Practice on Tuesday at normal time.
First league game on Wednesday away at Thunderridge.
Practice on Friday.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Game Wednesday Feb 20th
Game tonight is away at Denver East. Please meet in the parking lot at the back of Chaparral at 5:45. Maps will be provided before you leave. Parents are welcome and encouraged to attend.
We will play two 30min halfs for the more experienced players and then two 20min halfs for the players new to rugby. Everybody will play.
Please note it will be very cold this evening so please dress appropriately, everyone will be watching for part of the evening.
We will play two 30min halfs for the more experienced players and then two 20min halfs for the players new to rugby. Everybody will play.
Please note it will be very cold this evening so please dress appropriately, everyone will be watching for part of the evening.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Why rugby scavengers just love to win ugly
By Will Greenwood
Last Updated: 1:15am GMT 16/02/2008
Bob Dwyer is a hell of a man. World Cup-winning coach, Australian to his core. He said what he liked and he liked what he said.
Dwyer had a turn of phrase like no other. When you ran with the ball he implored you to move "as if a tiger was chasing you. No! A man with a knife". But best of all was his description of how he wanted you to react when the ball went loose during a match. Bob would scream at you to fall on it as if it were a bomb and your family were in the room. "Smother the bloody thing quickly," he would shout.
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Watching Italy play last weekend, you got the feeling that Nick Mallett had called for the same sense of urgency. It's no coincidence that England struggled as they lost the battle on the floor in the second half, with Mauro Bergamasco and Sergio Parisse everywhere.
But it wasn't just England who felt the impact of smart guys getting their hands on stray ball. Ireland were smashed on the floor in the first half, with Lionel Nallet stealing the pill for Vincent Clerc's first try. Wales' Martyn Williams pilfered anything that even looked like poking out of a Scottish ruck, thief extraordinaire.
In today's game much is made of keeping the ball in your hands, of running and offloading. But ignore the dirty work on the floor at your peril. Where it was once the realm of the No 7, who prided himself on the art of killing and nicking the ball, today it is the job of every player from one to 15.
This battle for 50/50 possession - a mix of honest Corinthian spirit, a determination to win and great technique - can swing a game.
The set-piece scrums and line-outs have retained their value. However, win the breakdown, snaffle loose ball, and a team can neutralise this threat. Don't knock on, keep the ball in the tackle, run straight, recycle rigorously and viciously, and why do you need to go to set-pieces? Space will appear, gaps come if you are patient and hungry.
For England's disheartened players, this weekend will give them a chance to steel their resolve, and what better way than getting right back into it in the Guinness Premiership.
Now I don't want to make out that there's no technique involved in winning the battle on the floor. It takes hard, painful graft to get it right. On the 1997 Lions tour, Jim Telfer had a stick he used to whack you with if your body position was too high as you practised rucking drills. He didn't just tap you either, especially when you were a 6ft 5in public school threequarter who had always thought rucking was something only forwards did.
When he was England forwards coach, John Mitchell was a nasty man in this area as well. His hard Kiwi edge came through. John used to get four players inside a 3 x 3-metre grid that had long tackle pads for their sides. Men with tackle shields and tackle suits would stand over the pads wanting to cause you as much pain as possible.
The drill was simple and it lasted a minute. The scrum-half put the ball in front of a pad and you had to ruck the men away from it, then you moved on to the next pad. But make any mistake, put a loose foot on the ball, commit an offence by losing your feet and it meant you went back to the start. The more tired you got, the more mistakes you made.
John would shout at us to "let the dog see the rabbit". I think I understood what he meant. Huge bodies were flying and it was chaos. Pad to pad, body position ever lower, aggression increasing rather than diminishing.
In 2005, Eddie O'Sullivan had a net placed over the rucking area in the old Commonwealth Stadium in Christchurch and the Lions midweek team went about whacking lumps out of each other at almost knee height.
The Argentinians in the World Cup were frenzied at the breakdown, while teams such as Munster have been creating havoc for years. For the All Blacks, the loose ball and rucking are almost a right of passage. Bravery is needed - it is a dangerous place to be.
Players have to commit and they have to do so 100 per cent, regardless of who they're playing for, be it Leicester at Welford Road or the local school on a back pitch. Unless that happens there will always be a man on the other team who will want it more.
