A hooker talks on hooking

Tuesday March 16 2004

By popular request

The Guru has had several requests for a repeat of an article we produced some time ago on hooking. As there has been much said, too, about throwing-in at line-outs, the wise old man includes a few words on that. This article was originally written by a hooker who is now also a coach; he is young, in close contact with the game. He can throw in as few others can and was fearsome in the front row and about the field. His ball skills are superb.

Here is what he has to say:

No.2, hooker. What can be said about a position that can be explained only by those who have spent many seasons in that position?

Keen. Determined. Fit. Naughty. Brave. Fast. Strong. Social. Individual. These are just a few words to sum up a hooker.

There can only be one hooker in a side. They are extremely jealous of one another. Like Siamese fish they need to be kept in different ponds. Socially they are a joy and a pain in the ass to all their team-mates. On the field they are just the "pain in the ass" part for the opposition.

No club or provincial team can boast that they have two great hookers. If one is chosen above the other and there is nothing between them (coach's point of view), the other will feel deeply rejected because he knows in his mind that he is better and if not selected in the near future he will leave for greener pastures.

Hookers get penalised by referees for collapsing scrums. For being too robust. For late tackling. For interfering. For cheating. For many other reasons, too, but hardly any of them criminal.

Why all this when all you want is a story on hooker play?

If you don't understand where a hooker comes from you'll never select the right hooker for your side.

"The field is my oyster". There are but a few rules a hooker must follow on the field. He should be able to read a game and make his own judgments on where he should be at any given moment. He is the fourth loose forward. He is the sixth tight forward. He is the third wing. He is the fullback. He can play anywhere as long as he is constructive to the team and doesn't get in the way. I will explain these different positions as we go along.

The things a hooker must do:

Scrum:

To have a potent scrum is the best way to dominate a rugby match. Opposition backs on seeing their scrum mauled get the fear of God in their minds and lose the confidence that the coach tried to drum into their heads the whole week before. They will always be on the back foot and so will the loose forwards. Also, to get scrummed the whole game exhausts the opposition and demoralises all their forwards. The opposite applies to your team. The more you dominate up front, tails go up, more space is created for the backs and with the forwards tails up they will go from strength to strength. One doesn't feel tired when crunching opposition.

No amount of strength or coaching can perfect a hooker's scrumming skills. The best advice is to play as many games as possible and like an expensive pair of shoes that are tremendously uncomfortable at first but after many days of wearing them in and lots of pain and blisters they become very comfortable and soon one can't do without them. So too with scrummaging.

It is important that when the scrum engages the front row gets the lean. This means that as you engage into the opposition front row you try and hit them so that they go backwards and therefore they are on the back foot (not stable) and should then be easy to push backwards once the ball is put in.

Some front rows like engaging with the loosehead first followed by the hooker and then the tighthead. I have yet to feel or find out the advantage of this. To me this creates unstable scrums and they tend to wheel before the ball is in. The referee will call for a rescrum and a whole lot of energy is wasted.

The other way of engaging is to hit simultaneously. This is a solid way to engage and keeps the scrum tight. This will also help with getting the lean.

In order to engage the hooker must have full control of his pack. He is the captain of the scrum if he isn't captain of team already. When the referee blows for a scrum the hooker must try and be the first one to that spot. (This could be difficult because a hooker when at the top of his game will probably be at the bottom of a ruck or among the advertising boards after tackling a wing slightly late.) At the spot he must position himself a few yards behind it and put his hands on his head. This is in order to get the props to bind on him and also to get a breather without showing that he is getting a rest

As soon as the props have bound to the hooker, loosehead binds first followed by the tighthead, the whole front row squats with a slightly forward lean. Some props bind on the jersey and others on the shorts. Binding on the shorts is a lazy way of binding. This restricts the hooker's movements and makes for loose binding around the shoulder area where most of the pressure must be directed. Binding on the jersey makes life easier for the hooker to hook the ball and also to push in the scrums. This also makes the front row squeeze around the chest area creating a solid platform with which to bash-engage.

The locks then get their heads between the front rows hips with their shoulders wedged on the rounded part of the buttock where the back of the leg joins the rump. This will ensure they don't slip up during the push. The front row is now leaning on the locks in the crouched position all set for the scrum waiting for the opposition, thus creating the psychological advantage of being well prepared and superiority.

On the engage the hooker must always look to see where he is going to put his head between the opposition's shoulders. If he closes his eyes or looks at the ground he will never hit in the right place and can hurt his neck or otherwise never be in a position to scrum the opponents off the ball. The locks should push the front row into the scrum on the engage call and this should help in a big way to get the advantage in the lean.

On you own ball the hooker must make sure the scrum-half is ready to put the ball in even before he engages. This will prevent time-wasting once the scrum has formed and also help if the ball is needed out the scrum as soon as possible.

On your own ball in the scrum the hooker must look to his left and should be able to see the ball in the crouched scrum-half's hands. With his left hand the hooker should tap the prop's shoulder and with this signal the scrummy should roll the ball in firmly and the hooker should strike immediately.

A good way to practise the put-in/strike the hooker and scrummy should go to the scrum machine (Preferably a 'Sumo' scrum machine.) and practise this as much as possible. The real test to make sure they are working together is to get the hooker to close his eyes, tap and strike the ball. If he gets three out of three there should never be a problem in the scrum as far as the communication is concerned.

In order to perfect the scummaging the hooker and props must work closely at all times and when there are problems they should be able to chat about these problems and work together to overcome them. If a prop won't listen and keeps doing his own thing then he is not a team player and the scrums will never work.

Always reward a good front row with lots of beer and food after practice.

