Size is always going to be an issue in rugby coaching and selection circles.
South Africa is currently seeing it again in one of their young flyhalves - Isma-eel Dollie - who has recently left Western Province in a state because he can't make the match squad. Rugby pundits have looked at him and all agree that he simply does not have the physical presence to be a commanding world class flyhalf irrespective of his ball skills.
The very simple reality of the flyhalf channel is that you need to dominate and control it. Who would you rather have bearing down on you - Butch James or a 80kg Dollie? Especially when you are trying to control large openside flankers and 8th men coming through the channel.
Its not a contest.
While there are exceptions to the size rule - most notably Breyton Paulse, Luke Watson and Brent Russel - the demands of modern rugby require large players. Its a tough fact but coaches who persist with under-sized players are likely to find themselves under pressure in the higher leagues.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
NZ coaches out-coached
New Zealand assistant coach Wayne Smith has admitted that Robbie Deans was tactically better than his All Blacks counterparts on Saturday.
Read the full article here on Keo.co.za
Read the full article here on Keo.co.za
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
www.rugby-jobs.com is named Online Recruitment Partner to Rugby Canada!
Rugby Canada, the governing body for rugby union in Canada, has also today advertised 2 key specialist job roles for a Skills Coach and an U19 Head Coach on the website at www.rugby-jobs.com.
Rugby Canada also now uses www.rugby-jobs.com to power a live job feed on the home page of their website at www.rugbycanada.ca. The live scrolling feed of jobs covers any global job vacancies in rugby and jobs automatically feed off the live rugby-jobs.com database as they are posted by Rugby Canada, other governing bodies and clubs. The IRB and USA Rugby also use this live feed for their websites’ job pages. Rugby-jobs.com has also worked with other governing bodies including the ARU, IRFU and SRU in union and the RFL in league.
Rugby-jobs.com, launched in 2006, has quickly established itself as a credible and effective online recruitment resource to the game of rugby around the globe. The site has been used by a variety of rugby’s governing bodies, elite and local clubs in addition to businesses connected to rugby, to advertise any job vacancies linked to rugby union and rugby league.
From amateur to professional players, first team coaches to director of rugby, community coaches to fitness coaches & physios, commercial roles to admin, sales & marketing and even chief executive roles, rugby-jobs.com has proven it can help advertise any job role, at any level and to a global audience of professionals.
Efrem Leigh from rugby-jobs.com, says “we are really pleased to be working with Rugby Canada to help advertise these ‘key’ roles and we look forward to working with them in the long term and giving them access to our global database of talent which grows daily!
We can get any jobs linked to rugby in front of a global pool of talent within minutes of the job vacancy arising, thanks to our recruitment technology! We have even helped companies and suppliers linked to rugby to advertise their head office jobs so we are not just a platform for the clubs to use. “
Efrem continues “our mission when we launched in 2006 was to work closely with all rugby union and rugby league governing bodies around the world and to offer them access to the very latest recruitment technology to help promote job opportunities in the game in their respective countries. Today’s agreement with Rugby Canada underlines our ongoing commitment to achieve this and we look forward to working with other governing bodies, clubs and companies linked to the game to offer the same solutions!”
http://www.rugby-jobs.com
Source: SanePR
Rugby Canada also now uses www.rugby-jobs.com to power a live job feed on the home page of their website at www.rugbycanada.ca. The live scrolling feed of jobs covers any global job vacancies in rugby and jobs automatically feed off the live rugby-jobs.com database as they are posted by Rugby Canada, other governing bodies and clubs. The IRB and USA Rugby also use this live feed for their websites’ job pages. Rugby-jobs.com has also worked with other governing bodies including the ARU, IRFU and SRU in union and the RFL in league.
Rugby-jobs.com, launched in 2006, has quickly established itself as a credible and effective online recruitment resource to the game of rugby around the globe. The site has been used by a variety of rugby’s governing bodies, elite and local clubs in addition to businesses connected to rugby, to advertise any job vacancies linked to rugby union and rugby league.
From amateur to professional players, first team coaches to director of rugby, community coaches to fitness coaches & physios, commercial roles to admin, sales & marketing and even chief executive roles, rugby-jobs.com has proven it can help advertise any job role, at any level and to a global audience of professionals.
Efrem Leigh from rugby-jobs.com, says “we are really pleased to be working with Rugby Canada to help advertise these ‘key’ roles and we look forward to working with them in the long term and giving them access to our global database of talent which grows daily!
