Blindside

Question
Hi,

I'm 23, 5'11" and around 88-91kg now and this season is my first season back after around four years or so of not playing rugby at all. I now do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which has helped with my tackling technique and other things. When I used to play rugby before I played as a Loosehead Prop. I played for my High School, Local Club and County Representative teams in England. I have flirted with many other positions as I've grown up but Prop has been the only consistent position second to No.8.

I'm now playing University Rugby at an inexperienced rugby University. I stated earlier in the year that I wanted to play Blindside Flanker in my team but had to fill in at No.8 very unsuccessfully because our No.8 was injured. I want to make the position mine.

Can you give me an overview of what you think a Blindside Flanker is?

Also, what you think I would need to do generally to make that position mine? Or what you think players need to be at to play fitness, strength and skill wise?

What 'onus' do you put on the Blindside especially to make sure they are doing? Big hits, consistent tackling, foragging at the rucks for example?

Cheers,

Rowan


Answer
Hi Rowan

I have posted a previously answered question below regarding Blindside Flanker. I can also suggest going through my previously answered questions, look at the subject headings to see answers on flanker, takling etc.

To make any position your you need to know the position well and execute the duties of that position consistantly and at a high standard. Get with your coach and ask for feed back on things you can improve on. Fitness and strength is your job, a blind side needs to be the fittest and in the top 10 fastest guys on the team. The ball skills and tacticle skills are things you need to work on at practice with a lot of communication wi th your coach.


Questioner:   alex
Category:  Rugby
Private:  Yes
 
Subject:  Blind side flanker
Question:  g'day,
Our season is starting this saturday and i'm playing blind side flanker. Do u have any tips on how i could prepare for the match and what i have to do at this position?

Cheers Alex
 
Answer:  Hi Alex, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Please review my old questions answered as well to help.

Blind side is made up of some simple tasks:

Defense:

On the scrum aim to harras the half back and 1st 5 as much as you can. Also your job is to make sure no set moves succeed down the "narrow" side of the scrum (blind side).

You need to put all the pressure you can on the opposition ball carrier and if he makes a mistake you need to be there to steal the ball off him.


Attack:
Support the backs as much as possible so that if they get tackled you are there to catch or strip the ball.

Work with the half back and number 8 for scrum moves down the blind side of the scrum and look to links up with the back line after the first phase of break down after a line out or scrum.

This link has some good stuff:

http://www.rugbycoach.com/club/player/no6.htm

and:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/rugby_union/rules/players/newsid_402800...

Below is some stuff from Wikipedia that was simple but useful:

The players with the fewest set responsibilities and therefore the position where the player should have all round attributes: speed, strength, fitness, tackling and handling skills. Flankers are always involved in the game, as they are the real ball winners in broken play, especially the no. 7. Because of their fewer responsibilities, flankers generally are not considered to 'lose' games, but can have such an influence that they can 'win' games. [neutrality disputed] Blindside flankers tend to be bigger (so they can stop the opposite number 8 off the back of scrums [citation needed]) than their partners on the openside who tend to be the smaller, quicker players.

In open play, flankers will often stand behind the back line 'supporting' them in open play. If any ball is dropped by the backs, the flankers job is to clear up messy ball and take it ito contact to start a fresh and new phase of play. Because they are always close to the ball, they are often first to the break down.

Flankers do less pushing in the scrum than the tight five, but need to be fast as their task is to break quickly and cover the opposing half-backs if the opponents win the scrum. At one time, flankers were allowed to break away from the scrum with the ball but this is no longer allowed and they must remain 'bound' to the scrum until the ball is out. Flankers also have to defend at the back of the scrum if the opposition wins the ball and the opposing number 8 decides to pick and go, a term used to describe the action where the number 8 picks up the ball from the back of the scrum and drives forward with it.

Flankers usually protect scrum-halves during scrummages from the opposing scrum-half following around and tackling him/her.

The two flankers do not usually bind to the scrum in a fixed position. Instead, the openside (occasionally known as the strong side) flanker will attach to the scrum on whichever side is further from the nearer touchline, while the blind-side (occasionally known as weak side or closed side) flanker attaches himself to the scrum on the side closer to the touchline.

Since most of the back play is usually on the open side, where there is more space, it is usually the openside flanker's job to be the first to any breakdown of play and to get his/her hands on any loose ball (or to cause a breakdown by tackling the ball carrier or otherwise harrying him into error). At a scrum where the ball has been won by the opposition, the openside flanker often has the best view of when the ball is out and is able to break away and close down the opposing ball-carrier, reducing the time available for a pass or kick. Openside flankers are often smaller, faster and more mobile than their blindside counterparts.

The blindside flanker has the job of stopping any move by the opponents on the blind (or 'narrow') side from a scrum. This flanker may not be as fast as the openside. Blindside flankers are often responsible for cover defence from set pieces and may play a more physical role at the line-out, where they may well be used as a jumper. They are generally larger than openside flankers.

Flankers are not always assigned specific roles as opensides and blindsides. For example, flankers Finlay Calder and John Jeffrey (Scotland) played left and right, rather than open and blind. French teams tend not to make a distinction between the two roles, and their flankers also usually play left and right rather than open and blind: thus, Serge Betsen (France) wears the number six (which in most teams denotes a blindside flanker) but may pack down on either the open or blind sides of the scrum, and will often harass the opposition fly-half in the manner of an openside; like Calder and Jeffrey for Scotland, he and Olivier Magne have, in recent years, formed an outstanding left-right partnership for France. [citation needed] South African teams generally use openside and blindside flankers [citation needed], but play the faster, more agile 'fetcher' in the number six shirt, while the larger (blindside) flanker wears seven. George Smith is a notable flanker who sometimes played on the blindside, but nowadays plays on the openside.

Flankers in the International Rugby Hall of Fame include: Jean-Pierre Rives (France), Jean Prat (France), Michael Jones (New Zealand), Ian Kirkpatrick (New Zealand), Dave Gallaher (New Zealand), Wavell Wakefield (England) and Francois Pienaar (South Africa). Graham Mourie (New Zealand) and Fergus Slattery (Ireland and Lions) will be inducted in October 2007.