Develop a gameplan: the Adaptive Game vs. the Planned Game

This page is based on a presentation by rugby guru Pierre Villepreux from the FIRA website and a presentation of him I found on the Internet. I have added my [comments]. (Do not worry, you can download a copy the FIRA presentation in French and English here and the other presentation that focusses on decision making here)

It has become the longest page on my site, but stick with it!

One can question the method of coaching rugby....

Definition of decision making for rugby

Definition of decision-making: the capacity of the player to execute an action following some conscious [or unconscious!] tactical or strategical choice.

Definition of rugby:

A game, which includes both confrontation (with the opposition) and collaboration (within the team), in which two opposing teams fight to gain possession of the ball, with the aim of scoring against the opposition, as a result of their individual and collective efforts.

It is the relationship between attack and defence, and the way in which these two alternate with eachother in the course of the game, which lends a particular sense to this definition of the game. This requires that every player must learn to interact not only with his team-mates but do this in relation to the actions and reactions of the opposition.

One definition of ideal performance in the game could be that the team capable of winning or regaining possession and score by handling and/or kicking the ball, without allowing any breakdown in the action.

The player in action: remember there are different aspects to the development of rugby players:

Our definition of tactical skill is the ability of the player to perform appropriately in open play. Open play is defined as the movement of the players and the ball once set play is over and the players and the ball are moving on the field. [Most of the time the players have very little time to make these tactical decisions, you have to train your players on such a way that they become unconscious; Martin]

Strategic skill is the ability of a player to make the right choices and to perform from set play (scrum / lineout / penalty / kick-off / drop-out). [In these situations there is more time to think about a general gameplan and conscious decisions are made; Martin]

The Pierre Villepreux presentation on which this page is based deals with:

• The type of game you want to play (Adaptive vs. Planned)
• The learning process for the adaptive game
• Different learning models, the one that suits learning the adaptive game
• How to develop the ability of the player to adapt
• Why to start the learning process with general or open play?
• The process of decision-making
• Principles to attack a defense
• Tactical problems in today's game

Make a choice: Which style of rugby you wish to play?

First you have to decide what style of rugby you want to play. Pierre Villepreux distinguishes two styles:

1. the Adaptive Game
2. The Planned Game

The Adaptive Game

Played by teams who:

• attempt to keep possession of the ball using a collective system of play;
• allowing the movement of the attackers, (designated positioning and relevant repositioning) to whatever the situation requires on the pitch.

This collective organisation aims, by means of running, passing and the exploitation of gaps and open spaces to avoid the incidents of ruck - and maul situations or if this is not possible, to deliver the ball at the right time to stop the defence effectively reorganising.

• in case of a turnover, attempt to use the ball immediately;
• when the situation requires it, attempt to use kicking strategies;

The Planned Game

The Planned Game is played by teams who:

• try to maintain the possession of the ball by making the defense move back without disorganising it;
• adopt as a priority, individual physical confrontation, increasing the incidents of tackles where a large number of players are involved;
• use kicking but not as a last option;
• do not take advantage of turnovers;

[Note: The Adaptive Game is ofcourse the exciting game we want to play, we use to describe the french way of playing "French Flair". The All Blacks seem to have this adaptive style of play now; Martin]

The Learning Process, problems arising?

How to deal with this Adaptive Game and have a learning process that allows the players to be trained, giving them the appropriate tools to develop both individual and a collective game and that allows to build the game, with the help of the coach, based on the potential of the individual player and the group?

The ultimate aim of coaching is to develop the teams capacities for adaptation. To train creative players while allowing them the freedom to play an adaptative game in which they are responsible and willing to take initiative.

The learning process (training method) is based on learning using the game itself:

• From child to adult
• From beginner to elite level

To set-up an ongoing learning process. There is no difference in the learning process between the elite level and
beginner BUT... There is a difference in:

• their knowledge of the game;
• the number of individual skills available;
• their knowledge of the laws of the game;

For the beginner and for the elite player have the same problems in relation to the game. Only the beginner will know fewer rules and the elite player will know more rules and his individual skills will be more intricate developed. The coaching sessions of Pierre Villepreux for the French National Team did not differ much from those for the Toulouse Under 11s. The only difference is the level of complexity.

