Rugby - Openside Flanker Advice

[Hayeder]

Hi, I'm a 17 year old, 6ft Openside Flanker looking for any training tips or match tips anyone has. Thanks.

[BobisMighty]

read the official rugby thread

[tino124]

read the official rugby thread

I would be interested in hearing this as well. I really dont want to, nor do I have time to, sort through thousands of posts looking for this.

[Dom_88]

Some crude but useful advice I heard when I was younger; put your head by where the ball is at all possible times.

[mikdogireland]

Some crude but useful advice I heard when I was younger; put your head by where the ball is at all possible times.

^^^ey? dnt get it

get doing some explosive power workouts mate, you will need to do this as it will make you quicker off the mark, along with various techniques, eg truning players tackling etc, if you're really interested send me a pm, gota go for a run now, cnt type too much

[FatWombat]

Some crude but useful advice I heard when I was younger; put your head by where the ball is at all possible times.

Good advice if you fancy being kicked in the teeth a lot.

Seriously though, Open-side is my position, and I like to think it's the toughest position on the field (barring maybe hooker). It's also one of the least glorious. The key to playing well is cardiovascular fitness. As open-side you're expected to be the fittest player on the team.

On defence you're expected to be the first player to the action, constantly hassling the opposition and basically making as big a nuisance of yourself as possible. Slow down their ball at the breakdown as much as possible using any means possible. The black art of playing openside is quickly discovering how much this particular referee will allow you to get away with before penalising, and doing it without getting carded. Always look for opportunities to snaffle the opposition ball, or at-least slow down their recycling of the ball at the breakdown by getting hands on it, lying on it, or any other dirty cheating method you can think of. You might get a nice set of stud-marks for your trouble (although that is now illegal). If you do, wear them with pride.

On offence you're basically playing support. You're there to take the pop pass or offload from the bigger forwards crashing it up the middle, or you're the first forward there to protect the ball if it goes out to your backs. Learn to run good, hard lines off the shoulders of your number 8 and number 6.

Like every position in rugby, body-height is very important. You should be tackling low, driving low, hitting the rucks low. One of the most useful little bits of play to practise is performing a textbook low tackle and immediately swinging around onto your feet in order to immediately be in a position to grab at the ball.

During the scrum make you sure you get your legs out to the side and into the path of the opposition scrum-half as much as possible. Once the scrum starts wheeling, I've literally found myself in positions at a right-angle to the rest of the players just trying to annoy their scrummie. As always, you're there to make a nuisance of yourself and trying to disrupt the opposition receiving fast, clean ball. Break fast and head straight for their number 10 (even if you don't catch him, you'll put him under pressure). If they're number 8 is taking it off the base of the scrum he'll almost always go blind-side (which is part of the reason the blindside flanker is typically a bit bigger than the openside), if not you'll probably run straight into him anyway.

I could rant about it forever. But the number one requirement is cardio fitness. Work hard on that and you can't go too wrong. I'm sure you're aware that it's important for every position on the paddock, especially the forwards, but as the number 7 you're expected to be the fitness freak. Of course, strength is also important. It's not hopscotch after-all. But most important is your mental toughness and cardio fitness.

One little "tip" to getting selected is to wear something that stands out a bit. Some bright coloured headgear or shoes or something else. When a coach is looking to select an open-side he's basically looking for someone who is first to everything and involved in everything. Something that distinguishes you from the rest of the players will give the impression that you're popping up all over the field and are involved in every piece of play, which is what you want as an openside. As long as your bright coloured headgear isn't highlighting the fact that you spend most of your time sea-gulling out on the wing.

P.S. six feet is the perfect height for an open-side IMO. Try not to grow any more or they might make you play number 8, which is just an excuse for a big, sissy back or number 6 which is a position for 2nd rowers who wish they were mobile enough to play openside. *wink*

Only a couple of beers and I've almost written a novel here... hope it's some use

[BobisMighty]

Some crude but useful advice I heard when I was younger; put your head by where the ball is at all possible times.

Haha I get this. What Dom is saying is as a flanker always be attacking. That ball is yours and, by gods, your arse better be all over it. Thats how I play flanker.

well....that's how I think I play flanker.

[Harmsy]

Fatwombat has written some great advice here, hes completely right about openside being the most cardio intensive position. Not only do you have to follow that ball everywhere, you gotta be the first there aswell! So work on cardio most importantly, interval sprints are great for rugby specific fitness because its a very stop/start game.

[blindsideflank]

do you have a set workout routine?
do you do any speed work?
i found that cardio is number one but ive gained a lot of possesion from pure strength.
this position is really anti football(american) in that you cant do your 3 secs then sit around for thirty.
help us help you, tell us more about your training etc.
heres a tip, if you dont feel like your gonna puke then your not doin enough

[Kevin91]

bobismighty were you playing at brookdale park last saturday....i had a u19 game and after us there was a men's game of essex and another team i wasnt sure which. it says your from bloomfeild which is pretty close to there

[BobisMighty]

bobismighty were you playing at brookdale park last saturday....i had a u19 game and after us there was a men's game of essex and another team i wasnt sure which. it says your from bloomfeild which is pretty close to there

I play for montclair but I wasn't playing that saturday, I had an Alumni Game at Seton Hall that day. But yeah I normally play there for home games. You play with Essex Norsemen?

[Kevin91]

I play for montclair but I wasn't playing that saturday, I had an Alumni Game at Seton Hall that day. But yeah I normally play there for home games. You play with Essex Norsemen?

oh nice, nah i'm the hooker for st. peter's prep...we beat them 14-0

[monatu]

One little "tip" to getting selected is to wear something that stands out a bit. Some bright coloured headgear or shoes or something else. When a coach is looking to select an open-side he's basically looking for someone who is first to everything and involved in everything. Something that distinguishes you from the rest of the players will give the impression that you're popping up all over the field and are involved in every piece of play, which is what you want as an openside. As long as your bright coloured headgear isn't highlighting the fact that you spend most of your time sea-gulling out on the wing.

This is awesome advice. Just take note that once you start playing competition games you want to wear NOTHING that stands out. My school's 1st XV openside flanker (got selected for Rep football 1sts) got penalized so much at the start of the season because he wore bright orange headgear. A few weeks later he changed to blue/black headgear and you never even noticed him on the field (even though he did as much work). Just like why Schalk Burger plays with short hair now - he doesnt stand out as much.

[Hayeder]

where have all the other posts gone? here were quite a few - some of them really, really good

[monatu]

where have all the other posts gone? here were quite a few - some of them really, really good

check the other openside flanker thread on the first page of Sports forum

title is something about "size for openside flanker in rugby"

[Hayeder]

yeah that is my thread too lol