What happens in the scrum?

I once played tight head prop, …in Sevens, …. for a one day tournament…. Never again! Wat does this mean now I am the coach? The scrum is very important: if you do not have a steady scrum, you do not have a good quality ball to attack with. But more important, if not done correct, the scrum could be a dangerous place.

How to organise?

Although I learned everything about binding and stuff at the Level 2, watch all the clips, I am still very hesitant to run a scrum session. As National Under 18 coach I just asked Job Volker! He sorted all the technical stuff but most importantly he helped Erik and me to understand the different options we had for selection.

Good stuff!

For youth trainers my advise would be to enlist the help of your first team players. My experience is that they will help you if you present them a clear schedule and manage the expectations well.

So, if you can get help, make sure you bring it on board and nurture your scrum coach!

Scrum = Science

Scrum Ready

We perhaps that training for the scrum starts with a trot to the scrummachne. Not necessarily! THe imbalance, positioning of feet, binding, upper strength AND coordination: a lot of stuff we can develop in a scaled down version of the scrum! So creating an understanding of this is a big step in learning the kids to scrum.

what to do then? Developed by the SRU but now embraced by Worldrugby is the ScrumReady manual. With this you can include neck strengthening -, balance – and all kind of technical exercises in your training. It is obvious that I included a lot of these kind of exercises into Super Coach Online trainingstool!

Scrum training, but where is the pack?

As a grassroots coach I found that we somehow never seem to have everybody on the traniningspitch for the scrum session. In one moment of time I decided not to bother and work with the players that came for that evening and get on with what I got. I learned that combo’s can work just as well:

• 1 v 1
• 2 v 1
• 3 v 2
• 2+1 v 2+1
• 1+2 v 1+2
• etc.

Scrum and referees

Is the Scrum referee-able? Did we get lost in time consuming protocols? Is the alternative the Rugby League style scrum? I do not have answers but nowadays spectator value (=money) seems all important…..

Additional information

• Positional information on the Tight Head and Second Row;
• Trainingstool SuperCoach Online with relevant scrum technique exercises;
• Download the ScrumReady booklet here;
• Photo of the scrum courtesy of Ursula Workel;

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