Sooner rather than later, however, I will be in a stage where I am [hopefully] able to jet off to whatever tourney calls my name. But in the mean time, I'm really lucky to be playing with North Shore Women's Rugby full time and also engaging in full time CrossFit.
ONCE AGAIN, at practice today the running whooped my ass. It even made me ANGRY, because I worked so friggin' hard all this week at CrossFit while also fitting in some pretty long runs. It was more of a positive angry, though, more like "WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING THAT THIS RUN IS SO HARD?!"
So this run-that-kicked-my-ass which I am speaking of - I will share it with you all so you can put your own team through this misery/wonderful training as well:
It's not complicated, really it was just an indian sprint...
....three times (3 long ass laps of them)...
....with a single file line of 6-7 people each (doesn't sound like a lot but it is)
....with push ups, burpees, and star jumps in between each sprint....
We did a myriad of great offloading drills, focusing on the different ways that you can offload after being tackled and the communication that goes on behind it. Some great quotes about this skill that the coach said were:
"You should be so far back [steep] that you're thinking 'OH SHIT I'M NOT GONNA MAKE IT.'"
This is such a clear cut and great way to sum up your own positioning to receive the ball because if you have that mentality of potentially not making it to the breakdown in time, then obviously you will be running full speed into the pass. So many times people receive an offload pass at a slower pace because they're not steep enough, and that causes zero effort on the defense to stop that. You waste time and energy and it feels like running into a brick wall a hundred times with no breakthrough. No fun!
"The only way you're allowed to pass with one hand is if you're a New Zealander or your hands are the size of dinner plates."
This sounds obvious but it's not; of course with adrenalin kicking in and s the sheer instinct to act fast, many people make ridiculous one handed passes that sometimes work out but most of the time end up a hot mess. Already a rugby ball in itself is pretty large, so it really only helps to keep both hands on the ball while passing. There's no harm that can be done! The more I think about it, passing with two hands probably also protects you a little more from landing directly on your hands or wrists; it's almost a natural way of forcing you to be tackled properly
***(I have NOT landed properly before and suffered some dire consequences.....)
There were also some distinctions made about differences in ball handling when it comes to 15s and when it comes to 10s or 7s. I've already touched on this before, but in 7s and 10s the game is absolutely NOT about crashing: it's really all about finesse and skill, finding ways to create gaps and overloads. I will distinctly always remember from Vegas 7s when watching Japan Womens Rugby play, sometimes it looked like they were in slow motion for a moment just to take that extra second and figure out where the ball is headed next. They would receive a pass, take about two almost gliding/slow motion steps, and then BAM react quickly.
But one tactic I believe can be used universally throughout all the types of rugby play is that if all else fails/no one is in support/don't know what to do next with the ball: STAY STANDING. Keep pumping and holding your ground until an opportunity arises (or until you absolutely can't stay standing....or until you actually end up breaking though the tackle!).
I also had a monumental first positive experience with SPEED BALL at practice. Normally whenever I hear someone say we are about to engage in speed ball...........
In the past it's driven me CRAZY that we spent our time on a scrimmaging drill that involved NO TACKLING, but this was by far one of the first times where the usefulness of speed ball actually came into the light. I will go into as much detail as I can remember about what I gathered from playing speed ball and how you can implement it into your own team's practice:
- the focus is all about ball movement and offloading quickly
- when the defense tags the offense/whoever is carrying the ball twice: TURNOVER
- knock on/forward pass/dropped pass: TURNOVER
- the goal is NOT to go into contact (hence the quick ball movement)
- look for gaps and where the ball is going next
- keep your SPACING on defense by not committing more than one person to a tackle and filling all possible lanes
This seems to stray away from a lot of the type of playing done by the forwards (hence my previous distaste for speed ball), but in the end these are skills that can be used in all positions and all types of rugby playing. And in the end, rugby is rugby, so how can you possibly complain?
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