Line-outs:

Line-outs these days are more important than scrumming as far as possession is concerned as there are three times more line outs in a game than scrums. One needs ball skills to operate in a line-out. If the hooker cannot throw the ball in or the lock cannot jump, a line-out will be difficult to win and this will put unnecessary stress on the whole team.

A hooker should have big hands for ball control and should be an accurate thrower. Waterpolo players and cricketers should find throwing in easy. Most hookers are good darts players and they should be avoided if one is challenged for beer in pubs.

A hooker with small hands should use two hands to throw the ball in, as he can never have control using one hand. Two-hand throwing can compare to the soccer throw-in. It can be accurate up to No.4 jumper; thereafter if the torpedo throw is perfected the back of the line-out can be found.

Whether using one or two hands a lot of practice is needed. A good way to practice on your own is to take six balls and practise throwing at the uprights. Make a mark how high you think the No.2 or No.4 jumper can jump on the poles (If you don't know how high they can get, ask them to come and show you. The mark they show you can come in handy when they are being lazy in practice and making life difficult for you. All you have to do is remind them of their marks on the pole. No lock likes to know he can't jump high enough.) Then mark a distance out from the pole to where you think the No.2 stands and then the same for the No.4. Use the tryline to ensure straight throws and away you go. Half-an-hour a day should be more than enough. In fact instead of kicking balls or lounging around before practices waiting for the coach to arrive get some balls and use that time to practise. This will definitely impress the coach. Make sure you are hitting the post 100 percent of the time when the coach is around.

A hooker can be the most accurate thrower-in in the country but if his locks can't time a jump or can't jump at all you will never win a line-out. Line-outs have to be practised for at least 30 minutes a practice. Once they are perfected obviously you can then concentrate on other aspects of rugby like skills.

To throw to No.2 in the line-out the jumper must know that he's about to receive the ball. If you are unsure that he heard the call, call again. It's pointless after hours of practise to get the call wrong. Always know that a cool head is best when it comes to pressure, like line-out calls and vital throw-ins.

In order to get the best advantage of the timed jump at No.2 the hooker and the lock need an understanding. The best way for this is that the lock must always jump first. The lock will know the hooker is ready to throw the ball in, as the hooker will have the ball 'cocked' behind his head ready to throw at the given moment. A big mistake jumpers make is that they are already jumping and the hooker hasn't got the ball in control yet. So make sure the lock waits for that "cocked" stance. The lock then jumps and when he is about a foot away from his highest point going up the hooker should then throw the ball in that the ball meets the locks hands at his highest point. The throw should be straight and quick. By doing it this way the No.2 jumper should never lose a line-out. In fact two ball is the easiest of the line-outs.

Throwing to four requires the same start for the No.2 but this time the hooker must throw the ball as soon as the No.4 motions to jump. These are the basics. Obviously there are lots of variations with lobs, switching, etc., that only with continuous practice with the locks can the line-out be perfected.

Loose play:

This is the best part of the game for a hooker as it is for everyone else except props who are praying for a knock on so they can scrum again or for that fly-half to get caught in a ruck.

As mentioned above: "The field is my oyster." The hookers main and only job is to make sure the blindside is protected. He must never get sucked into a maul and leave a big gap down the touchline. He can only join the mall if possession is secure and there is no way it will come out the oppositions side.

Knowing he must protect the blindside now creates a golden opportunity to score tries round the blind himself as opposition hookers tend to get sucked into mauls leaving just the wing to guard the blind and with the scrum-half and the No.2 against the wing this should be a synch.

Pressure on the fly-half:

This is one of the more exciting aspects of hooker play as one can score many tries from charging down relief kicks. From a line-out or a maul inside the oppositions 22 the hooker should be marking blindside and on seeing the fly-half standing in a deep position he should know that the fly-half is going to kick for touch.

The hooker must wait 'till the ball is out of the maul and he is behind the last feet on his side before he can attack the fly-half. This pressure can be fully exploited if there is also a loose forward on the open side preparing to charge down the kick too. When the ball is out both players should charge at top speed directly at the fly-half. Depending what side of the field one should be on his left and the other on his right. With this rush the fly-half should be very wary of the pressure and knows if he falters he will be in trouble. More often than not he will get a bad pass and then still have to get himself into a kicking position. So if he moves to the right or the left he will encounter pressure. If he does falter he should get crunched.

The more pressure on the fly-half the more he's going to take his eye of the ball to watch the onslaught of pressure from the two. This will happen eight out of 10 times for a fly-half.

On the charge down never duck out the way from his kick at the last moment because this then defeats the whole object. As the fly-half is about to kick the ball the hooker must jump as high as possible with hands outstretched so the ball has more chance of hitting his body. If you jump as he kicks the ball it will be over your head before you get to full stretch so jump early. On charging the kick down look straight ahead on the ground and then dive on the ball and score an easy try. Remember there must always be pressure on the fly-half. Without it his confidence will build and could dictate a game.

Backline pressure:

If your side wins the ball and the scrum-half sends it down the backline, run behind them so when there is a break down or contact is made and a quick pass is needed the hooker will be the first one there to create that extra link. Remember never watch the ball go down the backline and only follow up a few seconds later as this will get you to the break down at least three seconds too late. Move immediately.

On attack come from the blind to their scrum-half and onwards down their backline to catch anyone who cuts in. Remember here, too, anticipation is needed so sprint as soon as the ball is out. If you can't come from the front for some reason get behind your backs in case there is a breach or a break down so you can be first to clear up and get the ball out quickly.

There after choose your play as you see it but if you follow all these you won't have a chance to do anything else. Lastly if the ball is on the far side and is coming back down the line put yourself next to the wing and create an overlap for try-scoring opportunity.