Rugby skills are learned playing junior rugby

Nice article, It's great to see some actual analysis and thought behind your opinion rather than the usual coach praise/criticism. The Wallibies will never have a problem fielding a great backline due to the number of transferable skills between League and Union, but the forwards are exposed to an unfathomably steep learning curve if this is typical of the experience earned in the juniors. Cheers

That's a novel idea. Playing for the sake of enjoyment! As a marketer I forget sometimes there is a world outside marketing...

I think we are in Violent Agreement on this issue

This link from the ARU site is all about coaching resources and how to get involved: http://www.rugby.com.au/community_rugby/coaching/coaching_-_landing_page,38593.html

Trevor. Yes, I agree with you re cultural and environmental influences i.e that of Australias prowess in Surfing and Swimming. I don't believe NZ should be any more adept at the oval ball disiplines than Aust. but perhaps they do place more status and emaphasis on these culturally than we do. We do live in an age where you can manufacture just about anything given capital and affluence Australia is hardly a Winter sporting mecca due to our environmental limitations in this respect, yet we are producing some very respectable world class skiers, especially in the tricks/aerial category. I don't believe Union is culturally integral to the Australian sporting psyche however and the divisions between codes are indeed ingrained, especially League and Union and this is quite understandable given the colonial beginnings and history of this country compared to that of NZ. We are very different countries culturally really, when you scratch the surface. Cheers.

Interesting point - this mirrors what someone said here a while ago(Yikes I think) that ARU research had shown that one of the barriers to kids participation/continuing was the standard of coaching so the emphasis was on develeoping the coaches, which makes sense - it continues to surprise me that some top level players lack certain skills that you would think were fairly rudimentary for their position - i.e. backs who can't kick, and the poor passing of some players - surely somewhere along the way this should have been identified and worked on? When you hear of an international player being talked of having developed their passing in the last year or so it makes you wonder. I am assuming that Tony Smith is the RL coach who I think is based in England? This raises the point about cross skilling by learning from coaches from other sports - not just looking at defence from RL coaches but looking at some of the ball skills that they coach and how these could be equally utilised in rugby. Same with kicking skills from AFL coaches, and perhaps catching restarts! Regardless of the sport and whether you like it or not often there are skills or aspects of their coaching of those skills that could prove adaptable, as suggested with Billo's story about the England player.

hog A bit like an Ozzie in NZ trying to introduce Australian Footy. I believe NZ has for along time displayed a bias towards Union to the extent of being a sporting monoculture. The code of Union has traditionally defined NZ'ers culturally however this seems to be changing of late. I know in respect of our great game, many in NZ take great exception to it being branded 'Australian' which is a reason for them to not embrace it, however the code is starting to develop throughout the school system in NZ, due in the main to an increasing Australian diaspora. I would not be surprised to see the indig code dominate the NZ footy landscape within the next 15years. A big call yes but look at Soccer, it has certainly started to take on across the ditch - to be sure. Cheers

it still is the most simple yet effective marketing campaign in ARU history!

i 2nd this. We were in the middle of Sydney (Castle Hill) and we had 3 grounds.. most schools have 2 +. FFS - Kings have 20 !

I was fortunate to go to school in NZ until I was 12 and then was moved to Sydney with my parents and continued my schooling here. There was a huge difference in attitude towards sports. Some classmates in Australia were faking injuries to get out of thursday afternoon sport when in NZ it was considered the best part of the day to get outside and kick a ball around. In NZ, it was almost every afternoon. In Australia, it was Thursday afternoons for 90 minutes and then up to you if you wanted to play inter-school after hours. In NZ at School, I played Hockey, Basketball, Football (Soccer), T-Ball and Cricket. Every kid played 6 sports. In Australia I was quickly emersed in Indoor Cricket (NSW Captain u/17's) Cricket and Soccer (later changing to League of which I represented as well NSWCCC). But I believe my love of sport came from NZ. My early years. Schools had fundamental differences in their approach to sport and students just wanted it more in NZ. Administrators need to get this going at age 4-7 and make sport a larger part of the young students development. It needs to be on offer and they need to be encorouged to try all sports. Not just the particular schools favorite.

Thanks Even. Good idea

Geez, kid, the things you remember!!! :-) I have no memory of this. Sounds like great fun! I look forward to seeing it on your DVD.

great article and really enjoyed the discussions as someone that grew up in nz and moved to melb i,m amazed at the lack of any sort of knowledge of sports outside of the afl yet the crowds they get to certain events defies logic, seriously i,ve got more chance of introducing aliens to the local high school than starting up a rugby team, i know its a bit of the subject but for rugby to grow down here its so important to introduce the sport to the natives at a local level if we don,t we will still be having the same discussion in 30 years time regards growing the game outside of the traditional areas

Republican. I think NZ has a sporting culture that develops good oval ball players regardless of the code. In the same way that Australia has always developed more great world class surfers than almost any other country outside of maybe the US. I really think it is a cultural or 'ethos' thing developed through a real focus on the sport of choice. This culture is how the Crusaders create a winning culture regardless of who plays for them. Obviously I don't have any proof of that and it is my observation after living in both countries for extended periods. I also think it is important to note that NZ have a stronger league game as a result of their association with Australia - and vice verse in Union. What I do find very interesting though is kiwis don't seem to have the same prejudices regarding the codes. Meaning as a Kiwi you might be a major Union fan who likes or even loves watching the league. Or you might be a major league fan who will watch the ABs play or go the odd S15 game. In Australia their is often an absolute dislike between the followers of these 2 codes. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule.

I disagree with the basic tenet of this article. For virtually any sport most of the basic skills are not learned by playing the game, but by understanding and practising the skills. Playing a game without being coached in the skills will only exacerbate bad habits, so that when you come up against a team that has been well coached you are hammered, no matter how many games you've played. I was talking to an England rugby international a couple of years ago after he had had a training session with Tony Smith, the brother of Brian Smith. He mentioned that Smith taught them basic things that they'd never thought about before, such as how to catch a ball, how to hold it in contact, and so on. They were things they had always taken for granted and never been taught. That mirrors my experience in schoolboy rugby. We played the game, but we weren't really taught to understand it. Good coaching at a young age is ultimately likely to make international success much easier.

Yeah I'll try it out I think, I want to get some of my vintage rugby games on hard drive - thanks :)

Trevor What is interesting about League is conversely the code is of minor status in NZ, population 4.5mill and yet they are on a par with Australia in this code these days. How does one fathom that?

We played footy every lunchtime of my entire school career or a variation like canadian force back or held or something

Ptovey1 I actually attended St Greg's. There was no way in hell any of our 1st grade could have qualified for academic scholarship.

rusty the schools in my area all had sufficient fields attached to them. just asked around as well and is the same where all my workmates grew up. not limited to sports high