Articles

Breakdown articles

Win the Breakdown - win the game - Warren Gatland

Develop breakdown skills and tactics to help your players win the breakdown contest from some of the world's best coaches and players including Dave Rennie, Richie McCaw, Sam Warburton, George Smith, Warren Gatland, Sir Graham Henry and Eddie Jones, Ben Herring and many others.

Plus we have categorised them by playing level to make it easier for you to find:

  • Y – youth
  • HS – high school
  • A – adult
  • All – suitable for all levels

How far can you clean out ahead of the ruck?

What is considered too far for support players clearing out?
A ‘reasonable’ distance with ‘advantages’ as Nick Bishop details in this week’s analysis.

How to find the right angle at cleanout time

Is the breakdown cleanout NFL blocking by another name?
Nick Bishop provides some weight to Offensive Linemen techniques being employed in this week’s analysis.

What does economy at the cleanout really look like?

The new ruck guidelines have accelerated the blurring of boundaries between ball-winners and ball-users, contact ‘grunts’ and mercurial play-makers.
Analyst Nick Bishop illustrates the effect it has on different positions and the game.

Why Rugby is creeping into the grey area at ruck and maul

Professional coaches spend an awful lot of time looking for loopholes, or grey areas within the rugby lawbook which they feel they can exploit. Analyst Nick Bishop looks at the latest evidence of Lawbook loophole occurring in the English premiership.

Why the counter-ruck is gaining currency on defence

In the recently-concluded Rugby Championship, the counter-ruck responded positively to the jolt given by the law-making defibrillator, and made something of a comeback from the dead! So what are the KPI’s for the success of a counter-ruck? Analyst Nick Bishop details in this week’s analysis.

Decisions favouring the Tackler

Following on from last week’s article, Nick takes a look at the different set of refereeing priorities which emerged during the Trans-Tasman Super competition.

Why the English Premiership is ahead of the game

It is not often that you can say, with confidence, that the UK is leading the world in rugby innovation. It is happening again now as Analyst Nick Bishop explains – not with developments in coaching, but in refereeing.

Will ‘the new breakdown’ encourage the return of the counter-ruck?

Following on from his previous article, Nick details if these articles of rugby law are respected, alongside the requirement to maintain a body position with shoulders no lower than hips, considers there is every possibility of a new picture of the ruck emerging.

Is the breakdown really a ruck anymore?

World Rugby is still wrestling with the issue of what happens, and what should by law happen after a tackle takes place. In the 1st of a series of articles, Nick Bishop breaks down the issues and possible solutions starting with the ‘jackal’ – the defender who tries to pick the ball up immediately after the tackle has been completed.

Why you have to go long in order to get wide

Before the start of the ground-breaking Super Rugby Aotearoa competition in 2020, a host of stringent new breakdown protocols were introduced at the breakdown. The shape of the new game is still emerging, but Analyst Nick Bishop shows there is strong evidence that the smarter attacking teams are working out how to create an advantage under the new rules.