Scrumhalf Questions - Assessment

Scrumhalf Questions - Assessment

My Suggestions:
First, I want to stress that your job as SH is to communicate with the players around you. Receive important information and give information critical to the plays and to why certain decisions are being made. You're not expected to have all the answers, but you're expected to gather information to help make smart decisions. With that in mind, here is my perspective on the first set of questions -

Question: "Assessing the strengths and vulnerabilities of the other team with regard to our team. Can we kill them in the scrums or LOs -- or not? What do we do in either case?"
My Suggestions:

• If we're talking about assessing the other team and looking at the big picture, the first place to start would be the gameplan. Most coaches will put together a broad gameplan according to what they know of the opposing team and your strengths. These gameplans usually sound like "attack out wide with our wings", "attack with our centers", "use our fwds close to the breakdown", "test their back 3 with a lot of kicks", etc. This is the first step to testing the opposition, although this is really still just a theory and might change at halftime if it's not working.
• In terms of dominating scrums or line outs, some of this you should be able to see on your own but your pack leader and hooker should also be "keeping score" because set pieces are a huge part of the fwds game. You can certainly ask them how they're doing. More specifically:
• For scrums, the best indication of scrum success is messy or clean ball for the SH. If your ball is messy, the other team may be doing something to screw things up. Of course, if your scrum is going backwards or getting wheeled or the #8 has to pick it up a lot, it's a pretty good indication that their scrum may be stronger (or better organized). Same goes for your ability to control their scrum - if their SH is having a hard time with messy ball or they're going backwards and the #8 is picking it all the time, your team is doing a good job in the scrum.
  
• For line outs, it's less about generally killing them and more about finding out what will work against them (killing them here means winning all your ball and some of theirs). There are some rules of thumb that I would mention - if they have a dominant jumper (like Jen Crouse from Berkeley or Garnet Towne from Valkyries), throw it to the pod where she isn't lined up (sounds like common sense, but it's important to know going into the game). Also, the jumpers should know if they can "beat" their opposition, so you should ask them. The hooker should know how her throws are feeling, if it's windy or you get a few "not in straight" calls, consider sticking with the first pod. Pay close attention to what happens when you call the first drive - do you gain ground or are you stopped in place? Defensively, you may consider lifting at least a pod to try to contest the line out (but probably not when you're defending your 5 or 10 m line). Is the last person in the line leaving too early to kill the FH? You might have to fake a drive to keep them home for an extra second. These are things to factor in to your decision of which call to make. (Just an extra bit of advice - try to say the call as early as possible (as you're walking to the line) so you can move quickly and it has time to sink in).

Question: "Where is the space to attack? Are we making the gainline? How?"
My Suggestions:

• This "field vision" is difficult to develop and comes with experience. As a SH, it's tough to be able to read the field while you're finding and distributing the ball. That being said, the FH and FB should be able to see the bigger picture from their perspective. However, they will be most aware of how the backs are doing ( i.e. - their IC comes up early on defense and leaves a hole, or their FB has bricks for hands, or they're stopping our plays at the center with good defense). Making the gainline is something that you can see as the play develops. If you have to run backwards, you're not making the gainline. It's also good to ask your FH where she plans to attack off each set piece so you can communicate it to your fwds (if they're doing a 1-2 switch, you want your flankers to stay home for a second)
  
• However, in terms of attacking the space, your job as a SH is to determine when to attack with the fwds and where to attack at each breakdown (stong side vs. weak side) and who do you have behind you to help you with your attack. This is no easy feat because you've got your arm stuck halfway in the ruck diging for the ball and the other team is just waiting to clobber you. I would try to get in the habit of looking at the field as you're approaching the breakdown and just get a sense of where the defense is lining up. As you're running over to the next play, trust the fwds to protect and manage the ball for the first few seconds of the breakdown as you're getting there. You should also be talking to your FH asking where she wants to attack next. Then based on how the defense is aligned, you should decide if you should give it to the FH, attack with fwds, or try to attack yourself through a gap (make sure your fwds know to come with you when you do this!). This decision-making is one of the most challenging aspects of being a SH.
  

Question: "How many phases are in your mind (1-2-3) when putting the ball in a scrum of calling a lineout?"
My Suggestions:

• It's funny, but I've never asked myself this question. I always assume that we'll get stopped somewhere and we'll have a breakdown and just keep going until something is called, or we turn the ball over, or we score. There should be a desired pattern for certain plays - i.e. if the backs are going to crash with their IC, it should be a really quick breakdown and then spin it out wide to the wing. Or for back row plays, you should know what you'll try to do in 2nd phase (which direction, does it go to another fwds or to the FH). There should also be a few patterns for returning a kickoff - maybe you attack first with your fwds, then out to the backs or attack middle so you have options on either side. But most importantly of all, the patterns are just suggestions and you should always play what's in front of you. If the weak side opens up - always take it!

That's it for now! Stay tuned...