Dan G: How can I become more confident in contact and tackling for a rugby game? What preparation or training helps?
How can I become more confident in contact and tackling for a rugby game? What preparation or training helps?
Answers and Views:
Answer by llanishenmansam
bulk your upper body strength up and when goin for a hit think to yourself that they are scared of you andwhen attacking never focus on the person you are about to hit focus on the tryline ahead of you!
You can get bigger and more aggressive and remember that if you worry about getting hurt, you will get so hurt. You must also focus on your body angle (hit the guy at 45 degrees) and ball positioning (keep it away from him so you don’t get stripped). Deadlifts and squats will really up your strength.
You can also try to be smarter about how you go into contact. I say smarter because when I started playing senior rugby at 17 I was a lot lighter than I am now. I quickly found out at that trying to win a head on contact with a big front rower was a non starter, I would just get knocked back, put my team behind the gain line, get rucked over and loose possession.
Instead of doing that, I found that instead I would try to hit with my shoulder slightly from the side, so instead of going head to head, north to south along the pitch like two bulls headbutting, I would try to drive a few degrees to one side which I found deflected the bigger man’s force a touch and allowed me to “win” the contact in the sense that I was able to position my body on the ground well to allow a good recycle of possession.
Over time I worked on my leg strength & foot speed. The strength improved the traditional head on confrontations and even got me a few close range tries from driving over the line. The foot speed meant the tackler had a harder time positioning to line me up for a solid hit and put me at an advantage to ensure a good recycle.
As for training, time spent on the paddock with the tackle bags is the best way and watching the top players, especially on the replays which are shown. Watch for how a guy loses the ball in bad contacts and wins it in good contacts and note the difference.
Answer by CMPSMim quite small compare to the boys i play with and against , but last year i got Best Tackler Award , because , i am one of the smallest , but one of the strongest , and i have NO FEAR , anything that runs at me i dont think and just rap my arms round there legs and hold on to them , and if they dont go down , then i pick them up and put them down , alot of training with friends should help , let them run really fast at youAnswer by captain awesome
i was just like you my friend. scared of making tackles, and the bad thing was i was the starting openside flanker.
i overcame my fear by tackling a heavy boxing bag at home in my backyard. from that i learnt technique, skill, and made my tackles more and more stronger, lethal and effective as time passed. now i tackle like a animal, my motto is “ball and all”.
however you dont need to tackle, i found out while being a flanker you can just try to tackle the ball and try to rip it out of the runners arms rather then stopping him. i personally think thats more effective, especially if your a loose foward.
Answer by john dI’m 5’7 and 9 stone in weight but i can tackle my team mates have said this. What i do for preparation before a rugby Match is that i watch videos on youtube of professional rugby matches, big hits, trys etc … www.rugbydump.com they have loads of videos of anything to do with rugby. I tend to study the way professionals tackle and then i try to add it into my game. Also the best way to gain confidence and get the training you need is to go training and get stuck in, your confidence will go and you will notice this when you are playing in a real match.
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