This was it, the final ‘lesson’ for the Rugby module. A rugby carnival organized by the players, for the players. It was a great way to end off a module I thoroughly enjoyed and I’m sure my classmates felt the same way too. The carnival provided the opportunity for us to apply and display all that we have learned from Day 1, and performed we did. Our 2 best players were Hui Xin and Cinthia who played above themselves in the hot, searing sun. Their handling of the ball was top-notch and so much better than in previous lessons, which allowed us to play a more flowing game of continuous passes off a tag.

Our game plan was to get as much points as possible early in the game using the strategy of continuous close support play. After a tag, our ball carrier would always find players in support on the left and right, coming at pace to beat the defender who just made a tag. Excellent support play by everyone provided us plenty of try-scoring opportunities as our opponents struggled to defend against an attack that had loads of momentum. We employed a lot of loops and switches to put the defenders on the wrong foot and were duly rewarded with plenty of tries. We won all of our group matches and were ranked 2nd out of 8 teams after the group stages. We even trashed South Africa 6-2, which never ever happened in our normal lessons.

As we proceeded to the knock-out stages, Tom Browne introduced a new rule which required an attacking team to make 3 successive passes before a try can be counted. This was the turning point as we were penalized constantly for not adapting to the new rule quickly enough. Getting used to the new rule also meant that we wasted a lot of our focus on complying with the rule instead of continuing with our game plan and modifying it slightly only. We managed to eke out a marginal win in the next round to get into the semi-finals where we lost due to some questionable refereeing. Although, it was a close match, our opponents were the better team and the British Lions then marched on to the finals to take on Tom Browne’s Samoa/Wales.

Prior to the carnival, our team was in charge of publicizing the event to as many people as possible. We chose to harness the power of ICT in our task which required the creation of an e-poster, inviting our networks through Facebook and through mass e-mails. The work was delegated evenly and the process went smoothly with everyone pitching in to help publicize the event.

To sum it up, this was clearly one of my best experiences in NIE and I’m glad I chose rugby as my elective even though I was advised by some to try a more unfamiliar sport. The memories and friendship forged these past few months would stay with me forever because we all know this is the game they play in Heaven. Amen!

Time: 1900 – 2100 (2 hours)

Location: Padang

Session no: 1

Areas of concern

• Continuity after contact

Session aims

• Securing the ball while in contact
• Supporting the ball carrier
• Making decisions in attack

Warm-up game

• Rugby netball – no tackle/ 2-handed grab

Practice task

• 3 v 1 – evasive /passing/ in contact/ maul/ rucks
• 5 v 2 – rolling maul

Final game

• 5-a-side – smother tackle

Our first session together and the future looks optimistic. The team has a good mix of experienced and new players. They look enthusiastic and seem to enjoy the session. I came armed with a rough plan of what I wanted to work on and I’m glad it worked out fine. Some of the practice tasks were thought of on the spot, it was in line with the day’s objective and were successfully carried out. Although, a bit more planning wouldn’t hurt either.

A number of times, the more experienced players were observed to be giving pointers and helping out the newer ones. I think this is a great team culture to have and the team should improve much more quickly this way. Although, the tasks were slowed down a bit by the side coaching, it’s a small price to pay to ensure the team focuses and executes the technique properly.

I applied mod-games engineered for early success for the warm-up game and I believe it set the right tone and mood for the session. Enthusiasm was high and a lot of laughing was heard, which is always a good sign. More small-sided games should be introduced to increase intensity level. Use of videos might help too in explaining some unit skills like rolling mauls, back moves, line-outs and so on. More equipment, like shields, bags, and bibs, is needed for maximum participation and safety.

Future sessions would also have a balanced elements of attack and defense. Basics have to be taught and it should be taught well and executed properly consistently. The challenge would be to bring the new ones up to par while sustaining the interest of the better ones. Numbers could also be improved but considering that there are some part-time players and exams are around the corner, it’s still a decent turnout.

Our game this Thursday should be an interesting one and I’m looking forward to my first rugby game as coach.

For today’s lesson, the weather was uncooperative and we had to resort to using the indoor Multi-purpose Hall for our lesson. Despite, the relatively lesser space we were still able to have a high intensity lesson and today’s topic was on attacking and defending as a unit.

We were introduced to attacking back line moves which incorporated the basic tactics of switches ,loops and dummies which we learned in previous lessons. The moves we learned today were simple ones like ’1-2 loop’,’1-2 switch’, ‘miss 2′, etc. We used the Honan’s Alley to practise the moves and started simply with no opposition. Increasing the difficulty was done by adding in defenders, and at different levels. Creativity and free play can also be blended into the lessons by encouragin gthe players to come up with their own variations of the moves.

