Footwork: the foundation of good rugby

Rugby fans and players alike have been dazzled by the footwork of twinkle-toed wizards for decades, from Gerald Davies, to Waisele Serevi and now with the likes of Jonathan Joseph and Nehe Milner-Skudder. However, the importance of footwork extends beyond the crowd-pleasing stepping and can be found at the foundation of all parts of the game.

The tackle

From start to finish, footwork is at the heart of an effective tackle. Starting with the press of the defensive line, the defender tracks the ball carrier, shepherding them to where they want them, without giving them too much opportunity to cut back inside. If the defender rushes up with big strides at full pace, a nimble attacker can step them with ease.

When approaching contact, the defender should aim for smaller steps, with the goal of being able to quickly re-position for taking contact in the best possible position. Check out the Jamie Joseph tutorial (below), where he emphasizes the importance of the defender getting the lead foot into position. This gives the tackler a much better chance of reaching the all-important outside knee.

The ruck

Body positioning is vital at the breakdown. We talk a lot about 'winning the height battle', 'entering low' and 'driving through', but none of this is possible without controlling and constantly readjusting your foot positioning.

Have a look at Sam Warburton and Steve Hansen talking through the breakdown:

The scrum

Backs like to joke that the scrum is an excuse for the fatties to have a good cuddle, but from 1-8 there is a lot of technique that goes into it, and footwork is one of the core features.

Here is a video analysis I made (originally for HRC ahead of the 2016 season) of the scrums from the Finland v Turkey game. It looks at several different aspects of scrummaging, including combined body positioning and angles, but footwork is a repeat topic (excuse the mild profanity here and there - sorry, Mum):

If you have access to The Rugby Site, then take some time to watch the videos from Martin Castrogiovanni and Kees Meuws on scrummaging - you will pick up some great tips! Even in the preview trailer, you can see Castro emphasizing the importance of foot movement and repositioning during the drive:

The Lineout:

Leaving the whole jumping part aside, this is massively important in the Finnish game. Think how many games you have seen in Finland where a team has had so little confidence in their lineout that they do anything to avoid it when they get a penalty. Throwing power and accuracy certainly plays a role in this, but the speed and stability of the lifting is a major factor, and footwork can fix this.

Check out this video from the Hurricanes, which provides both a good and bad example:

The good examples start at 01:55. The two lifters work hard to get as close to the jumper as possible during the crouch phase of the jump, so that they can explode up with him, but they don't stop there. During the lifting phase, the lifters continue to step closer, so that they lifting as close to vertical as possible (particularly on the second go).

The bad (at 03;15): the timing is off and, more importantly, the front lifter is too far from the jumper. When the jumper goes to the air, the front lifter cannot get under him and ends up having to almost shoulder press the lifter, resulting in an unstable lift.

Aaaaand, of course, in attack:

The automatic image of footwork in attack belongs, unsurprisingly, to the backs. Yet more and more the modern game has demanded that the meatheads do more that 'get ball, find target, crash'. Back rows are now often as fast and agile as any backs (and backs, not to be outdone, are increasingly happy to get involved in the big collisions). Likewise 2nd row forwards are now expected to make themselves every bit as useful as back rows.

All this increased fitness and agility means that defenders are everywhere, with fewer gaps for attackers to exploit. So how do forwards get over the gain line? If the brute force and ignorance approach then a crash ball runner must make the most of any small gaps between the oncoming attackers. Changing the point of attack from chests to outstretched hands gives the attacker a far better chance of going forward when he brought to ground, if not breaking the tackle.

Then there's the pretty boys......

Practical stuff:

And so to training - how can we improve footwork in our game? For things like scrums and lineouts we have specific drills and sessions for the forwards to work on, but there are some more general steps (see what I did there?) that we can take.

First there are the drills which are not necessarily rugby-specific. There is no shortage of videos on YouTube with dozens of ladder drills and other SAQ work. The video below with Tom Varndell and Christian Wade is one decent example.

