Scrum-Half to Full-Back - The Tactics and Techniques of Good Attacking Rugby

By Read Books Ltd.

From Scrum-Half to Full-Back is a comprehensive guide to the tactics and skills required to become a formidable attacking rugby player, with chapters dedicated to each position and diagrams to show foot work and perfect placement on the pitch. This book contains classic material dating back to the 1900s and before. The content has been carefully selected for its interest and relevance to a modern audience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Mar 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781447489849

Book preview

FULL-BACK

THE full-back has often been described as the last line of defence and unlike his team mates he is often called upon to handle difficult situations alone. He must therefore be a person with such a temperament that he is not easily flustered or rattled. A good example was Vivian Jenkins, when Wales played New Zealand at Cardiff in December, 1935. The New Zealanders kicked-off and the ball sailed towards the Welsh corner flag. Unknown to the players a small area of the field was frozen and therefore very slippery on the surface. Vivian Jenkins in positioning himself to field the kick slipped and fell, and the ball was hurriedly minored. This might have upset a more excitable man but Vivian Jenkins showed no effect of his mishap.

A full-back is often described as having a safe pair of hands, which means that he can catch a ball cleanly without knocking it on. If a full-back possesses what is known as a good positional sense—more will be said of this later—he will be waiting to catch the ball when it has been kicked. In catching a ball there are one or two important facts to remember. The ball is not caught with the hands alone, the flight of the ball is very carefully watched, and as the ball makes contact with the hands, the ball is drawn towards the body, the elbows are bent at the correct speed so eventually the ball finally comes to rest between the body, i.e., chest and hands, with the elbows pressed lightly to the sides of the body. The body as a whole should move backwards slightly at the moment of impact. This prevents the ball from striking the chest with such a force as to rebound out of the hands. Why is it that so many players—first-class included—fail to catch the ball. It can be, either the player has not positioned himself—he should be in the direct line in which the ball is travelling, or he has forgotten the important factor of keeping his eye on the ball.

Diagram (1)

After he has caught the ball cleanly his next task usually is to kick it to a place of safety, that is to touch. All good full-backs, provided they have the time, will what is usually termed make an angle. This can be best illustrated with the aid of a diagram.

The full-back has caught the ball near the touch-line and if he were to kick it from that position the chances of gaining ground by kicking the ball into touch are small. If the full-back has made his angle and to do this he runs so that his distance from the touch-line is increased as shown in diagram (1b) then he can gain a considerable amount of ground by kicking to touch. Also the slightest error in kicking from the position shown in (1a) either sends the ball direct into touch or into the field of play. The margin of error is increased if the full-back has made his angle.

A full-back must be able to kick equally well with both feet, this is essential. A good kicker of a rugger ball kicks with his instep and not with the toe of the foot.

The direction can be controlled more easily by using the instep. The ball is held with both hands and dropped carefully and at the moment the leg is beginning its forward swing the kicker must keep his eye on the ball and after impact the leg must follow through as far as possible. The leg should be straight and the toe pointed. The follow-through is most important because it helps to increase the distance. Good kicking is a question of timing and follow-through. It has been a source of many heated yet good-humoured arguments as to who could kick the ball the farther, W. E. Jones (Gloucester), or W. Wooller (Cardiff). What is far more important and emphasises the fact that kicking the ball is not a question of hitting it hard with the foot, Jones is a very short and slight individual. Wooller, of course, stands over six feet.

To improve one’s kicking, much time must be spent on practice. This must be done with something to aim at and not idly kicking a ball about the field. One method is to practise kicking a ball and to try and make it travel along a straight line. For convenience either the half-way or twenty-five yard line on a rugger field is ideal. It would be satisfactory if one could kick the width of a rugger field and allowing a ten yard divergence from the line chosen. Another interesting way of improving the direction is to stand on the twenty-five yard line and on the touch-line and try to kick a ball so that it passes between the uprights of the goal-posts—if this is too easy, aiming at a particular post could be attempted.

There are occasions when a full back is forced to kick before he has time to make his angle. He usually catches the ball near the touch-line and is forced to kick from more or less the same position. To gain distance under these circumstances a full-back kicks the ball in such a way that it spins around what might be described as