Guide to Properly " Pass " in rugby.

This is my fourth guide written about rugby. These guides will be used in my UE apllication. Feel free to PM me for tips, If there are any mistakes please let me know and your feedback on my guides would be greatly appreciated.

Let us be honest. Good, accurate passing is critical to the success of a team. It's simple really: The ball will beat the man every time-- the ball can go through the air quicker than even the quickest of players can run and one of the fundamental aims of rugby is to create space and get to areas of the ground where the defenders are the thinnest, and that leads to tries. Be careful of the weight--the speed-- of the pass: Too hard and a player may be caught unaware; too soft and it could put the receiver under pressure or, even worse, cause him to be intercepted. The more a player develops his passing, the better the chances of creating that extra space and time and the better the chances of scoring tries-- isn't that the goal of every team?​

There are two basic types of pass: short and Long. For the short pass, the hands should be on either side of the ball a little bit back from the middle and the thumbs spread. The ball should sit nicely in the palm; three or four centimeteres from the heel of the hand follow through when the ball is released, with the hands going towards the target. When recieveing a pass, have the hands in the position ready to receive so the ball can be passed on that much quicker. Some experts say you've got to open up your hips to pass, but the natural arc when passing is straight across, and your hips will naturally follow when following through. Some text books will say you've got to be careful where your feet are when you're passing but you'll find the natural balance dictates where your feet go anyway, and it is important when passing, as with most things, just to let the instinct take over rather then get bogged down trying to learn and recall a whole series of commands and whatnot.

For the longer pass, one hand becomes the dominant hand. If you're passing to the right all the control comes from the left hand and that's reversed if you're passing to the left. It shouldn’t matter whether you are a natural right or left-hander--again, practise will make perfect. Passing to the right, the left hand does most of the work and the right hand is mainly there for balance. The top hand-- the worker hand-- is at the base of the ball and you should use the fingers and wrist to impart spin on the ball to ensure both speed and accuracy. Again, it's important to follow through with both hands heading in the direction of the target. The head should be ideally balanced over the ball for greater accuracy, but as we all know, optimum conditions don't always apply in rugby.​

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