We can get any jobs linked to rugby in front of a global pool of talent within minutes of the job vacancy arising, thanks to our recruitment technology! We have even helped companies and suppliers linked to rugby to advertise their head office jobs so we are not just a platform for the clubs to use. “
Efrem continues “our mission when we launched in 2006 was to work closely with all rugby union and rugby league governing bodies around the world and to offer them access to the very latest recruitment technology to help promote job opportunities in the game in their respective countries. Today’s agreement with Rugby Canada underlines our ongoing commitment to achieve this and we look forward to working with other governing bodies, clubs and companies linked to the game to offer the same solutions!”
http://www.rugby-jobs.com
Source: SanePR
Rhino Rugby sponsors www.rugby-jobs.com
Rhino Rugby was subject to a management buy in led by recently appointed England Manager Martin Johnson in late 2006 and are the World's leading Rugby equipment specialists, established over 25 years ago. They are Official Suppliers of scrummaging machines, contact and other training equipment to the British & Irish Lions 2009 tour to South Africa, England, Wales, Bath, Cardiff Blues and London Wasps.
Rugby-jobs.com has worked closely with Rhino Rugby to advertise and fill various head office job vacancies since Rhino relocated to West London from Devon.
Reg Clark, Chief Executive of Rhino comments ‘I first heard about Rugby-Jobs.com after seeing their advertising board on the pitch at Twickenham during the 2006 Autumn internationals and contacted them as I was in the process of relocating my factory and office to London and needed new staff.
Rugby-jobs.com has since delivered a variety of personnel to us through our online adverts with them and we recently took on new Sales Agents in both France and Italy thanks to advertising on www.rugby-jobs.com.
Rhino Rugby is a global brand and so is rugby-jobs.com so we see the sponsorship of their website as a natural step to working closer with them as they promote jobs in the game around the globe and as we roll out our products around the globe - it’s a natural relationship.’
Efrem Leigh, from Rugby-Jobs.com sees the cementing of ties with Rhino as a key step in the recruitment website’s growth in the game and underlines the success rugby-jobs.com has had in not only filling coaching or playing roles but those commercial, admin and office roles off the pitch as well!
Rugby-jobs.com offers a unique platform for clubs and businesses in the game of rugby union and rugby league to advertise any vacancy at any level.
We can get any jobs linked to rugby in front of a global pool of talent within minutes of the job vacancy arising, thanks to our recruitment technology!“
http://www.rugby-jobs.com
Source: SanePR
Rugby-jobs.com has worked closely with Rhino Rugby to advertise and fill various head office job vacancies since Rhino relocated to West London from Devon.
Reg Clark, Chief Executive of Rhino comments ‘I first heard about Rugby-Jobs.com after seeing their advertising board on the pitch at Twickenham during the 2006 Autumn internationals and contacted them as I was in the process of relocating my factory and office to London and needed new staff.
Rugby-jobs.com has since delivered a variety of personnel to us through our online adverts with them and we recently took on new Sales Agents in both France and Italy thanks to advertising on www.rugby-jobs.com.
Rhino Rugby is a global brand and so is rugby-jobs.com so we see the sponsorship of their website as a natural step to working closer with them as they promote jobs in the game around the globe and as we roll out our products around the globe - it’s a natural relationship.’
Efrem Leigh, from Rugby-Jobs.com sees the cementing of ties with Rhino as a key step in the recruitment website’s growth in the game and underlines the success rugby-jobs.com has had in not only filling coaching or playing roles but those commercial, admin and office roles off the pitch as well!
Rugby-jobs.com offers a unique platform for clubs and businesses in the game of rugby union and rugby league to advertise any vacancy at any level.
We can get any jobs linked to rugby in front of a global pool of talent within minutes of the job vacancy arising, thanks to our recruitment technology!“
http://www.rugby-jobs.com
Source: SanePR
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Age groups participation in sport
The subject of age groups in schools sports came up again this week and it stimulated some really healthy debate on the subject of “fast tracking” school kids into 1st teams early.
There are no black and white answers here and coaches seem to be split right down the middle. On one hand you have coaches who would prefer to see the best young talent advanced into senior sides as soon as they are technically competent. Consider Theo Walcott at Arsenal. He was elevated to the 1st team and then the English national team at the age of 17. This is a pretty big jump when you consider that the rest of his mates are only just finishing up school.