Yet the studies have shown (and pros like New Zealand 7s star Gillies Kaka back this up), that all these speed and agility drills do not, on their own, make you better at beating a defender or tracking an attacker. For that you need human vs human drills, where you can read the body position of the oncoming player and react accordingly. Check out the final drill in the Varndell/Wade video, as well as these two videos from the Crusaders and Bok Smart:

At the end of all this, the lesson to take away is that in all aspects of the game, be aware of where your feet are and what they are doing. It's fair to say that 99% of the time, if your feet are planted, then there is something that you can be doing better. Stay mobile and always be prepared to move into a better position to take your game to the next level.

ONE FOR THE COACHES

Finally, a topic on which I can speak with some direct experience! We are not exactly overloaded with coaches here, so chances are that if you are coaching a Finnish team then, like me, you are learning as you go. I love coaching and hopefully my trials and errors can help you on your coaching journey. 

Coaching is a team game

Both in Turku and in Helsinki, having a coaching group has been essential. These groups included the captain(s) and a small number of senior players and team managers off whom I could bounce ideas, gauge the atmosphere in the team and make sure that I'm getting feedback on trainings. Many times when I thought I had fool-proof idea, these guys would spot the glaring error that was hidden outside my coach's blinkers. These players should also become your assistant coaches in training. You can't be watching everything throughout every session, so you should be able to trust these people to share the load. At the same time, if you're the coach then you need to maintain the understanding that you make the final decisions. Players should always have a way to put ideas to you, but make it clear how and when this is (i.e. not in the middle of training!). Jan Airola, Mikko Korte, Marko Sallert, Mikko Aalto, Bam Hennessy, Paul Kernick, Ville Siiskonen and Romain Sirot are just some of the many who have been an indispensable help.

Bam Hennessy is just one of many people who have been essential when coaching, taking responsibility for HRC's two 7s teams.

Think about the timing of your beginners' courses

It's great to see so many beginners' course adverts on Facebook already, but many clubs will also have another course closer to the season and timing is crucial. Why would you organize a course 1-2 weeks before the season starts?? (It has happened). That means players away are from training to help organize and coach it just when you need them focused and fine-tuning their own game. You then also have to accommodate varying skill levels and potentially take a step back when match prep should be front of mind. Think about the new players as well: give them the extra time to integrate into the squad and get comfortable with rugby before he pressure of matches arrives. If new players are likely to join mid-season then have a plan of how to integrate them without scaring them off. Your assistant coaches should help with this.

Get the contact in early

This partly ties in with the beginners' course timing but is also a general point. New players coming to rugby want that contact experience and they need time to get comfortable with tackle technique (and most of the existing players could do with as much practice as they can get!). Yes, you need to rest and recover in off-season, but for me it's a big mistake to not include regular contact work. The importance of footwork in contact can't be overstated - check out Jamie Joseph's tutorial video. Get involved with the winter 7s series - it keeps players match fit and gives them the extra spacial awareness in attack and defence.

The Winter 7s series kept players contact-ready year-round, which meant less of a shock to the system for XVs.

Put more time into your squad players

If I boiled HRC's recent success down to one factor it would be squad depth, but in terms of quality, not just quantity, People have this weird misconception that HRC have been successful just because there are more people in the capital region but Helsinki have always had big numbers, so where were these expectations before 2014? What changed? A big thing was that we focused more attention on the 'squad players' and made sure that there was serious (but friendly) competition for every position. We were therefore usually able to ride out games when we were missing  2, 3, 4, sometimes 5 'first choice' players without losing much at all. It also meant that our bench players weren't just there to make up the numbers - they became a key part of our strategy. We also gave our 2nd team their own identity, with their own nickname and goals, so that they were training and playing for more than just hoping to make the 1st team.

Don't be afraid to start a good player on the bench if there is an equal or better choice for the same position. The temptation is to squeeze all the 'key' players into the starting lineup, even if it means putting them into a position they aren't wholly suited to (a mistake of which I have been guilty several times), but there is often greater value in having these people as impact players who can come on when the starters tire (or are having a bad day). This also gives other players valuable game time to develop themselves in their own primary position, thus strengthening your squad. As mentioned in a previous post, rugby is now very much a 23-person effort rather than just the starting 15.  At the same time this means that you need to manage the expectations of your players and inspire them to buy in to your ideas.

