2015 Rugby World Cup **Potential spoilers**

[subaqua]

As a Welshman I think England should play Delon armitage ( auto correct actually changed that to armpit rage! ) every single match as there will be about 15 easy points for one of our kickers , so good is his discipline

 

[HertzvanRental]

I was in New Zealand earlier this year (their summer) and saw many different groups, of all ages, doing summer training. To a man they were all playing touch-rugby. Very quick with endless loops, missed passes, scissors, all done at high speed. Many of them were doing this for a couple of hours at a time. Small wonder that their Test players all seem comfortable with ball in hand.

 

[Fubar]

I suspect this is a well worn path (with well worn arguments) but is it time to revisit the thought of summer rugby, esp in scotland? Good weather isn't guaranteed but surely it's easier to chuck a ball around freely in July than a freezing February at Myreside.

 

[Fubar]

I was in New Zealand earlier this year (their summer) and saw many different groups, of all ages, doing summer training. To a man they were all playing touch-rugby. Very quick with endless loops, missed passes, scissors, all done at high speed. Many of them were doing this for a couple of hours at a time. Small wonder that their Test players all seem comfortable with ball in hand.

Yeah, we went to a touch rugby tournament a few years back and it looked like a really good way to develop handling skills. Sevens is great for fast flowing rugby too.

 

[nickyboy]

I suspect this is a well worn path (with well worn arguments) but is it time to revisit the thought of summer rugby, esp in scotland? Good weather isn't guaranteed but surely it's easier to chuck a ball around freely in July than a freezing February at Myreside.

It'll be a cold day in hell......oh, hang on

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Has Joubert stopped running yet?

 

[swee'pea99]

I was in New Zealand earlier this year (their summer) and saw many different groups, of all ages, doing summer training. To a man they were all playing touch-rugby. Very quick with endless loops, missed passes, scissors, all done at high speed. Many of them were doing this for a couple of hours at a time. Small wonder that their Test players all seem comfortable with ball in hand.

There was a lengthy and fascinating article in the guardian a few weeks back about the ABs, and specifically how they became "the most dominant team in the history of the world”. One early excerpt:

"Daniell is an affable man, intelligent, with a thick French streak in his soul. He likes to live well. We drink far too much wine and my notes from the evening do not amount to much. A few things stick. Daniell explains that in New Zealand, “catch” and “pass” have almost come to be conflated into one word: “catchpass”. This is the fundamental skill, the first thing learned by kids, and still practised hard by the professionals. Daniell says a conspicuous difference between the teams he played with in Europe and those in New Zealand was the time spent drilling catching and passing.

My mind turns back to the conversation with Henry. We were discussing New Zealand’s famous win against Ireland in 2013, 24-22, sealed with an impossible try in injury time. “That great try,” Henry says. “I don’t know how many passes it took to make it. 25? Catch-pass. Catch-pass. Catch-pass.” If one pass had been misplaced, if one catch had been fumbled, the ball would have gone dead and the game would have been over. A simple skill, perfected."

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I suspect this is a well worn path (with well worn arguments) but is it time to revisit the thought of summer rugby, esp in scotland? Good weather isn't guaranteed but surely it's easier to chuck a ball around freely in July than a freezing February at Myreside.

They play Super 15 rugby at night in the middle of winter in NZ. Doesn't seem to stop them.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I was in New Zealand earlier this year (their summer) and saw many different groups, of all ages, doing summer training. To a man they were all playing touch-rugby. Very quick with endless loops, missed passes, scissors, all done at high speed. Many of them were doing this for a couple of hours at a time. Small wonder that their Test players all seem comfortable with ball in hand.

Jep. As a kid, and in my brief career as a kids coach, everything was done ball in/at hand. Even if just jogging around a pitch, get a partner, form a line and pass the ball around.

Simple things, executed well, performed at speed is what wins rugby matches.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

There was a lengthy and fascinating article in the guardian a few weeks back about the ABs, and specifically how they became "the most dominant team in the history of the world”. One early excerpt:

"Daniell is an affable man, intelligent, with a thick French streak in his soul. He likes to live well. We drink far too much wine and my notes from the evening do not amount to much. A few things stick. Daniell explains that in New Zealand, “catch” and “pass” have almost come to be conflated into one word: “catchpass”. This is the fundamental skill, the first thing learned by kids, and still practised hard by the professionals. Daniell says a conspicuous difference between the teams he played with in Europe and those in New Zealand was the time spent drilling catching and passing.

My mind turns back to the conversation with Henry. We were discussing New Zealand’s famous win against Ireland in 2013, 24-22, sealed with an impossible try in injury time. “That great try,” Henry says. “I don’t know how many passes it took to make it. 25? Catch-pass. Catch-pass. Catch-pass.” If one pass had been misplaced, if one catch had been fumbled, the ball would have gone dead and the game would have been over. A simple skill, perfected."

Two observations about that wonderful passage of play...

Idiots needlessly getting pinged for slowing the ball down is what gave NZ possession.
The momentum didn't slow, as it does with NH sides, when a forward got the ball.

 

[Fubar]

They play Super 15 rugby at night in the middle of winter in NZ. Doesn't seem to stop them.

Fair enough.

 

[Brandane]

I suspect this is a well worn path (with well worn arguments) but is it time to revisit the thought of summer rugby, esp in scotland? Good weather isn't guaranteed but surely it's easier to chuck a ball around freely in July than a freezing February at Myreside.

More tempting for less than hard-core supporters to go and watch too, I expect.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

More tempting for less than hard-core supporters to go and watch too, I expect.

Very true, but, as someone who has played, and reffed, full contact summer rugby, I'd say the rock hard pitches, the stifling heat, the need for water breaks, where sourcing the water in the community game is a real issue, and the sunburn over 80 mins might put a lot of people off playing...

... the ambulances for the broken ankles and the head bangs don't get stuck in the mud, mind. Every cloud &c.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

No Chris Ashton swallow dive though, so not all bad.

See you say that, but I once saw an Army Women's 7's player knock herself out, literally, doing just that.

 

[Brandane]

Very true, but, as someone who has played, and reffed, full contact summer rugby, I'd say the rock hard pitches, the stifling heat, the need for water breaks, where sourcing the water in the community game is a real issue, and the sunburn over 80 mins might put a lot of people off playing...

... the ambulances for the broken ankles and the head bangs don't get stuck in the mud, mind. Every cloud &c.

Good points. But I was picturing in my head a Scottish summer, so more likely to be flooded pitches and gale force winds. Slightly milder than winter though!