The other side of the fence sees coaches who are adamant that their kids must move progressively through the age ranks. If the child is a great 16 year old then he should be allowed to dominate and learn his game at the 16 year old level. When he becomes 21 he will be able to learn and control the game at a 21 year old level and then once he has mastered the game at these levels he can go on to dominate at full senior level.
South African rugby has seen it many times with differing results. The late Francois Swart was picked from schoolboy stardom to join an international training side – his game suffered from there despite having plenty of talent. Did the sudden elevation negatively impact his game unnecessarily? On the other side of that you have Francois Steyn – perhaps the most exciting talent in the history of South African rugby. By the age of 21 he had played in (and been a key contributor) to winning the biggest prize on offer.
It will be a debate that will never have a definitive answer. If you captained a cricketer like Darryl Cullinan or Graeme Smith at school and at the age of 15 you knew he was simply heads and shoulders above kids 2 – 4 years older than him – would you have the guts not to elevate him? If you didn’t – would your coaching reputation be negatively impacted? Would you be able to resist the temptation not to pick them on the grounds that they must first excel at their own level?
It is an enormously tricky debate and one that will never have an answer. The best piece of advice that coaches have been able to give is to identify your selection policy and criteria and stick to it. Explain it to the parents and to the kids and hopefully they will see the logic in your thinking.
There are no black and white answers here and coaches seem to be split right down the middle. On one hand you have coaches who would prefer to see the best young talent advanced into senior sides as soon as they are technically competent. Consider Theo Walcott at Arsenal. He was elevated to the 1st team and then the English national team at the age of 17. This is a pretty big jump when you consider that the rest of his mates are only just finishing up school.
The other side of the fence sees coaches who are adamant that their kids must move progressively through the age ranks. If the child is a great 16 year old then he should be allowed to dominate and learn his game at the 16 year old level. When he becomes 21 he will be able to learn and control the game at a 21 year old level and then once he has mastered the game at these levels he can go on to dominate at full senior level.
South African rugby has seen it many times with differing results. The late Francois Swart was picked from schoolboy stardom to join an international training side – his game suffered from there despite having plenty of talent. Did the sudden elevation negatively impact his game unnecessarily? On the other side of that you have Francois Steyn – perhaps the most exciting talent in the history of South African rugby. By the age of 21 he had played in (and been a key contributor) to winning the biggest prize on offer.
It will be a debate that will never have a definitive answer. If you captained a cricketer like Darryl Cullinan or Graeme Smith at school and at the age of 15 you knew he was simply heads and shoulders above kids 2 – 4 years older than him – would you have the guts not to elevate him? If you didn’t – would your coaching reputation be negatively impacted? Would you be able to resist the temptation not to pick them on the grounds that they must first excel at their own level?
It is an enormously tricky debate and one that will never have an answer. The best piece of advice that coaches have been able to give is to identify your selection policy and criteria and stick to it. Explain it to the parents and to the kids and hopefully they will see the logic in your thinking.
Rugby Strategist
Welcome to the Rugby Strategist blog.
Rugby is becoming an increasingly global sport and the demand for skilled specialist coaches is apparent.
This blog aims to cover news and developments relating to coaching of rugby players in different age groups and provide a meeting place where amateur and professional coaches can exchange ideas.
Different rugby cultures have different thinkings about rugby at different levels. South Africa for instance has a huge emphasis on youth (Under 18 and younger) development and specialist training programmes whereas Australia for instance focuses more on specialist training at the Under 21 and senior level.
Players respond differently to different styles of coaching. Some are naturally able to absorb themselves in the game at the highest level, while there are other players who simply fall apart when pushed too fast.
The idea behind this blog is to help coaches discuss the best (and safest ways) of helping coaches make the transition from different positions and different age groups / levels of the sport.
Rugby is becoming an increasingly global sport and the demand for skilled specialist coaches is apparent.
This blog aims to cover news and developments relating to coaching of rugby players in different age groups and provide a meeting place where amateur and professional coaches can exchange ideas.
Different rugby cultures have different thinkings about rugby at different levels. South Africa for instance has a huge emphasis on youth (Under 18 and younger) development and specialist training programmes whereas Australia for instance focuses more on specialist training at the Under 21 and senior level.
Players respond differently to different styles of coaching. Some are naturally able to absorb themselves in the game at the highest level, while there are other players who simply fall apart when pushed too fast.
The idea behind this blog is to help coaches discuss the best (and safest ways) of helping coaches make the transition from different positions and different age groups / levels of the sport.
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