Defense Coaching - Keeping on top at the top

Defence Coaching – Keeping on top at the top

Everybody loves a try. Well perhaps not everybody. With record scorelines and tries scored in the Aviva Premiership, defence coaches up and down the country are having their methods examined as to which is the most effective.

“The goal of defence is to get the ball back,” says Paul Gustard, Saracens defence and forwards coach. “Everyone wants the ball to attack so to get the ball back you have to have a decent defence.”

Gustard continues, “I think a lot of defences these days are a lot more offensive and a lot more aggressive. There's been a big transition away from traditional 'drift' or 'up-and-out' style defence to more aggressive, line speed oriented blitz defence, channel defence – whatever variation that you coach.”

One mention of the blitz defence and many will think of Shaun Edwards, the former defence coach at Wasps who perfected this style during their winning of three Premiership titles and two Heineken Cups. The club continue to use an ex-rugby league player as their defence coach, former scrum half Brad Davis but where Edwards was keen on one particular formula, Davis sees it as more about giving choice to his players.

Davis says, “The aim of defence is to disrupt the flow of the opposition, to psychologically damage the opposition with pressure and to show your unity as a fifteen. Everything I look to do is to empower the guys within our shape, to make good decisions and frustrate and damage the opposition.”

With rhetoric such as 'aggressive' and 'damage' coming from today's defence coaches, Gustard's comments about leaving a 'traditional' style seem accurate. So if there is a transition, this suggests that there could be fashions of defence that come and go.

Davis says, “I think there are fashions and there are styles. For me, I'm a decision making defence coach. I provide scenarios for our players out on the rugby field that they could be faced with in the game and hopefully equip them with the right tools so they can handle those situations. Obviously line speed and pressure at the right times is a really effective tool, as is reading decision-making off a pass. Understanding that you've got eighty metres to play with and you've got a six on three overlap, you probably dont need to blitz. You probably need to use a soft drift, as it was back in the day and give up a bit of yardage to keep your shape. I think principles rather than systems is key to everything.”

Today's defence coaches then must arm their players with the tools but they must also stay on top of the new thinking so as not to get left behind or caught out by other potentially more progressive coaching.

Gustard remarks, “I'm a rugby nause. I watch a lot of rugby to try and see where things are going, to see what we can learn from each other. But I can also see things developing in front of my own eyes with my own group and that's a key factor. Your players at your club are a different set of players to those at another club – so you've got to factor into your own working group about how and what is the most effective way to defend.”

As much as defence coaches must keep to date with what others may be doing, they must also maintain a firm, if not stubborn dedication to implement their own ideas. Where Gustard says, “We're here to educate not entertain,” there is a similar response from Brad Davis. He says, “If you have 100% belief in what you're doing and you think that's the way forward, as I do, you stay with your key principles.”

Davis continues, “Obviously, the way you do things can be changed if you look at other leading clubs and you're seeing them get a bit of success, so you're always adaptable. For my players it's about being intelligent, adaptable and executing at a high level when your heart rate is at 220bpm, thinking clearly under pressure and ultimately to enjoy what we're doing and hopefully we keep moving forwards.”