Ask your players what they want

You might have big plans in the off-season and have players penciled in for particular positions, but are the players sold on the idea? Have you asked what motivates them and where they actually want to play? They might be playing in one position because they are told to, but you could be getting much more out of them elsewhere. Great examples started for me in Turku with Galen Rangiawha: he was a centre, he'd always been a centre and played at centre for the NT, but by 2012 he was bored and had his heart set on playing flanker, so we made it happen despite my plans. He needed to make some improvements to certain aspects of his game and adapt to the set pieces, but he he worked at it and became a key part of the pack, more so because he was really enjoying it.

At Helsinki we got pretty excited about the Bask brothers, Wertti and Joonas.. Both tall, powerful in contact, fast and perfectly built for lineouts, I could see HRC having the most agile 2nd and back row in the country. Slight problem: they both hated it and wanted to play wing instead. Wertti slugged it out as a 2nd row for his first season and although his performances were impressive, you could tell that his heart wasn't in it. So we made a clear plan: at the start there were other wings who were better at skills A, B and C, so Team Bask had to be prepared for starting on the bench and/or building their skills in the 2nd team, but when we saw evidence that they had made improvements then they would get their chance with the 1st team. They're doing ok, I suppose....(here's Joonas scoring his second try in his first game for the 1st team).

Beyond Don Tami - Questioning players in training

Don Tami came to speak to our company and set out his leadership formula: explanation, demonstration, repetition, repetition, repetition. This is good when you're working with professional athletes, but the most important thing that I learned from Stu Reynish during the coaching course was the importance of questioning the players during the phases of repetitions. If you just tell players to do something, tell them why and then ask whether they understand, often they will just nod. However, if you run a drill for a few minutes THEN ask questions like "what went well and what can improve?" and ask them to explain the purpose of the drill or a particular technique back to you, then they are forced to gain a clearer understanding, which often translates into better execution.

Film it!

Being able to watch game films and training on video is a huge benefit to coaches and players alike (you can start with our game link database here). YouTube is possibly the best invention ever, allowing us to not only search for tutorials and ideas (another key point - keep educating yourself!), but also to upload our own material and share it with the team. Ask the players to write their own short analysis as well; just like with the questioning during drills, it forces them to really understand things. We had a video session in the days before the final and it gave people the confidence that comes with understanding. Ask a retired or injured player to come along to training with an iPad or camera to record the drills. Telling people how they can improve is one thing, but showing them on video what they are doing now and THEN advising how they can improve bring a whole new level of benefit.

Be prepared - create utility players

Growing up and reading the 5/6 Nations squad previews in the papers, it seemed that being a utility player was a bad thing, with players like Austin Healey being left on the bench because they could cover multiple positions, but rarely starting. However here in Finland we're dealing with a different game. We all know the reality is that players will miss matches - holidays, weddings, illness, the next-door neighbor's cousin's dog's birthday etc., so prepare for it. Switch up positions in training from off-season all the way until Finals week so that players understand the patterns from multiple perspectives. That way they are prepared when the absences come and you lose as little continuity as possible.  Especially important in the backs but also for the lineouts.

Just enjoy it!

Let's be honest: Finnish rugby is a relatively tiny community of amateur players, so it should be fun. And yet precisely because it is such a small community, it is also hyper-competitive. As a coach, you have an duty to promote and practice the core values of rugby, including sportsmanship, enjoyment and respect. I have been guilty of failing here and it took a look of utter disappointment from someone I respect for me to understand the importance of this. I'm not saying let's all join hands and sing Kumbaya (if you've seen me at a game, then you know that I get a bit....animated), but every year I've made a concerted effort to forget all the bollocks and micro-politics which creep in and focus instead on enjoying the games and, most importantly, keep my own temper in check. I've enjoyed each passing season more as a result. Oddly, the game I enjoyed the most this year was our loss to Jyväskylä!

The Dark Knight falls - Tampere having some fun with Batman on the pitch side.