Rugby Pre Season

So this year I will again be helping Dorking RFC with all their S&C… 

We had a really good last season and have now been promoted to the National 2 South League.

We have now finished 2 weeks of our preseason training.

IN THE GYM

In the gym, the guys are following the exact same program as those of you that are part of our RUGBY FIT MONTHLY program

The guys gym on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday

With Monday and Friday being more hypertrophy type training, while Wednesday we do more power based training

OUTSIDE

We are then out on the pitch on a Tuesday and Thursday…

Till now, the guys have had the pleasure of being trained by me for a full hour and a half…

These sessions vary. Tuesdays ted to be a bit lighter, while Thursdays we go all out…

There is a good mix between medium distance drills 100-380m and short drills 20-50m

We tend to work in blocks of 4-12min

In this way, we hit all the energy systems including aerobic and anaerobic

Here is a sample of some of the drills

1. Lactic Drive Jog: 

Start on the try line in pairs. Player 1 in front and player 2 behind him. On the whistle player 2 drives player 1 as far as he can for 40sec, then they jog for 20sec. This is 1 set. They then swop over and do a total of 8 sets ( alternating 4 each )

     2.  20/20m shuttle pass: 

Work in teams of 6 with 1 ball. 3 player on the tryline ( group 1 ) with 3 behind them ( group 2 ). Group 1 sets off together and sprints 20m and back. While they are sprinting they need to get the ball through the hands once going out 20m and once coming back 20m… the drill is the 20m sprint there and back… The pass is just to distract them and to add a bit off skill into the drill

I also throw in some touch variations too as a bit of active recovery and starting to work on skills

Here are some of the touch variations

1. Small Channel ( 40m wide, 20m long )

• 1 Touch turn over ( trying to avoid contact and create space )
• Offloads ( 1 attempt to offload the ball or it’s a turn over )

     2. Medium Channel ( 60m wide, 30m long )

• Gang & Steal ( attacker has to be wrapped up by 2 defenders then go to ground, another defender has to bridge over the ball while the 2 defenders try to steal it

     3. Large Channel ( 70m wide, 50m long )

• Offload touch Maul ( trying to offload the ball, otherwise creating a 3 man maul for 3 seconds and then playing again )

As a S&C coach it hurts being called all the names under the sun, but you get use to it.

But you are normally the first person the guys thank when they start their games and feel like after the 80min, they still have more in the tank while the opposition are blowing out their arses…

Fitness and power are the main 2 components I have always focused on and has stood me and my teams in good stead

I’ll try and give you guys some more ideas as pre season goes by…

But in the mean time, if you want to get training on the same program as these guys, why don’t you check out my  RUGBY FIT MONTHLY  program

CLICK HERE

Train hard and chat soon