A pack of hungry scavengers do not need much knowledge about the intricacies of rugby. They don't have to be able to pass off their left hand or have a turn of speed or a scything sidestep. All they need is to boss the breakdown and eat the scraps. This will rebalance power from the fancy player to the ugly player. It is why our game is so beautiful - people with no airs or graces can be almost impossible to beat because they do not mind having their nose rearranged for the seemingly thankless task of re-gathering a loose ball.
Today we will see if that hunger burns bright in many of this island's best.
Sheridan's Scrummaging Tips
Sheridan's Scrummaging Tips
Andy Sheridan’s contribution to England’s emphatic win over Australia on Saturday confirmed his rise to the top tier of world props. England’s dominance in the front 5 proved to be the key that took Australia to their sixth successive defeat.
CoachingRugby rung Andy on Sunday to congratulate him for his all round performance and, together with Phil Vickery, the domination of the Australian scrum.
Andy is now relaxing in Penny Hill Farm Hotel and preparing for next week’s game. We asked him if he had his guitar with him, he said he left it in Manchester but he was able to borrow one from the hotel!
Before we let him get off the line we asked him for his top tips on scrumaging.
- Body Position
“Get the crouch right. Crouch, bend the legs, and most importantly keep your back very flat. Look at your target [your opposite man].” – “Listen to the referee.”
- Engage
“Get your bind on early. For the loose head, get your head right under the tight head. Make sure your feet are right up, not too far back, back flat, legs bent, ready to explode on the put-in.”
- The Drive
“Explode on put-in (or a split second before), pump the feet – small steps, the whole scrum together.”
He is looking forward to putting this into practice again next week when he takes on New Zealand’s Carl Hayman in the much anticipated battle. We wish him the best of luck and I think we all agree with Sean Fitz-Patrick when he wrote yesterday in The Times, on the contest between these two, “It should be worth the admission fee by itself”.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Friday Practice - Feb 15th
We have the turf at the Parker Field House tomorrow from 2:00 -4:00. Be prompt so we can make the most of our time on the warm, soft turf. Don't forget mouth guards! Jumpers, wear your rugby shorts for line-out practice.
Also, I need forms from several players and I will be checking my list.
Shorts and sock are the same as last year so the new players will receive theirs first.
The All-Comers Tournament scheduled for Saturday is up in the air due to weather. Hopefully I will know more on Friday.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Schedule
| Date | H/A | Against | T | Time | League |
| Feb 16 (Sat) | A | All Commers Festival | Ridgeview | 9:00 | no |
| Feb 20 (Wed) | A | East A | East | 7:15 | no |
| Feb 27 (Wed) | A | Thunder Ridge | Thunder Ridge | 4:30 | yes |
| Mar 1 (Sat) | H | Ponderosa | Chaparral | 1:00 | no |
| Mar 5 (Wed) | A | | DC Stadium | 4:30 | yes |
| Mar 8 (Sat) | A | Spring Fling | North Side | 10:00 | no |
| Mar 10 (Mon) | A | Freshman Sophmore | Dicks Sporting park | 5:00 | no |
| Mar 12 (Wed) | H | | Chaparral | 5:00 | yes |
| Mar 26 (Wed) | H | | Chaparral | 5:00 | yes |
| Mar 29 (Sat) | A | Fort Collins A | | 11:00 | yes |
| Mar 31 (Mon) | A | Freshman Sophmore | | 5:00 | no |
| Apr 2 (Wed) | H | Bailey | Chaparral | 5:00 | yes |
| Apr 5 (Sat) | A | Rocky Mountain Classic | | 10:00 | no |
| Apr 7 (Mon) | A | Freshman Sophmore | | 5:00 | no |
| Apr 9 (Wed) | A | North Side | North Side | 5:00 | no |
| Apr 16 (Wed) | A | | | 5:00 | no |
| Apr 19 (Sat) | A | Tigers RFC | | 1:00 | no |
| Apr 21 (Mon) | A | Freshman Sophmore | Pleasant | 5:00 | no |
| Apr 23 (Wed) | A | | | 5:00 | yes |
| May 3 (Sat) | A | State Qualifier | Dicks Sporting park | 9:00 | yes |
| May 10 (Sat) | A | Sate Semi-finals | Dicks Sporting park | 9:00 | yes |
| May 17 (Sat) | A | State Finals | | 9:00 | yes |
| May 24 (Sat) | A | All Star Game | | 9:00 | no |
Power Step
Power Step into Contact
The ball carrier must always be thinking about beating the defender in front of him, but there are times when contact is inevitable. The job of the ball carrier when taking contact is to make sure it is on his terms. He wants to try and put the would-be tackler on the back foot, to open up his options for keeping the ball "alive".
