THE INSIDE L INE

Develop these skills at your own club, says Sean Holley

1

Working step by step Attacking kicks can be practised in a closed sense using tackle tubes as static defenders, with gaps between them to practise kick accuracy. Develop by using live defenders to put pressure on the kicker.

Practise the timing of outside runners to avoid getting in front of the kicker. Lastly, provide target areas as landing points for the ball to practise the strength and trajectory of kicks.

2

Width in the line Leinster’s defensive cohesion takes hours of well-rehearsed synchronised movement of the team moving up at pace together, but always working back and hard around the corner and getting width in the defence. Communication is key. Usually the 13 orchestrates the out-to-in blitz and the No 9 holds the end of the short side, which is potentially vulnerable.

With the nine in the defensive line, the full-back has a lot of space to cover in the backfield. He has a crucial communication role as he can see the full width of the field and so any gaps.

3

Swing Lowe To imitate Leinster’s use of James Lowe, the key is timing and movement off the base of the scrum. Use back plays with a formation that you can run numerous times but with plenty of options. To the defence the movement is the same, but the first receiver has options and the support runners can call and react to mistakes in the defensive line.

The outside runners should time their run off the first ball player, not the nine’s pass. The latter might cause them to run too early, resulting in crossing, obstruction or forward passes.