Coaching the Tackle in Women's Rugby
Irish international Kathryn Dane is doing amazing work with tackling and women's rugby. Her latest is a survey looks at how coaches view contact training within the female game.
We specifically wanted to find out how women rugby players are being prepared for match tackle demands from the perspectives of a global sample of coaches, from all levels of competition.
This was after our recent work exploring players’ perceptions of tackle training.
We used a survey to capture the tackle training knowledge, attitudes and practices of coaches in Women's Rugby Union.
We disseminated the online survey through coaching mailing lists at Rugby Unions worldwide, and women's rugby social media channels, to try to get responses from coaches from all Rugby Unions worldwide, at all levels of competition.
To try to capture global coaching perspectives we had the survey professionally translated into different languages.
Headline findings
The headline findings can be summed up by Stephen West on his X post: “Knowledge and attitudes don't lead to intentions and practices, when the need for greater gender-specific education, infrastructure and physical development is present.”
We found that:
Coaches have a high awareness of the risk and burden of tackle-related injuries, and the importance of tackle coaching in training for mitigating this risk.
Prioritising tackler safety over tackler performance, coaches were receptive to implementing evidence-based (77%) and female-specific (70%) tackle training programmes.
Most coaches believed that:
They were confident coaching tackler technique and contact intensity in women's rugby.
Women and men don’t tackle the same way, but that women should be coached the same way as men.
Coaches should attend at least one tackle-specific course per season.
There should be a minimum standard of tackler proficiency for players to achieve before they play their first match.
When it came to tackle coaching knowledge: most coaches use their own playing experiences and informal/unstructured learning from other coaches to expand their knowledge of tackle safety and performance.
More than 75% of coaches have never completed a tackle-specific training course, with only 39% aware of the availability of such courses.
“More supports and infrastructures for women’s rugby” was ranked the second highest priority for improving tackle safety and performance in Women’s Rugby.
Sociocultural and training environment barriers were reported, including gendered sport socialisation, androcentric training customs, gender norms, lower training ages, limited access to expertise, pitch and gym facilities.
Coaches reported varied access to strength and conditioning support and pitch-side medical provision.
Female specific considerations
17% of coaches reported using female-specific approaches to tackle training. Technical, psychological and physical player considerations were cited by coaches:
Physical considerations:
Greater awareness of and adaptation to different strength and conditioning levels to men.
Greater focus on upper limb, neck and core strength, and modifications for ACL injury risks, hip stability and breast impacts
Psychological considerations:
The use of gender responsive coaching language, focus on the mental side of tackling and graduated exposure to contact to build confidence.
In relation to technical considerations, coaches made adaptations for differences in centre of gravity in women, players of different training ages and abilities.
Coaches reported the allocation of more time to tackle training to allow players to understand ‘the why’ behind drills and facilitate improved learning.
Coaches requested more education regarding optimal tackle training in women’s rugby. This specifically included areas surrounding injury prevention and tailoring tackle training to the anatomy, training needs and preferences of women.
How the tackle is currently coached
During pre-season coaches typically use tackle drills, contact conditioning and other contact fundamentals including ball-placement, body management and ground skills, wrestling, and judo principles.
Most coaches plan training sessions in advance, and follow a tackler training plan.
Tackle training typically focuses on front-on tackles and side-on tackles, predominantly using verbal instruction and demonstration. Coaches preferred using padded equipment such as tackle bags or shields rather than full- contact 1 vs. 1 tackling.
The reported time spent on controlled-contact and full-contact activities varied from 0 min to 40+ weekly minutes with coaches averaging 10–20 min per week for both controlled contact training (including contact prep) and full-contact training.
According to players, from my previous work, the tackle was practised proportionately less than other skills and, in some cases, women played their first rugby match before ever being tackled or making a tackle.
Participants described a dualism of constraining/empowering experiences of coaching that shaped their skill development and sense of preparedness for tackling.
Constraining experiences were characterised by judgements of coaching attitudes that prioritised performance over player safety, androcentric coaching norms and language, and limited exposure to tackling in training.
Empowering experiences included graduated, progressive tackle coaching that encouraged player input and accommodated diverse training needs, affording additional time to help players “understand the ‘why?’”.
Next steps and what coaches can do
Have a tackle training plan, incorporating technical, tactical, physical and psychological factors to shape tackle skill development.
Engage players in the planning and delivery of tackle training. Seek to understand who you are coaching. Ask the players what they think they want or need from contact training.
Take advantage of the learning opportunities- e.g., peer-learning, tackle clinics, online resources e.g., RFU Women and girls health and welfare resources, World Rugby’s contact confident, tackle ready resources.
Afford additional time for contact training each week to build confidence, incorporating both full-contact training drills and controlled contact training drills.
Coaches play a pivotal role in shaping tackle safety and performance in women’s rugby.
While coaches demonstrated a keen awareness of injury risks and a prioritisation of tackle safety, they exhibited disparities between intention and practice, with variability in the duration and types of contact activities.
A gap remains in translating sport science research into practice. Coaches are tasked with delivering tackle training to women rugby players with diverse training ages and needs, with minimal resources or support.
The training barriers, ranging from sociocultural factors to coach knowledge gaps, provide valuable insights for targeted interventions aimed at fostering safer and more effective training environments.
By engaging the expertise of players and coaches in the design of our research and tackle coaching resources, we can rethink how we best prepare women for match contact demands, improve implementation of recommended contact coaching practices.
We can move another step closer to provide safer, more fulfilling, and enjoyable contact participation and performance for women rugby players.
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"in some cases, women played their first rugby match before ever being tackled or making a tackle."
Speaking as a minirugby coach, this terrifies me. Just last week I sent a message to the parents of my P3 team to say that we are starting to build up to contact next season, establishing core skills like falling in a way that minimises injury, promoting balance etc. I will not allow any of my players to go on a field to play contact rugby until they have demonstrated competence in tackling. As I said to one of my fellow coaches, if a parent has a problem with that then a) they want their head examined and b) they can take it up with the academy director because I refuse to do it.