The different methods

There are different methods used to coach the game of rugby:

1. Technical approach / analytical way. The acquisition by all the players on the team of an ever-increasing number of individual technical skills, with no relation to the reality of the opposition.
2. Free play: no restrictions, let the players explore.
3. The development of each player's tactical understanding of game situations, in direct relation to the actions and reactions of the opposition. Learning using the game: competitions + prescribed exercises

The game is made up of various, ever changing situations and of set situations. Pierre Villepreux proposes NOT to use the analytical way with the strong focus on technical skills [and Drills / Plays; Martin] but use the game itself to teach rugby: the players must practice in order to develop some common and consistent interpretation of the game, at game speed, to enable them to participate fully in the on-going action of the game. Develop each player's tactical understanding of game situations, in direct relation to the actions and reactions of the opposition.

A planned game is not an option: say ‘NO’ to rugby robots! We want all the players on the team have a similar way of 'reading the game', in direct relation to the reality of the opposition.

The first and third options defined above to (on the one hand, a technical approach, and on the other, a tactical approach) are not contradictory, but rather complementary, and we shall discuss the relationship between technical and tactical skill later in this presentation. However, the factor which determines the effectiveness of each player in the constantly changing situations in the game - ball carrier and/or support players is the player's ability to analyse where he is in relation to whatever form of defence he confronts. The same is true for the defending players who have to adapt their game to whatever the attackers do.

[Within the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model there is place for technical, tactical and even more aspects - look at the LTAD pages for that angle on player development; Martin]

With general play the attacking and defensive players and the ball are all moving. Ruck and maul are integrated into general play if you have quick ball........ A common and consistent understanding of the game among the members of the team becomes particularly important in what we have called "general or open play".

Static phases (scrum + line-out) are not part of general play. Let us look again at the differences between the two styles of general play:

The Planned Game developed from set-play only and the focus shifted to having multiple phases. In this, it is important to string together as many phases untill the defence makes a mistake, than capatilise on that. In the Adaptive Game with each phase your players have to be involved in some decision making: does the situation favours a break through? No? Then set up the next phase...

Decision-making in rugby football is particularly important in this Adaptive Game, precisely because it is impossible to predict exactly how the opposition will react to counter the attack in progress. The best example of effective decision-making in rugby would be for the ball carrier to make the right decision in relation to the defensive alignment of the opposition, and at the same time for the support players to react appropriately to whatever initiative is taken by the ball carrier.

How to develop the ability of players to adapt?

One of the primary roles of the coach is to create for the players game-like practices which will help them to better analyse all the problems posed by the defence. All players need some common "code" to help them read the game in a similar fashion, especially in open play. The objective is to enable players to apply this code at game speed. This provides the players with a set of consistent reference points and enables them to analyse the characteristics of the various situations in the game. Once the players have acquired this code, they are able to do the following:

• To analyse simultaneously any problem presented by the defence.
• To anticipate what will, happen next.
• To choose an appropriate action as quickly as possible.

The player will then be able to move into the best position to be able to participate in whatever individual or collective action is going on.

Leave the initiative for decision making to the players but do not let them just do anything. You control the learning environment by providing functional constraints! The reactions of team-mates is adapted to:

• the decision of the ball carrier (but all the team have the same understanding)
• reaction of the defence

And all this in relation to the fundamental principles of the game. The player in action makes a choice, decides:

• Respect for fundamental basics (principles of effectiveness): go forwards & support
• The Game situation: the balance of power between Attack - Defence (A - D)

It is absolutely essential to have reference points for the players: same reading of the game (vision and identical understanding of the situation). For this three different game situations are distinguished:

1. A > D (play beyond the first line of defense)
2. A = D (play in the first line of defense)
3. A < D (play before the first line of defense)

Types of play

In open play, the number of basic situations is relatively few and includes the following:

• When the defence is grouped together, the obvious choice for both the ball carrier and the support players is to go wide.
• When the defence is spread across the field, both ball carrier and support players must try to penetrate.