For the topic on defence, attackers were equipped with tackle shields and the defenders’ role were to defend as a line and ensure that no attackers got through. In order to do that, defenders have to observe how the attackers ran their move , communicate who was tackling whom and execute the tackle. The coach would line up behind the defensive line and ‘conduct’ the attacking moves using hand signals. This was an interesting element of the lesson and my team had a few over-zealous ‘conductors, me included, who created attacking moves which were unrealistic. In that sense, I believe that in coaching, the session should be planned with realism in mind and to shape the session to reflect what happens in the game as accurately and usefully as possible.

Session no: 14

Date: 24 Sep 2009

Duration 2 hours

For this 1 hour session, we focused on attacking in a 3-man unit in a channel of 2 or 3 defenders. The idea was to beat the defenders without getting touched, using any attacking concepts learned previously, e.g. switches, loops, miss passes, dummy passes.

3 on 2 was fairly easy as all the attackers had to do was commit the defenders and pass the ball on to the extra man on the wing. This was just one way of beating the defenders and various other moves could be employed against a 2 man defence such as a dummy-switch, or a cut pass.

With 3 defenders, the numerical advantage was gone and moves to beat 3 defenders had to involve creating an extra man on the outside by implementing loops. Moves include 1-2 loops, 2-3 loops, Cut-one loop or Dummy-switch loop.

The main lesson takeaway for me today was the concept of ‘playing what’s in front of you’. Even though we had pre-planned moves to execute, we cannot know how the defence will react exactly at a given time. In that sense, each player must be dynamic and aware of how the situation may change and react accordingly instead of just going through the move like a programmed robot. This I believe helps in developing quick thinking, risk taking and decision making in students as well as help them to appreciate the unpredictability inherent in sports.

Session no: 13
Date: 17 Sep 2009
Duration: 1 hour

Today’s lesson was about applying the concepts of previous lessons into a mod-game. Each team had to appoint a captain-coach who would formulate the team’s game plan. It was a 5 v 5 game of 2-handed grabs at the waist in order to stop an attacker. Concepts of driving, rucks, mauls, kicks, scrum and lineouts should be applied in this game.

As the team’s coach, I found it satisfying to see our initial game plan work so well that we had to change the game rules as requested by our opponents. Our plan was to always stay on our feet and set up rolling mauls where necessary, to drive it all the way to the opponent’s try line. In order to stop our forward momentum, the opponent had to commit more numbers into the maul, which would create more space for us to exploit on the outside. We had more possession and scored 1 try from this strategy, until the change of rules to disallow rolling mauls.

This proved to be the turning point and we kept on conceding tries after tries against an opponent that had very good running lines, speed and quick passing. This change forced us to adapt and try out diffferent strategies. We tried the commit-and-pass strategy of evading contact and move the ball more. This did not work out so well as we were not hitting the gaps and passing was not sharp enough. We then tried a kicking game but that too failed as our kicks were not very accurate and we did not chase the ball to regain possession and apply pressure.

Throughout the lesson, there was minimal feedback or interference by our instructor and I feel this was very necessary to ensure that the ‘captain-coach’ takes on a more independent role in leading the team. I believe this is a good way to instill independence in students, as well as build up their own self-confidence. Far too often in sports, we see a lot of teams being over-reliant on the coach’s direction in a game. The captain-coach approach aids in countering this teacher-dependent mentality and puts the responsibility of decision making on the players themselves which makes a team much more threatening as their play would be more dynamic and unpredictable.

Session no: 12
Date: 14 Sep 2009
Duration: 2 hours

Venue for today’s lesson was shifted to the indoor multi-purpose hall due to the uncooperative stormy weather. Even so, lesson still had to go on and PE trainees still need to be educated on the finer points of Rugby. Space constraint, which was much smaller indoors than outdoors, was the challenge and Azhar showed us how even though the space available was about 3 badminton courts, intensity of exercise can still be maintained.

This was done by using 4-corner grids to set up some passing and picking drills. Intensity was upped by making use of more balls, making the drills more complex or keeping the pace at an appropriately high level. These drills also help to develop players’ awareness, evasive skills and peripheral vision. This was used as a warm-up activity before lesson proper.

Lineouts, a form of re-start when the ball goes out of the sideline, were introduced today. Players’ roles in the lineout are hooker (throws the ball in), jumper (catches the ball), front lifter (carries the jumper up from the front), back lifter (carries the jumper up from the back). We were taught on how to throw, jump, lift and even deceive the opponent by using codes and deceptive movements from the jumper.

Lesson ended with a lineout mini-competition between groups and the winners were, surprisingly, the ladies who used guile and deception to beat their opponents!

Session no: 11
Date 10 Sep 2009
Duration: 1 hour

Kicking was the order of the day and we learned all the various kicks employed in a typical rugby game: grubber, chip, punt, spiral kick, drop kick, place kick and reverse kick. The warm-up for such a kicking-intensive practice would have to be relevant and activate the right muscle groups. Accordingly, we started off with a soccer game using a rugby ball. Since soccer is a very familiar game to many students, it acts as a useful introductory to kicking in rugby especially with getting used to and predicting the odd bounce of the ball.

