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By Coach Anthony St. Amant
The demands of rugby sevens cannot be overstated. It is an exhausting and comprehensive team contact sport that is as exciting as it is ruthless. This post will concentrate on one of the most important skillsets of sevens rugby, the catch pass. These skills are fundamental to success and tested rigorously throughout the day of a sevens tournament. A little bit about the game of sevens: Rugby sevens is played on the same sized field on which a fifteens match is played. In a game of fifteen-a-side rugby, there are added benefits which are not given in the game of sevens. For example, there are more players, and each person is responsible for covering less space on the pitch. Additionally, in the traditional fifteens game, kicking is a mainstay of advancing the ball down the field. In sevens, however, the main way to advance the ball down the field is not by kicking, but by running and keeping the ball in hand. Yes, there's more space to run into BUT longer, more difficult passes must be made, support lines are further away, and catch and pass skills are tested to the nth degree.
Catching and passing: Executing the skill of catching and passing, or transferring the ball, is crucial to attacking rugby. If you cannot accurately transfer the ball from one player to another you cannot move the ball to space. If a receiving player must stop or stutter step while waiting for the ball, the static nature of the attack then favors the defense. Therefore, for effective attacking rugby to occur, there must be accuracy and intention in a player’s pass to continue or initiate attacking rugby. From a defensive perspective, if the offense is sound in their catch pass and able to move the ball side-to-side AND with accuracy and pace onto the ball, it is difficult to defend, and defenders can only hope for an errant pass or mistake to occur to gain the advantage back. Executing the skill: Catching the ball must be done by holding the hand (or hands) in front of the body, palms to the passer and with fingers spread. The receivers’ eyes must maintain awareness of the ball all the way through the catch. We've all seen players, in rugby and other sports, take their eye off the ball too soon which results in an error. Next, the receiver must be able to transfer the ball quickly if necessary to the next attacking player. For the quick transfer of the ball to a player who is standing 10 or more meters away, the power of the pass must be generated from the backside hip (if passing to the left, the "backside" hip is the right side of the body). If in the catching action, the passer must readjust the ball, or "reload", the passer is taking up precious time and the defense is gaining an advantage, because the passer must readjust. The ideal catch and pass are executed within a step or two of the attacking player receiving the ball. For the execution of such an immediate action, the receiver must catch the ball like they want to pass it, maintain the power in their pass by catching the ball "early" or away from their body, then transfer the ball to the next attacking player moving the ball in one flat plane across their chest and finishing at a space in front of their moving target.
In conclusion, rugby is an exciting and flashy spectacle, but without doing the simple things correctly and with intention, it can be frustrating and painful to watch. For the team not able to execute a fundamental skill like catch pass, it can be a long day at the office.