Rugby Skills, Tactics and Rules - Softcover

Gordon Hunter has 25 years of rugby coaching experience, including several championship teams in New Zealand. He is currently the coach of the Auckland Blues, two-time winners of the Super 12, one of the world's toughest rugby's competitions.

Tony Williams is an Auckland-based best-selling author. Of the more than 20 books he has written, 13 are rugby titles, including two children's series of player biographies and team histories.

Introduction

THE GAME FOR ALL

Pictured on the cover of this book is one of the most exciting rugby players in the world -- All Black Dan Carter. When Dan was a boy his parents got fed up with him kicking the rugby ball on to their roof, so they built him a set of rugby posts at the bottom of the yard, and there he would practice hour after hour.

As talented as Dan Carter is, it is learning the techniques and practicing them over and over that made him a skilled rugby player. (A technique is simply a way of doing something that works.) How these techniques are put to use in a team situation is called tactics. But that's not enough: you also have to know the laws. Rugby is a simple game, but the laws can be complex. The key to success and enjoyment in rugby is to master the skills, know the laws and use the best tactics for the situation.

Rugby Skills, Tactics and Rules simplifies the game so that a child of about 10 can understand it, but it also offers a broader knowledge for more experienced players and coaches. It begins with an explanation of the individual skills -- from the most basic through to the specialized -- followed by unit and team skills, moves and strategies, each layered one on top of the other. Toward the back of the book is a plain-language guide to the rules of rugby and a glossary, so that rugby terms can be clearly understood. Every time you struggle to understand, make a long kick to the glossary and clear up the meaning of that unfamiliar rugby term!

Read this book, reread it, watch, learn and practice. Rugby is the game with the most rules because it actually has the most freedoms. It allows you to express yourself in so many ways, such as kicking and passing the ball, tackling, pushing, pulling and getting muddy. Unlike most sports, you can use every part of your body, and there is no feeling in the world like running with the ball in open space, the opposition chasing after you, the goal line getting closer and closer.

Rugby Skills, Tactics and Rules gives you the basis of how to play rugby. After that it is up to players and coaches to be innovative and come up with new tricks and moves and, above all, to have fun!