David Woolley - Touch Rugby: Everything You Need to Play and Coach

Note

While every effort has been made to ensure that the content of this book is as technically accurate and as sound as possible, neither the author nor the publishers can accept responsibility for any injury or loss sustained as a result of the use of this material.

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

50 Bedford Square

London wc1b 3dp

www.bloomsbury.com

Bloomsbury is a trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First edition 2014

This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Copyright 2014 David Woolley

Isbn (print): 978-1-4729-0242-9

Isbn (ePdf): 978-1-4729-0243-6

Isbn (epub): 978-1-4729-0244-3

All rights reserved You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

David Woolley has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

A cip catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Acknowledgements

Cover and inside photographs Grant Pritchard, with the exception of the initial photos for Nicholas Rjabow/Shutterstock. Illustrations from original cut-outs by David Gardner

Commissioned by Kirsty Schaper

To find out more about our authors and their books please visit www.bloomsbury.com where you will find extracts, author interviews and details of forthcoming events, and to be the first to hear about latest releases and special offers, sign up for our newsletters here.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

Touch rugby is a game anyone can play. With contact removed and therefore the possibility of running through the opposition by virtue of force the focus of the game is passing, catching and lines of running, moving defenders out of position so that the attacking side can score. In the UK any form of rugby where a touch takes the place of a tackle has often been called touch by those who have played it, leading to wide variations in the playing rules adopted at schools and rugby clubs across the country. It takes some people by surprise to learn that touch is not simply a rugby derivative with many forms but a codified, global sport governed by the Federation of International Touch (FIT) and with a large and growing player base. The 2010 Australian Sport Commissions survey Participation in Exercise, Recreation and Sport placed touch in the top ten organised physical activities in the country, with a 15 per cent increase in participation since 2001. It is touch as codified by FIT that is played at the quadrennial Touch World Cups; the biannual European and Home Nations Championships; and in domestic leagues across the world.

Touch rugby has specific rules regarding the number of players (six on the field at any one time); the number of touches available to a side (following the sixth touch in a set of possession the ball is given to the defensive team for their attacking set of six touches); the play-the-ball following a touch (ball to be placed on the floor within one stride of where the touch was effected with the hips passing over the ball parallel to the score-lines); and defence (following a touch the defensive team must retreat five metres before they can legally influence play). There is no kicking in touch. Official touch competitions have womens, mens and mixed grades (where at least three players on the field of play must be female) at Open and Senior categories.

FIT works with national organisations such as the England Touch Association (ETA) to run training and qualification courses for players, coaches and referees to enable the global growth of a rationalised sport to provide development pathways in the womens, mens and mixed divisions. These range from social participation all the way up to international level. I have been involved with international touch since 2006, playing in four European Championships and two World Cups; as a coach I led the England Mens Open side at two European Championships and the 2011 World Cup. As the ETAs Head of Elite Coaching I coordinated Englands international and national level coaches in winning the 2012 European team championship and the 2013 Home Nations team championship.

The aims of this book are threefold. First, to encourage informed involvement in touch at a participation level; it is a fun sport that develops health and fitness in an enjoyable environment where gender and age are not of primary importance. Second, to provide coaches and players of contact-based rugby with an understanding of touch. This may lead to their further involvement in the sport, but at the very least the skills and drills outlined here can be incorporated into contact-based rugby training. Touchs emphasis on core skills performed at speed; the requirement to exploit space with the ball in hand; and the necessity for players to run the correct channel in attack makes it the perfect training ground for refining effective attack skills. Without contact, players have to work harder to create openings in a defence through which to score; simply put, playing touch makes people better at contact-based rugby. Benji Marshall and Shaun Johnson represented New Zealand in touch before playing international rugby league and Drumayne Dayberg-Muir captained Australia at the 2007 Touch World Cup before going on to represent Australia on the IRB sevens circuit. At an international level, Australia and New Zealand are the top two touch nations. It is surely no coincidence that they also have an outstanding record in producing individuals and teams with world-leading ball-handling ability within contact rugby; after all, their player pool has a background in competition-honed attack skills where size is not the primary consideration.

Third, this book provides guidance, advice and insight to players and coaches for whom touch is their primary sport. For those who are less experienced, the early sections deal with foundational skills and principles around which the sport is based. The later chapters aim to provide some approaches to tactical game management and patterns of play that can be used as they are articulated here but that will ideally form a sounding board for coaches and players to formulate and refine their own ideas and approaches as they consider, debate and critique them. This is the book I wish had been available when I first started playing touch.

GETTING STARTED SIMPLIFIED PLAYING RULES

The following is a basic summary of the rules of touch. While more technical aspects of certain rules are discussed in later chapters, this outline should enable players and coaches totally new to the sport to play the game in essentially the same fashion as the final of an international tournament.