PLAY THE FLUTE!
The Greek Philosopher Aristotle when talking about things that were innate or learned through practise, said that if you want to improve your ability to play the flute, you have to play the flute. Rugby contains a range​ of skills and abilities, and to improve the performance of these skills and application of these abilities, they must by practised in game-like situations. Each training session is an opportunity to allow your players to experience game situations repeatedly with feedback, and this develops their decision making skills which allows them to better perform in actual games. So don't waste your limited time with activities that are not specific to game situations.
PHILOSOPHY
MODERN DEFENCE
Defence needs to be worked on both individually and as a team, or mini unit within a team. All players have strengths and weaknesses on defence and the trick is to maximise the strengths and dimish the weaknesses. Start with the individual, improve technique, build confidence. There will always be opponents who have some sort of athletic advantage be it strength, speed or agility and for some players this disadvantage will require assistance from teammates. Acknowledge this, deal with it and you will have a confident team that defends consistently well.
GAME PLANNING
Just as there is no point having a great goal kicker if you can't score tries, having the best athletes in your back-line will not lead to success unless they have a platform laid for them. A winning team uses its strengths more often than the other team, and a winning game plan is about identifying those strengths and making them work for you as often as possible. It is my belief that Game plans should be flexible, with an in built number of options, so that if plan A isn't bringing success you can change to plan B or C or a new game specific plan that is a mixture of your original plans.
RUGBY FITNESS
Just as it is all too easy to waste valuable training time with activities are not actually improving your players skills, it is even easier to waste time with 'fitness' activities that don't make your players fit to play. If your game-like training activities are done correctly your players will become fit to play games. If club training is limited to a few sessions per week your players should be doing some other forms of training elsewhere. But remind them they are rugby players, not endurance athletes nor sprinters and not power lifters either. Programmes can be tailored for individuals
MODERN ATTACK​
Attack and defence are like an Arms race, or a prey versus predator situation. Too many coaches skip the simple stuff and jump straight to the more elaborate, and over complicated. Get your players to use their athletic advantages, let the timing of the pass create space to maximise these advantages. Develop simple plays with several options, get your players to look for cues that indicate which is the best option to use, and be able consistently execute the right option.
