Maintain discipline, Ryan says ahead of this weekend’s Fiji Bitter Marist 7s
Vodafone Fiji 7s Team Training in Wellington by ZoomFiji
Discipline in sports is crucial. Discipline to eat right, train well and behave as a role model. It is also vital to be disciplined as rugby players to perform on the field in the right manner and as coaches to work hard and teaching all your players the right techniques. Over the last eighteen months living in Fiji and watching lots of tournaments and games here, there are some areas we all need to be really aware of and look to improve on and off the field.
On the field:
- Tackles without using arms and high tackles.
I see a lot of tackles that are not properly executed. Its not just about the hit – you need to get closer to the attacker, wrap your shoulders around the ball carrier and “lock him in.” The tackle just using shoulders and no arms is dangerous to both the tackler and tackled player. Ive seen the tackler get hurt more times than the player he is tackling because of this poor technique. Really work hard on making good technical tackles.
- Late tackles as the ball has been past.
This is on an increase and I have to work hard on taking it out of their game at national level. Should certainly be a yellow card offence. Tackling someone after they have passed the ball is pointless for two reasons:
- A) The ball has gone and the tackle illegal, dangerous and doesn’t help you.
- B) If the ball has already been passed then you as a defender are needed by your team to defend the ball. Making a late tackle after ball has gone just leaves a hole in your teams defense.
- Pushing, shoving, patting on heads etc and general lack of sportsmanship.
I know some of this is harmless but again, at international level this is going to hurt us. Penalty offence at first and warning of yellow cards subsequently. Play the game hard but play the game legally and in the best manner possible.
- Continued emphasis on punishment of spear tackles.
If you get your technique wrong then a spear tackle can occur and this is very dangerous.
As players, coaches and officials, our number one priority is player safety. We need to abide by the rules and improve our technique in defense. Fiji has the potential to be the best defensive team in world sevens but it starts in the schools and clubs making sure we get technique and discipline right.
I am really looking forward to seeing some amazing attack and defense this weekend – all full of the commitment that Fijian teams are so brilliant at. However, it should all be within the laws of the game and done in a good sporting manner.
Vinaka Vakalevu
Ben