Breakdown
How did the trial laws at the breakdown work out in end-of-year tour internationals?
World Rugby’s trial laws for 2017 included some potentially game-changing alterations at the breakdown. The end-of-y...
Insight & analysis
Articles
Deep dives on the modern game from The Rugby Site's contributors and coaches.
Attack
Attack, Attack and More Attack
The notion of the contest is becoming more difficult for the defensive side to manage in all areas of the game. Nick Bishop explores how ...
Defence
How the repeat involvement theory is stacking up for number 9’s
The use of the “spare man” in the backline has been debated since the dawn of the professional era. Using France’s current defensive syst...
Latest posts
News & Opinions
Money talks in World Cup bid process
In the wake of their success, even France acknowledged that the current financial model and the selection criteria ma...
Attack
Is the All Blacks midfield beginning to gel?
Analyst Nick Bishop considers whether the the current All Black’s midfield combination finally starting to ‘gel’. Or...
Breakdown
Rolling, rolling, rolling… why a double movement can cure the problem of isolation
In theory, the laws of World Rugby require everyone involved in the tackle on offence or defence to move away from th...
News & Opinions
Is the congested calendar slowly killing the game?
Graham Jenkins considers ongoing debate about the physical and mental demands of what is quite clearly an over-conges...
Set Piece
The All Blacks scrum and the theory of marginal gains
“Aggregation of marginal gains… the 1% margin for improvement in everything you do.” Put all those little micro-wins ...
Attack
Running attacking decoy plays in theory and practice
The viability of using decoys on attacking plays has become absolutely essential at all levels of the professional ga...
News & Opinions
How successful was Premiership's Philadelphia experiment?
As the dust settles on the Aviva Premiership’s latest attempt to crack the United States market, Graham Jenkins refle...
News & Opinions
Exclusive: USA Rugby CEO Dan Payne talks growing the game Stateside
Writer Graham Jenkins talks exclusively with USA Rugby CEO Dan Payne about various issues he’s faced in his first yea...
Tackling
Aggressive ball-placement options at the Women’s World Cup final
The women’s game has the virtue of being different in character to the male version of rugby. Analyst Nick Bishop lo...
News & Opinions
Do you love rugby more than you love your children?
As coaches and referees, it is incredibly important that we teach our youngsters the safest way to enjoy our game but...
Attack
How to use your eyes – the 10/15 hybrid and engaging the last defender on attack
The first Bledisloe match of 2017 between New Zealand and Australia was decided partly in advance, by selection befor...
