notice this.

“It’s okay if you don’t understand.” He therefore responded. “Once we start to practice the drills you will see what is going on and you will learn from there.” He then continued on almost immediately: “Now the positions for the forwards are the two props, hooker, two second rowers, two flankers and the number 8. The props are the strongest men in the side and provide the brunt of the oppositions’ driving in the scrum, but also have the responsibility of lifting players in the lineout. The hookers throw the ball in at the lineout, hook the ball back in the scrum, and push and drive for possession when rucking and mauling. The second rowers are the key ball receivers at the lineout and must assist in pushing and contesting in the scrums; but also need to be athletic and fit enough to get around the field and gain extra metres when running with the ball. The flankers; also one of the fittest players on the field; are the key defenders and attackers and must be able to think fast as they contest the ball at every breakdown and set their side up in attack. And finally, the number 8 has the task of distributing the ball from the breakdown to his fellow players, a bit like the scrum-half, but also to gain those extra few metres when running with the ball.”

As Caleb was educating the forwards, Alistor was doing the same with the backs:

“As backs you are mainly focusing on the set plays. Once the forwards have gone down in the ruck and have retained possession of the ball, the scrum-half will be there to pick up the ball and pass it on to the fly-half, where the plays will then begin. This is when, before the ball is recycled from the ruck or maul, you must line and set yourselves up into your positions for the set plays. Then as soon as the ball is passed out from the ruck, you all run and move in the direction that each individual play directs you to. The idea of the set plays is to make every move possible to break the defensive line of the opposing team so you can gain distance and score the try. Sometimes most phases of play are going to consist of short runs by the forwards, or ‘pick-and-go’ style offense, to gain those small extra metres and keep possession of the ball at the breakdown; but then the backs will be ready to execute the set plays once the forwards give them time to set up and communicate with each other on what needs to be done. You must also have a strong kicking game when punting the ball for touch or kicking offensively with high, chip or grubber kicks; and the place-kicking and drop-kicking is extra important when aiming for goal as the additional 3 points for the penalty and drop goal and 2 points for the try conversion on top of the 5 points for tries can make the difference between victory and defeat. I also expect each of you to be able to hit, tackle and defend strongly to assist the forwards in preventing the opposition from advancing on your own try line. That also means you will additionally have to push and drive in the ruck when the forwards are unable to bind in time or they need assistance in clearing the opposition from stealing the ball. So your defensive game will need to be strong if you want to make a positive difference to the scoreboard.”

This is more scientific than I first thought. Scratchy thought. Who do they think we are? College honours students. But it kind of seemed that way to him since they were playing at college division. Oh, well; I guess it fits well.

“This may all sound complex and maybe a little scientific,” Alistor continued, seemingly reading Scratchy’s mind; much to Scratchy’s surprise; “but once we start to practice you will understand what needs to be done.” He then continued on with the individual positions: “Now the positions in the backs are the scrum-half, fly-half, two wingers, inside centre, outside centre, and the full back. The scrum-half distributes the ball from the set-pieces and breakdowns; but is also fast when passing and running with the ball, especially when picking defensive gaps to run through. The fly-half is considered to be the quarterback of rugby and is responsible for making decisions for his outside players when executing the game plan; so he is the one who directs operations; but must also have an accurate drop-kicking and usually place-kicking game. The wingers are the fastest men on the field and they are expected to gain the big metres when running with the ball to finish off the plays and then score the tries. The inside centre is like the second fly-half; and when he receives the ball he will have less time with it and will often take it into contact when charging for the line or pass quickly to the outside centre or surrounding players. The outside centre is the faster of the two centres and he will aim to break the line and use the space created by the inside centre; but he will also need large muscle build to break the line and be a fearsome defender. And the full back is the last line of defense who must also be fearless when defending to tackle the opposing players who have broken the defensive line; but must also be strong and fast-moving when attacking; and over the years many of the great goal-kickers have made their living from this position.” 

There was a lot of talk between the two sub-coaches, but after the basics of the forwards and backs were interpreted, they started their practical field work.

The forwards started on the scrum machine (one group of eight started first while the others were told to wait on the side and observe and study before their turn) and bound together in a pack of eight to get ready to engage into the side pads and push and drive the machine back, but they first had to learn the pre-binding calls by the referee of ‘crouch…touch…pause…engage!’ to avoid possible neck breakage or illegal early binding. Once they engaged into the pads they pushed hard to force the machine back and gain power and possession. They were first tested on their power before Caleb threw in a ball for them to hook with their boots to get the ball to the back of the scrum while pushing at the same time. The idea was to win possession of the ball at their own scrum feed and start the set plays once the ball was recycled from the scrum.

Then after several attempts the second group was brought in to have their turn while the first group stayed back to observe. Mooch and Scamp were apart of group two and they went for their preferred positions; Mooch at prop and Scamp at second row; for which they told Caleb and he let them do it on the condition that they would be put into other positions if they did not perform to the standards of their selected positions.

Luckily, as they scrummaged, Mooch managed to push the machine with incredible force and control, while Scamp provided additional pushing power behind him. This gave the scrum pack the leverage and power to overcome the weight of the machine.

Both teams of forwards took two turns each to scrummage before they moved on to undertake lineout work. Here, Mooch was marked as the lifter along with the other prop in his group and Scamp was the middle jumper, or liftee at the middle and back of the lineout. The other second rower was the front jumper and he took the ball from the hooker’s throw from the front of the lineout. Mooch was very strong and he was able to lift Scamp and the front jumper very high so they could get a good reach of the ball. Scamp became good at leaning over in the middle gap of the lineout to catch the ball; and once he got it, he would always throw it to Caleb; the acting scrum-half; either before he hit the ground or when he just hit the ground; so that when the scrum-half got the ball, he could pass it to the backs and begin the set plays. The front jumper would either do the same or hold it and turn back towards his teammates once he landed so that they could form the maul (similar to a scrum) and drive forward to gain metres while slowly moving the ball to the back of the maul at the same time; and once the ball was out, the next phase of play could begin.

The hookers also made calls before throwing the ball in at the lineout to let the forwards know where they would be moving before the throw, where in the lineout the ball would be going, and who would be lifted to take the ball.

Both of the two teams of forwards managed to succeed in both the scrums and lineouts without too many errors or mistakes, so in quick time everyone knew their responsibilities and what exactly to do.

At the same time on the other side of the field, Alistor was running through the set plays with the two groups of backs. One group was performing the plays and the other was acting as the defensive opposition. The idea was for each of the players to mark and follow their man who they were defending and attempt to semi-tackle them when they got close. This was all practice for defense. So both teams of backs were performing turns of offense and defense in the same sets of plays.

During the offensive set plays, the scrum half would start with the ball and the fly-half, centres, wingers and full back would line up vertically and then run forwards once the scrum half signaled the start of the set play by passing to the fly-half, who would then, while the play was in motion, pass the ball onto his fellow backs or even run himself; depending on which play they were executing. Each individual set play would be practiced several times over.

When Tramp, Scratchy and Sparky got their turn to run the set plays, Scratchy started at scrum-half, Tramp at inside centre, and Sparky on the wing. Scratchy