Your drop-outs from the halfway

You as the kicker!

This week our coaching Guru has a look at drop-outs from the kickers' point of view, having dealt last week with receiving kick-offs.

Positions:

Let us assume you are going to drop-out to your left; on the halfway you put number 4 on the 5 metre, 5 is outside him about a metre apart then 7 will be just inside the 15-metre line with 8 outside him. 6 is in the 5 metre outside 4. 10 will be dropping out from the middle of the field with 12 inside and just behind him between the forwards and the fly-half; on the other side of the fly-half will be 13 and 14 - 14 will be on the right-hand 15-metre line. All these players are flat and just behind the kicker. Behind 4 and 5 you will have 1, 2 and 3 acting as sweepers to pick up any ball tapped back or to come into support in case of ruck or maul. 9 is roughly on the 15 metre line behind his forwards in position to move up to take any ball tapped back; if he is too close he will overrun the ball. 11 hangs back on the left-hand side between 10 metre and 22 - he can move up if he sees his forwards have won the ball, if they have not he must position himself to take any kick down that side of the field. 15 will be parallel to him roughly in the middle of the field about 5 metres in front of the 22.

Once again I stress that there is no set way of positioning your players; if you have one player who can get up high from the ground on a run-up, put him in the middle of your formation and send him ahead fast to get there to the hanging ball to jump and tap it back down to your supporting players coming up behind.  If you haven't that sort of player, you concentrate on getting as many of your players to the pressure point as possible to hustle and drive the opponents backwards on their ball - never give the opponents an easy ball from any aspect of play.

Where to kick (I have been asked to give some variations):

The accepted kick is the high one landing on the intersection of the five-metre and the ten metre lines so that you can have your forwards there with theirs underneath the ball waiting for it to land. Some sides are expert at turning over kick-off ball. It is something you can practise unopposed: kick off and have you athletic lock sprint forward, leap into the air and palm the ball back to your sweepers coming along behind.

Then there is the deep kick to the left corner to force the opponents to counter-attack from deep in their own territory or to kick for touch so that it is your line-out. Your fly-half can swivel and kick a high, deep kick to the openside corner where you have only the wing, number 11, standing deep very much on his own, but for his fullback who is more midfieldish but then you will have to pressure them, chasing the ball with your 13 and 14 - but it works!

I have seen successfully done, teams splitting their kick-off, having four forwards on either side - three loose forwards and the hooker on the right and the tights on the left. Organised and done quickly it can be devastatingly effective as the opponents struggle to come to terms with your strategy, scrambling left and right to match your numbers. If you kick-off to the right to your loose forwards, who are athletic fellows, and they manage to take the ball on the run, sheer havoc is loosed upon the land.

Some sides put all their forwards in the middle of the field and kick off short but high to land on the 10-metre line in the middle of the field. Your forwards have but a short distance to move to get beneath the ball and literally anything can happen - your chances of turning over that ball are excellent but if the opponents get it you are there in force to contest;  you can leave your loose forwards out on either side in defence.

From an orthodox kick-off, by the way, I tell my hooker to mark the blindside always; if he is caught in, it is the duty of the man farthest out to take the blindside defensive position.

Some sides receiving the ball leap up and tap the ball back; I keep my loose forwards on the edges chasing the kick-off and I encourage them to run beyond the ball landing to intercept such a tap back or to be quickly on to a deflection or fumble from the opponents- there is no off-sides unless there has been a ruck or a maul. It is worth making here that there is no off-side line from a tackle - the law merely insists that you play the ball from behind the tackle but there is nothing to stop you after a man is tackled from crowding their players who are off the ball as long as a ruck or a maul has not formed. It makes you think.

Now that all kick-offs are drops it is worthwhile considering the quick short, 10-metre kick to the unexpected side directed to your centre who is standing outside his fly-half. Naturally you would have your fullback moving up in support and 12 could run around to cover and support.

I believe I am correct in saying that percentage-wise, there are more turnovers from kick-offs than from any other phase of play.

I shall continue next week with an article on drop-outs from the 22.