The coach's task is to help both the ball carrier and the support players to come to a similar conclusion about what to do, at any given moment, in light of their perception of what is happening in front of them. This means that every player:

• can perceive how the defending players are arranged on the field, at any given moment;
• can perceive his own position in the attacking alignment and can get into a position to be effective according to the needs of the moment (close support, wide support, immediate intervention, delayed intervention).

So the coach must create practices for the players, which cover all the possible situations of the game:

1. in open play (15 v 15)
2. unit play (forwards against forwards, backs against back, etcetera)
3. individual play (2 v 2, 2 v 1, 1 v 1)

Team Play

In a general team sense when there is open play, this means that the players must understand how the disposition of the defence changes in response to the movement of the attacking players (15 v 15):

Unit Play

The unit play includes, for example, forwards against forwards, backs against backs, forwards against backs and vice versa.

Individual Play

For the individual player, this means the capacity to recognize all the specific situations in the game which involve a small number of players, for example 4v4, 4v3, 3v3, 3v2, 2v2, 2v1, etcetera.

This ability of the player to situate himself in the diverse movements of the players and of the ball, and to take into account the disposition of the defence is the essential principle of decision-making during the game.

How to develop?

How to develop the tactical capacities of attacking players in a game situation where the ball carrier does the decision making: players have to understand they can belong to different "families" and have te (re)act accordingly:

1. Players who carry the ball
2. Players inside the ball, late arrivers
3. Players outside, early arrivers
4. Players in the deep axis

These are the three principles dictating how you as the coach should work:

1. Using real opposition. No team run with some benchplayers holding rucking shields.
2. Giving the priority to the handling game.
3. Showing and analysing the reasons of success or errors in the actions of the attack and the reactions of the defence.

Remember, it is the temporary positioning of the defence which conditions the decision of the attackers and vice –versa!

The "why" before the "how"

Work on the tactical understanding of the player, then on the technical and positional details will fit in.

The are lots of things to consider in order to make the right decision, the above diagram also shows the process of seeing what is in front of you, recognise the pattern, decide and act upon it. [Note: with our focus on the the technical aspects of the game we only work on the last bit; Martin]

Why start the learning process with general play?

Because

1. It allows players to be confronted with all the situations:

• from the general (team against team)
• to the individual (1 vs. 1)

2. It allows players to work from the simple to the more complex. By changing the elements:

• time
• space
• numbers of players
• distribution of players in attack and defence

In the General Play we look for:

• adaptability
• creativity and variety of actions
• accuracy and efficiency in skill

When you create disorder, it’s easy using the weaknesses of defence. The most difficult is to play against an organised or reorganised defence.

The process of decision-making

It is useful to recall our use of the terms tactical and strategical:

• Tactical: the ability of the player to perform appropriately in situations where there is some uncertainty about the outcome (e.g. in general play);
• Strategical: the ability of the player to make the right choices in Situations where the positions of the players involved is evident (e.g. in scrum and Lineout).

For every player, at any time and at game speed, the process of decision-making includes:

The player engages in all of the steps shown above. Tactical decision-making remains the most important, as it conditions all the others. Everything relies on the conscious perception of the tactical movement of the game (how the players move around the field). [or like Jeff Hollier explains later, even unconscious behavior; Martin]

It is clear that tactical decision making, as it happens during action of general play gives the player great freedom of initiative. Strategical decision-making, which is done prior to the restart of play (strategic options) is usually carried out by the strategical decision-maker (may be the captain) who decides what "play" is "on" and communicates this to the other players involved.

Principle to attack a defence

Go to play where it’s easy to play! Think about specific roles in relation to the ball and ball carrier:

• Role of ball carrier
• Role of the support near the ball
• Role of the support more distant from the ball

Attacking team (the blue colored)

• Spread on the width of the field

Gathered Defence: is positioned in groups:

• Pressure group
• Cover groups
  

Focus of the attacking team is how to maintain the going forwards with lateral passing to avoid the lateral movement of the cover defence?