The power step into contact gives the ball carrier time and space to do this. It gives him a physical advantage into contact, even if he has received the ball standing still. Moreover, the technique works for all players as it is more about timing and positioning than physical size or strength.
The power step
The power step is a "big step" into contact, which allows the ball carrier to drive from low to high and from a powerful squatting position.
1. The ball carrier must keep the ball in both hands and accelerate towards contact taking small steps. This ensures he stays balanced.
2. Just before contact the ball carrier needs to get low by dropping his hips (taking the squat position), whilst at the same time dipping his leading shoulder towards the tackler.
3. The ball is transferred momentarily into the arm furthest from contact.
4. The ball carrier drives into contact. He must keep his back straight as he drives dynamically up from the squat position. This allows him to use all the power from his legs and glutes (the muscles in the back of the upper legs).
5. The ball carrier then follows through with the non-leading leg to ensure the tackler cannot recover their position easily.
Options from the power step
When correctly performed the tackler will be off balance and on the back foot. This should give the ball carrier a number of options:
- If the tackler has been knocked over or knocked back far enough, continue the run.
- Make a short pass to a close support player.
- Stay upright in a strong position to enable support players to either drive them on or rip the ball away.
- Go to ground to enable support players to ruck over without the tackler being able to get their hands on the ball.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Front row play
Borrowed from Dan Cottrell email.
5 Secrets of the Front Row
Andrew Millward is a full time professional prop for the Ospreys, the Heineken Cup team providing the bulk of players to the current Welsh squad. Andrew is, moreover, a WRU level 3 coach. He spoke to me last year about some of the current techniques used by front rows at the top of the game.
1. Engage and chase quickly
At the top level scrummaging is an intense business. "Three second scrums" are the aim (apart from for pushover tries), so the ball is in and out quickly. All the effort comes from the engagement and beyond.
Too often, though, sides across the board stop on the engagement. In fact they should be driving forward as soon as the shoulders touch.
At the Ospreys, we concentrate on the speed of our feet movement going forwards, using quick, short steps. Calls certainly help with our timing. We use "hit, 1, 2, 3, 4", and then a quick step "1, 2, 1, 2". My main piece of advice here is sharpen up your calls.
2. Four locks together
Binding by the flankers at scrum time can be very random. On lots of different levels this can disrupt the scrum effort.
If a flanker can give me some support, then I have more weight behind me. From a communication and timing point of view, if everyone is scrummaging together, we will be better off.
We get our flankers to bind onto the locks BEFORE the locks bind onto the props. This avoids flankers binding late as they wait to find out the back row or backs moves. All our calls therefore need to be sorted out in advance of the binding.
3. Second row binding options
A long armed lock can struggle with binding through the legs. When the shove comes on, their arm can slip forwards and their shoulder disengage from the best pushing position on the behind of the prop.
My solution here is to turn their hand around, so the palm faces away from my shorts. This grip is more like an Olympic lift position, with the hand still wrapped in the drawstring area of the shorts.
4. All change for 5 metre scrums
I always like to try something completely different for a 5 metre scrum. I will use a tactic I have yet to use in the game, like changing the angle of my driving. Their prop won't know what to expect and I will hopefully gain the advantage.
With the 5 metre scrum being so crucial and dangerous to the defending side, this difference can cause the sort of disruption which increases pressure on the whole defence. But I save the tactic for when it's needed. If we don't have a 5 metre scrum I might not use the technique during the game.
5. Boss your opponent
What should I do at the first scrum of the game? Wait to find out how the other guy is going to scrummage, or impose my own style on him? These days I don’t wait.
I am lucky enough to have video analysis and so can look at and prepare an action plan for most of the props I might be playing against. Most props don't have these benefits, but they can consider two things come match day.
First, even if they don't know their opposite number's playing style, they can look at their body shape to give them some clues. In the most simple terms, the big guys will use their weight, whilst the smaller props will use technique.
Second, they want to give the other player the problems. And that is "problems" plural, because it's easier to scrummage against a prop who always does the same thing, no matter how good they do it.
So I suggest that your props learn to vary their approach for each scrum.
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