48 Rugby Skills Games

Full Description

 Why you should use games in training

• Competitive - tries are scored and points awarded. Players have to work hard to win

• Relevant - games get players practising under match conditions, at a level of intensity you control

• Easy to set up - you only need a ball and a few players to run a constructive training session

• Active - players are active, not queuing for the next drill, and are involved in both attack and defence

• Flexible - players take responsibility and are free to experiment, make mistakes and learn through experience. Games are suitable for all players of all age and standard.

• Effective - there are plenty of opportunities for skills to be reworked outside of repetitive (and boring) drills

• Outcome focused - games concentrate on the result, winning more matches, not on creating a team of "robots"

• Greater variety - different games mean different decisions to make, problems to solve and skills to use

• Energetic - games are a "sneaky" way of introducing fitness and footwork into your training regime

• Promote teamwork - games foster team spirit, enforce team values and motivate the players in training

• Games are fun to participate in, watch and coach... and no referee is needed!

Practise key skills

The games in 48 Rugby Skills Games cover the range of attacking and defending skills, to help your players improve in every department:

• Tackling

• Passing & handling

• Support play

• Rucking

• Mauling

• Kick & recovery

• Attacking as a team

• Defending as a team

Competitive scenarios

The games are all competitive, with clearly defined objectives and scoring systems. They are divided into three categories:

• Small-sided games

• Conditioned games

• Game situations

Clever design

Each page follows the same format:

• Introduction – An explanation of the game, and the skills and techniques it focuses on.

• Set up – Showing everything you’ll need to run the game, from the suggested number of players, to the size of the area, and the number of balls and cones.

• Game notes – The simple game rules, like "allow rucks", "don't allow kicking", "swap the teams after each tackle", "give the attack five goes to score".

• Scoring – Key to meeting the game's objectives and keeping it competitive. In many cases, scoring is simply "1 point for a try", but sometimes it's more sophisticated, to reward good play. For instance, "2 points for stopping the attack getting over the gain line".

• What to call out – Never be lost for words with these concise phrases to address the key factors of each game.

• Coaching notes – Ways to adapt and develop the game to suit your players, or to introduce the game into a session.

• Skill area – The key skill be practised, covering: tackling, handling, support play, rucking, mauling, kick & recover, attack, and defence. All the games address footwork, team work and decision making too.

• Category – Indicating the type of game: small-sided game, conditioned game, or game situation.

• Key – Making sure you can differentiate between runs and passes, and pitch markings and try lines in the illustrations.

• Illustrations – Three pictures clearly showing you how the game is set up and developed, and highlighting the key techniques involved.

• Captions – Explaining the key points of the game

As with all Green Star coaching manuals, 48 Rugby Skills Games comes with a money-back guarantee. If you are not entirely satisfied just ask for your money back, no questions asked.