According to the reactionof the defence, create all the condition of going forward and penetrate on the vulnerable spot of the defense.

Defense organised? Then attack on the edge of the wall if you have no solution out wider

Attack wide when you have time to move the ball where the wall is thin.

How? Use the pass to go forward, give continuity and avoid the tackle and ruck situation. (offload in the tackle)

1. The ball carrier's direction of running to open the "door" to:
2. the penetrating player.
3. The support players to move in the same gap.

The black rectangle is the Decision Zone: the penetrating player (2) has to find a solution passing the ball to his support before he is in trouble with the succesive defence. The support (3) is to react to the penetrating player (2) his decision to maintain the going forward.

Tactical Problems in Rugby today

How to beat the flat defensive line? In Pierre Villepreux his vision:

• Too much individual confrontation!
• Team is organised to utilise the individual player who can penetrate the defence (linebreaker)
• Playing against the wall
• Go forward by keeping possession without disorganising the defence (from one phase to another, trying to reach the goal line or to get a penalty (rugby league game).

The questions to be answered are?

• How can we (by collective positioning and actions of attacking lines) make it more difficult for the defence to stop the attack?
• How can we develop this in training sessions?

Effective play is achieved by the team, which is capable of ensuring a complex series of sequences of play linked together, whatever the origin of the possession or when it occurs in the game. The most effective play (in terms of points scored: tries/penalties) is achieved when the teem is capable of putting together at least 2-3 phases of play.

The majority of points are scored from ball, won back from the opposition at the breakdown or in ruck or maul, or in broken play, e.g. producing counter attack, and much more often than from scrums and line outs. Because the defence is much more organized at set play. In fact, few points are scored directly from set moves off scrum or lineout. Points are more likely to be scored from second or third phase play following these set moves.

Taking this analysis one step further, we find the following:

• The team that wins the game engages in less ruck/maul situations, but when they do form them, they always produce quick ball;

• When the initial set play produces penetration down the middle of the field, it is more likely that a complex sequence of play will produce effective continuity;

• Kicking in attack can be either very effective, or ineffective. If the ball is recovered after the kick, a try is scored approximately 90% of the time;

This analysis suggests that the coach's first preoccupation should be to make the players as effective as possible in broken play. To do this, the players need to understand the game of movement so that they can then understand each other.

If the objective is really to develop continuity in the game, thanks to the capacity of all the players to play in a coherent way, linking the game of the forwards to that of the backs and vice versa, then it is essential to practice in the areas of improving understanding the game and the decision-making processes of all the players. This is the only way of creating some kind of logical link between the actions of each individual player within the game.

So, we need to produce players able to adapt their game to the reality of the opposition, with skills, which enable them to assume any role in either attack or defence.

It is the connection between ATTACK and DEFENCE which conducts the positioning of the attacking players. How to give to the players the understanding of their positioning in relation with the reaction of the defense?

By letting them practise in controlled games!

Summary

1. Which game do youwant to play?
2. What type of players are required to play it?
3. What type of training for your players?

Tommorow's players will, in order to break down organised defences, will have to learn to play a ta higher pace and to read the game quicker and have a greater variety of skills.

Very important: to see and understand the immediate action and anticipate the most effective option before the opposition can respond.

• to choose the appropriate skill
• to utilise good technique
• to change the option if necessary

And...to raise this tactical - and technical aspects the player will also have to simultaneously:

• develop fitness levels
• master emotional pressure
• develop mental strength

in the moving game the players’ specialist rol becomes less relevant.

Related topics are

• Skill Acquisition and "Rugby Sense", by Jeff Hollier, more about this learning process and conscious / unconscious decision making.
• How to set up a gameplan, deals with the managing development.
• Cognitive processes and learning motor skills.
• Pierre at the Rugby Heroes website

last edited on 6-8-2007