Mbabane: Following the limited easing of Covid-19 restrictions that included allowing rugby to be played but only for only 7s, not 15s, the Eswatini Rugby Union (ERU) has identified an opportunity to launch its Four-Year Development Plan.
As part of that plan, the ERU has identified the need to develop the quality and quantity of rugby played in Eswatini and focus is initially being placed on 7s – not to the exclusion of 15s.
Steve Reynolds, the Head of Development of ERU said the plan strives to build a strong rugby skills base in the playing, coaching, officiating, and administration of the game and to grow the development and abilities of players, coaches, match officials, and clubs. This will naturally lead to a strong and skillful National side that will be able to compete with the leading nations in Africa.
He went on to say, as the first step in the implementation of the development plan, a series of workshops are to be held regularly to ensure that forward movement is made and that the aims and objectives of the union are beginning to be met.
Reynolds said the three initial workshops will be an introduction to:
- Coaching philosophy and methodology
- Coaching individual skills for 7s
- Philosophy of 7s
- Requirements for 7s
- Fitness and conditioning for 7s
Workshop 1
This will be an introduction to the basics of coaching, individual skills, and the game of 7s.
- Coaching philosophy and methodology – attributes of a coach, coaching models, requirements of a coach, how to coach, planning a season & training season, evaluation and code of conduct
- Coaching individual playing skills for 7s – highlighting the key factors of the core playing skills (focussing on handling and running), common errors, and their correction
- 7s philosophy and strategy – principles for how to play 7s, the introduction of the basic strategy and tactics of 7s in attack and defence, and patterns of play
- Strength and conditioning (S&C) requirements for playing 7s – running, introduction to SAQ, and fitness exercises/programmes
Workshop 2
Builds on the strands of workshop 1 and looks at each of the areas in greater detail, the continued development of individual skills but will concentrate specifically on the ‘how to play 7s’ component.
Workshop 3
Continues the development of individual skills and the expansion of the philosophy of how to play 7s but will look at the S&C demands and requirements of 7s play concerning the core skills and tactics covered in the previous workshops.
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