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If you want to be a great passer you must repeat yourself Posted over 11 years ago

People assume that all top rugby players must have a very high skill level, but they are wrong. There are only two centres in Japan who can pass it accurately, but that lack of precision is true the world over.

Watch Wayne Smith: Catch & Pass Activities – FREE!

Too many centres have come up through the age groups where size has been everything. Just because they can smash their way over the gain line, coaches don’t seem to require them to work on their passing. That neglect of young players has repercussions. It stifles a lot of attacks when they graduate to senior level.

Australia and France, so long seen as the home of centres who could really pass, have been in decline for years. Soccer requires players to kick with both feet, so why doesn’t rugby require players to pass off either hand. Even a player as gifted as James O’Connor has to step when he passes off his left hand. Christian Leafanu is one of the few midfield backs around who is accurate on either side.

But it should be a given and there is no other way to get there than through hard work. Even senior players should be asked to put in the hours, just as soccer players stay behind after training to practice their free kicks and other skills. It is possible. Ma’a Nonu has made a massive improvement over the past eight years.

There are even a few half backs about who can’t pass. The Cheetahs attack best when Pretorius is in the middle of the pitch. The Cheetahs’s number eight picks up a lot from the scrum because Pretorius can run and pass, but he does not stand and pass well. He cannot do that basic skill.

Rugby needs to change. We have to get that big 100kg schoolboy centre to practise 50 passes a day. Passing is not a chore, it should be a skill to be nurtured. Repetition, repetition, repetition. I don’t care how good your players think they are, they almost certainly are not good enough.

Fruit and veg and 50 passes a day. It’s good for them. And they will be much better players at the end of it. They might even be able to run in an overlap without smashing a defender to pieces.

Are you seeing this same lack of basic skill? What do you put it down to? Comments below…

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Eddie Jones has had an extensive coaching career holding roles with teams including the Brumbies, Reds, Saracens, Australia, South Africa and most recently Suntory. Following on from successfully leading the ACT Brumbies to their first Super 12 title in 2001 Jones took charge of the Wallabies for the 2003 World Cup on home soil, and fell at the final hurdle as his side were defeated in extra time of the final by Clive Woodward's England. He continued on as coach until 2005, when his contract was terminated following a wretched run of results. From here Jones had a stint in an advisory capacity with English side Saracens and in 2007 was then appointed Queensland Reds coach. He then turned his back on coaching Australia again when he signed in an advisory role with South Africa working closely with head coach Jake White, securing the 2007 World Cup. After the World Cup Jones took up a full time position back at Saracens as director of rugby but left in 2009 for a role with Japanese side Suntory. Jones remains in Japan and is now head coach of the Japanese national side.

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