We then split up into pairs to practice the various kicks as demonstrated by Azhar. The key points were:

1. releasing the ball properly as opposed to throwing it;
2. kicking with the top part of the foot; and
3. following through with the kick.

I think kicking is one of those skills where the coaching points are sequentially crucial since it all starts with the proper release of the ball. Also, based on my own experience, there is a relatively steep learning curve before a player can get a kick right and this is where motivation to persist and being patient is really important.
Another modified game that is useful as a platform to practice all the kicks is ‘Aussie Rules’. The rules are simple:

• only kicks are allowed,
• you cannot move when in possession of the ball, and
• to score someone has to catch a kicked ball in the try zone.

It’s a very fun game and the main consideration would be space constraints in schools and modifying the rules to ensure maximum participation. E.g. all players from the team must touch the ball before scoring.

Session no: 10
Date: 7 Sep 2009
Duration: 2 hours

Today’s lesson was centered on contact situations (i.e. scrums, rucks and mauls). We started off with passing among pairs, then threes. I feel this is a much more relevant and useful warm-up then just jogging around the field as it is able to raise the body’s core temperature and activate specific muscle groups at the same time. Static stretches of the major lower body muscle groups followed as today’s session involved lots of pushing, ‘crashing’ and ‘driving’.

To give new players a feel of how it feels to be in a scrum or ruck, we started with 1-on-1 scrums. This introduction drill provides the teacher/coach ample opportunities to spot and fix fundamental errors in body position and technique before more complex skills are taught. Fundamental errors include poor body posture such as bent back, straight legs, high buttocks, head down, driving from the top down and not gripping firmly.

Later on, the concept of scrum was introduced and Azhar showed us how the forwards positioned and bind themselves in the scrum. Even though everyone was wet, smelly and sticky at that time, we were still very enthusiastic in getting into a proper scrum and learning the ropes. I wonder if our future students will be as gung-ho when we it’s time for them to get down and dirty? Maybe, ‘selling’ the sport to them is just as important as teaching it because if they’re not excited about it why would they want to get all grimy just because we tell them to?

An interesting variation to the touch game was also introduced. In this mod-game, the player who touched and got touched has to go into a 1-on-1 scrum and try to win the ball through strength, technique and ingenuity. This brought with it a new dimension to the normal touch game which usually deemphasizes the use of strength and power. A team that wishes to gain an advantage will make effective use of their strength to win the scrum and gain territory for the team easily.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable session and I think it helped new players to experience a unique spirit of rugby where getting dirty, knackered and pummeled is the source of joy and team camaraderie.

Session no: 8
Date: 31 Aug 2009
Duration: 2 hours

Class started off with a video of rugby highlights. I can quickly see that it would be a good tool to inspire, motivate and increase students’ level of appreciation for rugby. The classroom lesson involved discussions on principles of rugby. In rugby, contest of possession is a critical element as it allows space to be created which then encourages attack. Soliciting ideas or strategies from pupils also promotes thinking, communication and provides pupils a ‘sense of ownership’ of the idea.

The practical component for the lesson was a continuation of previous lessons. The higher level drills introduced were successfully implemented because there was already a build-up to it from the previous lessons. The patterns of instruction were consistent. A short briefing on the purpose of the drills, followed by a demonstration by the instructor, Azhar, and some players (it’s better to choose more skilful players in a demo) and then it was straight to doing the drills. The drills were built around a 3 man unit which tries to simulate the dynamics in rugby where usually sub-units of 3 players are formed.

In school situations, where space could be a limiting factor in participation, variations to the game can be introduced to allow more pupils to be active most of the time. One way to do that is the ’3 v 2′ game where only a few players are in a grid at any one time. The rolling substitutions can be left to the students to work out by themselves which promotes quick thinking, initiative, problem-solving and communication.

Session no: 4
Date: 17 Aug 09
Duration: 2 hours

Today’s lesson was a follow-up of previous week’s lessons on passing. Using the Honan’s Alley drills, which is basically a corridor 10m wide running the width of the NIE hockey pitch, we were taught to work on our passing skills.

Starting with a 2 v 1 situation, attackers had the option to beat the defender using either the ‘commit and pass’ or the ‘fake pass and run’ tactic. The idea was readily understood by everyone in the team but alas execution was still lagging in terms of sharp passing, proper positioning and running on to the ball. Still, I would say that progress was made and we will improve with more practice.

Difficulty of the drills could be adjusted by changing the number of defenders, limiting the movement of the defenders or modifying the rule sof engagement for the defenders (e.g. two-handed touch at the waist, minimum of one hand touch, only touches below the waist counts, etc.)

With a 3 v 2 situation, difficulty of the drill was increased and this required some ingenuity in movements on and off the ball. Loops, switches and miss passes could be employed in order to beat the defenders and again this required a relatively higher level of skills which my team need to work on.

Session no: 3
Date: 13 Aug 2009
Duration: 1 hour