work and then onto full team exercises from set piece play

QBE - Penetrating Defence Game

QBE - Scatter Defence Game

QBE - Attacking a Condensed Defence

Principles of Defence - Go Forward

Ex Harlequins coach explains the basic defensive principles - starting with ‘Go Forward’.

Lions 09 defence 04

Lions 2009 defensive systems

Andy Farrell's 3 Top tips For Defence

Quins - Warm up Wrestling for defence

This exercise can be used as part of a general warm up or specifically in preparation for contact. It can be fun but also physically demanding and good for conditioning. Younger players may benefit from the confidence of ground contact prior to learning how to tackle

Lions 09 - linespeed defence drill

Developing linespeed is fundamental to applying pressure to an attack line

Lions - Defence & turnover practice

Winning the ball back after the tackle is essential

7-man - walk-in, react to defence

As a progression from your lineout variation practice, it is important to test your pack's ability to make decisions under pressure. Here, they must react to the positioning of two defending jumpers and put the ball to the space.

Principles of Defence - Tackle Choice

Ex Harlequins coach Collin Osborne explains his second defensive principle - Staying Square

Principles of Defence - Spacing

Ex Harlequins coach Collin Osborne explains his third defensive principle - Spacing.

Lions 09 - backline defence in own 22 option 2

Defensive systems change according to where the team is on the pitch

Lions 09 - backline defence inown 22 option 3

Where you are on the pitch can determine you defensive system

Lions 09 - backline defence in own 22

Where you are on the pitch can deterrmine the defensive system you play

Lions 09 strike move 8

Developing play through the backs

Defence - 2. Miss Pass

If a miss pass is used, the passer and the player missed, are no longer primary theats

However they may become primary threats again if they take up support lines

Defence - 1. Primary Threat

If the ball is tucked under one arm, the ball carrier is unlikely to throw a 10 metre miss pass. So are the attackers 2 and 3 places out the primary threat?
If the ball carrier is running with the ball in both hands, the immediate threat may have a wider radius

If two centres are running at a centre and a prop, the primary threat may be the space defended by the prop

Materiality Clip 8 - Open Play Kick

Defence - 3. Press Up and Out

This illustration is an up-and-out system and not a drift
This relies on the defenders continuing to press forward, closing the space as they shadow the attacking players

Infringements Clip 8 - Scrum Half Management

8. Support - Off the Ground reaction pass

Isolated technical practice

Courtesy of the SRU

Conditioned touch - Defence press up

Allow your players to put what they've learned into action. In this example, one attacker and one defender must take a knee at the tackle area to resemble the breakdown.

Principles of Defence - Line Speed

Ex Harlequins coach Collin Osborne explains his fourth defensive principle - Line Speed.

Defence - 7. Square Hips

Keep square as long as possible to reduce attacking options not defensive options

Wide channel defence

Wingers positional skills

The Lineout Game - Defence

Defending against the lineout throw is a key area for disrupting the opposition and their attacking platform. The defending jumper can be very effective by getting a hand in between the opponents’ hands and disrupting the catch. This may also block the vision of the opponent who wishes to follow the flight of the ball

Defensive Organisation - Re-alignment

Players must observe the actions of the attacking side, and organise their defensive line early to be able to counter it. A continuous drill that requires patience and good communication.

Scrum Factory - 8. Individual Technique

Each player should understand how their individual contribution affects the scrum as a whole

8-man Scrum v Machine

With the brakes on, the scrum is more realistic to game situations, and the players must apply power at the same time to achieve any movement.

Quins Defence - Tackling in units 3 v 3

This exercise is part of a tackle technique progression and pitches 3 attackers v 3 defenders. As in match play the attacking players will present different challenges to the defenders. The coaches can choose to alter the conditions to put more or less pressure on the players

Lions 09 - backline defence - centre pitch

Where you are on the pitch can determine the defensive system that you can employ.