Result- a miss tackle and can lead to giving points to the opposition and in extreme cases losing the game.
Professional comparison – Matthew Rees
Matthew Rees plays hooker at the Scarlett’s rugby team.
Whilst playing the harlequins he is stationary on the defensive line waiting for the opponent to run with the ball. As the player approaches Rees lowers his body position by flexion of the knee joint. By straightening his back, contracting his Lattisimus Dorsi and Trapezii and lowering his torso 50 degrees he creates a perfect body position. Providing this angle gives him the opportunity to tackle greatly, as his angle is set; enabling the weight of the tackle to be transferred to his legs and the ability to drive upwards into the opponent’s torso lifting him off his feet and preventing any more forward motion. At the same time his arms adduct and he creates a tight bind around the opponent giving him better leverage to hold the player.
Area of assessment 2 – Defence- Maintaining the ball in a ruck.
Self Analysis
My main areas of weakness in maintaining the ball in a ruck are; good foot and leg position and foot controll.
Preparation- preparing to engage a ruck; I keep a low body position enabling a good angle of aproach however a lack of hip abduction around a sagital axis does not provide me with a good base to transfer my body weight and the impact weight of opponents contesting in the ruck. This leads to the execution on which the ball is meant to be controlled by my legs trying to keep it steady for the scrum half to pick it up to deliver to a team member. My weakness prevents this from happenening due to lack of abduction in my hip joints the gap between my legs and feet is too narrow. Often in a game situation the scrum half has to tap my feet or communicate to tell me the problem which I then correct rather than doing it properly the first time. Not having the right position in my legs can effect my resistance to impact aswell; wide legs with a eccentric contraction of the quadriceps gives a firm base and is used in many moves in rugby. Not having this prevents weight transfer and lack of foot controll.
Result- all this leads to the ball being maintained in the ruck but not actually being possessed by any team as the ball cannot go past my legs and lack of stabilty.
Professional - James Haskell
James haskell – Englands’ flanker- Six Nations – England Vs Ireland. A ruck near the trie line is formed. James haskell shows perfect technique in his rucking and maintains the ball and defends it from falling into the oppositions hands. He does this by have a great body angle of 50 degrees so that his shoulders are just above his hips. Rotation of the shoulder/arm around a saggital axis enables binding for greater rucking power. Abduction of both hip joints enables his legs to be wide and flexion at the knee joint along with eccentric contractions of the quadriceps offer a stable position which will be hard for the opposition to move. Aswell as a sturdy base abduction at the hip joint allows enough space for the ball to be maintained and retrieved safely and executed well.
Resulting in a well defended ruck and leading to greater possession thus better chances of scoring a trie.
