2010 Wallabies End of Year Tour (EOYT)

[Scotty]

Not necessarily. One thing JOC (James O'Connor) does well is bootlace tackles head on; tackling by grabbing both ankles and driving right through. If you do it properly the player will drop and land almost on the spot.

And tryline defense will inevitable rely on support players to help you out. First guy has to knock the attacker down and second/third stop him from reaching out.

 

[en_force_er]

It is unlikely that he is ever going to stop a player like Kepu on the tryline.

Not if they don't train for it.

 

[Scotty]

Looking at those drills, it seems they have instructed the attacking player not to dive for the line, just keep driving in the tackle and thus making it easier for the defender to stop them.

 

[Scotty]

Not if they don't train for it.

My point is that they appear to be practicing a desperation, once in a year type of play. I hope, and would rather see them concentrating on stopping the attacking team from getting to that point in the first place, as it is a very low percentage chance to stop them once they are there. Cooper needs to work on getting lower and not getting bumped off. If he fixes this, then I'll be happy, and I won't care if he can't stop a front row forward from diving over the tryline one on one.

 

[I like to watch]

that's because it's a tackling drill, not a score when close to the line drill.
They are trying to practise "turtling the ball carrier"

 

[DPK]

My point is that they appear to be practicing a desperation, once in a year type of play. I hope, and would rather see them concentrating on stopping the attacking team from getting to that point in the first place, as it is a very low percentage chance to stop them once they are there. Cooper needs to work on getting lower and not getting bumped off. If he fixes this, then I'll be happy, and I won't care if he can't stop a front row forward from diving over the tryline one on one.

For all we know they are practicing stopping attacks earlier, they just haven't put a video of it up. But we wouldn't want them to train like little Maginot's, by training on stopping them early then being completely clueless when the opposition does break through.

 

[en_force_er]

that's because it's a tackling drill, not a score when close to the line drill.
They are trying to practise "turtling the ball carrier"

Ok obviously they haven't said this is a "stop the try" drill but I would say it's a "stop the opponent making the advantage line" drill, the try line just happens to be the line they are using.

 

[fatprop]

Wallabies call on Ella magic

* Jon Geddes
* From: The Daily Telegraph
* October 08, 2010 12:01AM


IT'S been a long time coming but Australian rugby legend Mark Ella has finally returned to the Wallabies fold for the first time since he retired 26 years ago.

The former champion five-eighth accepted an invitation from his old mate and Test coach Robbie Deans to work with the present players at Erskineville Oval yesterday in the countdown to their spring tour.

Ella had not had any involvement with the Wallabies since hanging up the boots following his magical performances on the 1984 Grand Slam winning side aged just 25.

"I was never asked back, that was it, so that's fair enough," Ella said.

"I wasn't sitting around waiting for the phone call, put it that way."

Yesterday was only the third Wallabies training session Ella has attended since he stopped playing.

"I've been out of rugby for a long time but it's good to be asked to training officially and good to work with a lot of talented players," he said.

While Ella helped fine-tune the players' attack, Manly coach Phil Blake, whose team had the best defence in the Sydney premiership, put the squad through very physical tackling drills.

"It was a basic skills session for about 20 minutes - catch and pass," Ella said.

"There was nothing too complicated about it, these guys would have done this a thousand times.

"It was basically making sure they hit the ball straight, that their alignment was right and their speed on to the ball was right."

He made it sound so simple, but that old "Ella magic" rubbed off on the training squad.

"It's very special to have a player of his stature and ability to come and help the boys out," halfback Will Genia said.

"Even little drills he showed us had a real impact and effect on the boys - we just got better throughout the session.

"You have to make sure the first receiver is putting pace on the ball rather than being static. That is the one thing that I think made a massive difference from when he first saw us.

"After he gave us those tips we started to look really sharp."

And Ella clearly enjoyed being back at the coalface.

"These guys are pretty keen obviously and they were respectful to an old bastard like me," he

 

[Jnor]

Wonder if he's being groomed for a role as skills coach?? Don't know if it'd be a great idea given how long he's been out of the game but if he has them doing the basics and getting them right it could be ok.

Deans magic or mayhem?

 

[lincoln]

Can't wait for Alan Jones (tennis jumper and whistle et al) to return to the fold.

 

[Richo]

If Ella ended up skills coach that could be great... Maybe out for too long to be a fully-fledged backs coach?

 

[I like to watch]

A little off topic but.........
Anyone see Scott Gourlay putting the boots back on, with a tour early next year with the rats to Kenya??

 

[Crow]

I'm not sure why a great player would make a great coach of any skill set. Especially when they haven't coached at anything like that level before.
I'm reasonably certain that Ella's there for mental reasons, rather than because he can provide something in coaching that another coach could not.

 

[Jnor]

I'm not sure why a great player would make a great coach of any skill set. Especially when they haven't coached at anything like that level before.
I'm reasonably certain that Ella's there for mental reasons, rather than because he can provide something in coaching that another coach could not.

Like as a morale booster for the troops? Or he's gone insane and thus thinks he would fit in quite well at Camp Wallaby?

 

[RugbyReg]

A little off topic but.........
Anyone see Scott Gourlay putting the boots back on, with a tour early next year with the rats to Kenya??

yep, saw that.

 

[Crow]

Like as a morale booster for the troops?

That's the one.
And I'm sure that come world cup time, he'll be among several past legends giving them a rev up.

This seems a little docile compared to Wayne Bennett's (obviously effective) methods.

 

[Scotty]

that's because it's a tackling drill, not a score when close to the line drill.
They are trying to practise "turtling the ball carrier"

And again, why would you want to turtle be ball carrier before the line? It really only has use once over the line. Otherwise you are helping him present the ball to his support and taking yourself out of the play (and in the line of a pedantic referee's not rolling away call).

Stopping the player from making the gain line is most effectively done by driving them back. If you don't have the strength to do that, then the next best is to go low, and have another supporting defender come over the top to drive them back and slow the ball down.

 

[fatprop]

Yeah I would prefer to see them practicing smashing the ball runner backwards

 

[DPK]

And again, why would you want to turtle be ball carrier before the line? It really only has use once over the line. Otherwise you are helping him present the ball to his support and taking yourself out of the play (and in the line of a pedantic referee's not rolling away call).

You're right about making present the ball, but he doesn't just present it for his support. This is the sort of tackle that would be perfect for the Number 8/Openside scrum channel switch we saw occasionally this year, where they swap spots on the scrum; the NLI's make it beneficial for the openside or pilferer to be second to the breakdown, so the tackler bringing the man down with the ball open for everyone is the perfect tactic if you've got Pocock or Rocky standing next to you.

 

[DPK]

Yeah I would prefer to see them practicing smashing the ball runner backwards

We'd all love to see the Wob's driving their opposition back in every single tackle, but the fact is that it's not always possible. And with some smaller blokes like Giteau, JOC (James O'Connor) and Barnes it's important that they practice more efficient tackling techniques.