DAVID ELLIS is a defence coaching consultant in both codes of rugby. After a playing career in Rugby League he became the defence coach of the French national rugby union team for eleven years from 2000, in which time France won the Six Nations Championship on five occasions. He then became the defence coach of the Tongan national rugby union team and was a coaching consultant at several leading clubs. In this article he writes about the importance of developing good defensive techniques from an early age.
AS A former, amateur, semi-pro, professional Rugby League player of the 70s, 80s and 90s that has just recently undergone a scan to check for any brain damage that occurred during those years, ‘hardcase or headcase’ is a question that I have been asking myself.
Studies that took place from January 1990 to October 2015 reported the number and incidence of concussion injuries and “concussion injury risk” in Rugby League matches and training activities.
• Amateur Rugby League players had a higher reported concussion injury rate during matches than professional and semi-professional participants.
• Amateur Rugby League players had the highest incidence of concussive injuries in matches (19.1 per 1000 match hours)
• Semi-professional players had the highest incidence of concussive injuries in training (3.1 per 1000 training hours).
• Semi-professional players had nearly a threefold greater “concussion injury risk” than amateur Rugby League players during matches.
• Semi-professional players also had nearly a 600-fold greater “concussion injury risk” than professional Rugby League players during training.
During my professional playing career any concussion injury risk was monitored reasonably well, but the same cannot be said of my semi-pro and amateur playing days.
As a semi-pro player, when you took a knock there was the kit man who would come onto the field with his bucket containing water and the infamous “magic sponge”, which was not a pleasant experience indeed.
As an amateur player it was just a case of get up and get on with it and “don’t be soft”!
Obviously and thankfully things have changed for the better with on-field concussion protocols put in place at all levels of the game, with assessments for return to the field and return to play after recovery.
But have things really changed?
After having a playing career for over 21 years, I am currently in my 31st year as a professional rugby coach, having worked at the highest levels of both codes of rugby.
I am currently coaching at different levels of rugby including schoolboys, students, amateurs, semi-pro and professional players, which gives me a very good perspective towards what is happening throughout the different stages of rugby development.
My major concern or fear is that we are only “papering over the cracks” when the damage has already been done.
Medical on-field assessments, pitch-side protocols, return to training, return to contact, return to play, are all very good initiatives, but they are all after-the-fact reactions.
I constantly see so-called world-class players that can only tackle with either their left or right shoulder and not both, and I see very young children being taught to tackle as the professional players do in the Super League games. Something is wrong, no?
In Rugby League we have still a lot to learn.
I have had the opportunity to travel the world with my work and have studied many sports in many different countries to see how they develop their players’ talent.
For example, I was in Australia studying Aussie Rules at Hawthorn Hawks and watching players that were capable of kicking the ball with either foot with equal ability, and in Canada watching the players of the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball team throwing and catching the ball with either hand with unbelievable speed and accuracy.
A prime example of this is in Rugby Union was Jonny Wilkinson, who was capable of dropping a goal from forty metres out with either foot, successfully, to win very important games.
In Rugby League, if we consider that each team has the possibility of a maximum of 20 sets of possession per half, each containing a possible 5-6 play the balls per set, therefore taking into consideration that there would be at least two tacklers involved, there could be up to 240 contacts, collisions, per half, per team, therefore approaching 1,000 per game.
Therefore, surely the major skill development of Rugby League for when teams don’t have possession of the ball should be the tackle.
When youngsters turn up at their local club for their first ever Rugby League training session the coaches will no doubt quickly assess whether they are quick, slow, big, small, skilful or not, but how many of these coaches ask the youngsters if they are right-handed or left-handed, or left footed or right footed, or a combination of both?
Probably not many, and why should they?
Because left-footers and right-handers, and right-footers and left-handers are “gold dust” as defenders!
These players need to be nurtured even if they are not skilful ball players, as they will be major assets further down the line. If they are coached correctly, they will become corner-stones of a team’s defence.
Well, how does all this concern concussion injuries and concussion injury risk in Rugby League?
Simply, it is the answer to the problem!
If these coaches would work on their young players’ defensive and tackling skills as much as they do on their kicking and ball skills, we would see a massive reduction in these injuries.
The great Jack Gibson, who was a good friend and mentor to me, stated that the most important and valuable coach at any club is the one that coaches the “young fellas”, because he is the one that gets them ready for you to polish later as their head coach.
He stated that Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny, Eric Grothe, Steve Ella and many others from his Paramatta days came to him already polished; he just made them shine brighter.
As coaches at whatever level of the game, but more importantly coaches working with the very young players, we need to get it right. We don’t need parents coaching the team just because their sons or daughters play, we need top quality coaches doing the job.
After all, we wouldn’t just let anybody teach our children at school, would we?
Almost all concussion injuries in Rugby League occur in the tackle, whether through legal or illegal play. Therefore the major focus should be on the specific skills contained in this action.
A programme of efficiency should be put in place so that all young players have to achieve a certain level of technical ability in order to allow them to play full-contact Rugby League. This programme should progressively include all types of tackling technique on both left and right shoulders until they attain a suitable standard. By doing this we will guarantee those young players’ future long-term health and safety.
Perhaps the results of my recent brain scan will be good news for me. After all, I learnt to
tackle at a very young age, and I was taught by a very good coach.
I am also left-footed and right-handed, so I was comfortable tackling with either shoulder.
Despite these factors, I still suffered many concussions during my playing career, several of which were quite serious. But fortunately to the present I have had no health problems or side effects from those injuries and hopefully that will continue for a long time.
Many of my friends and former team-mates have not been so lucky, because during the 1970s and 1980s Rugby League was a very different animal.
Fortunately many aspects of the game have changed for the better since then, so let’s hope that trend continues for the players of this great game in the future!