durbenscheinder

Hi, i've been doing rugby for only 5 weeks now and we had a game just then against another school. I'm a loose head prop in a 10v10 game. If it is not a problem i ask you guys to help me set my priorities as i run around alot which i find tiring and if this is needed. please answer these following questions, it will help alot.

1. If the kick off is aimed away from the forward, do we still have to chase it down?
2. Can you please tell me some videos that teaches tackling preferably pursuit tackling.
3. Are we supposed to follow the ball wherever it goes or are we only supposed to be stationed at certain areas?
4. Is my role, the loose head prop, meant to do tries or are we just the playmaker guys? If it's close to the tryline and i have the ball obviously i go for it, what if we're far away from the tryline?
5. Do you have any more tips regarding being a good prop, because from all the three games my school had, we got messed up pretty badly(0-100, 5-60, 0-80).

Please the answers for these questions are needed urgently as it may give me more knowledge to what i must do. I do substantial amounts of training so please make the answers more specific not "just train" or "run faster"

Thanks and sorry if its a TL;DR kinda post.

Cheers

jamie- allaboutrugby

hey there, look sounds to me like your going to have to do at least a little bit of cardio, just go for a run or 2 and get your fitness up.
Now relating to your game:
1) kick - its down to whether you think its worth it but most the time there's no point chasing it hard when it goes the opposite way to you because you probably won't get there in time, just get yourself in a position where you'll get to the next ruck (i'll talk about that later).
2) I don't know any video's like that but i can tell that with a pursuit tackle i try to wrap my arms round his legs just below his waist and slide down while gripping around his legs tighter- they can't run without there legs!
3 and 4) The way i see it the role of the prop and any forward is to get to as many rucks as possible, but obviously you can't get to everyone and sometime's there's no point going in because there's no chance of winning it or you've already won it.
In these situations on defense get in the defensive line - if there forwards are doing pick and go get around the fringes of the ruck (next to) and tackle them or if they're passing it down the line get in the line with the backs and help them out, a mistake lots of forwards do is they just run behind the back line, actually get in the line!
On attack if you don't get in the ruck there's a couple things you can do:
- do crash ball, this is where you stand off the ruck and charge right at the defensive line, a few things to remember- get low and tuck the ball into your chest and keep driving your legs in till you go down, get at least one other forward to come with you and don't get in the scrumhalf-flyhalf channel (in the way so he can't pass to him), if you do chances are they'll get pissed off at you so just stand slightly behind it.
- get behind your back's line - so another thing you can do is run behind the backs line in support of your back so your there straight for the next ruck when your player gets tackled.
5) In set plays e.g. scrums and line outs props are very important, how are you in them? all else i can say is you can't carry your team so don't worry and i know it sucks to play for a bad team but try and join a rugby club or something.
hope this helps.

Kohinata

As far as I see it, there are no definitive answers to some of your gameplay questions. I have played for years, and rather go on a formula, I've learned to react to situations.

Stick to your strengths. Don't say "I'm a prop therefore I should" with regards to things like ball carrying. If you are the best suited in the situation carry it. If the ball's slow, or the scrum half's in the ruck, make a run tight to your forwards, get over the gain line, and let the backs do their thing. When you're near the try line... I'd say that's up to the 9. Let him decide what's best (do that most of the time actually), as forwards can either get dead attacks moving, or just kill them.

There are things to do other than rucking in open play. As said before, get out of the backs' channels and either get slightly deep to take crash ball off the 10 or 12 (if you're into the ball carrying stuff) or just stay out of the way, but close enough to support any tackled back. On defense, don't overfill the ruck, get on the fringes, or go help the backs if there's an overlap.

People say I'm a good tackler. I don't notice it. Doesn't really matter how you do it. Make sure to stay low (unless you're trying to nick the ball. CAn be risky.) and wrap your arms around the leg. AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LET THEM JUST RUN AT YOU!. Get up in their faces and don't let them build up momentum. Making the tackle (or even slowing them down) is more important than putting a big hit in.

Hope this all makes sense to you, honestly though you can listen to us all you like, but you'll be at your best when you have the experience to look up and see where a gap is, or where you need to be to make a covering tackle.