Attack
How England upset Ireland’s Grand Slam plans at Twickenham
Nick Bishop details the key ingredient that led to England’s upset 6N win over 6 to 1 favourite and Grand Slam-elect ...
Insight & analysis
Articles
Deep dives on the modern game from The Rugby Site's contributors and coaches.
Set Piece
Skrum, skrum, skrum: what is the future of the scrum after RGR 3? – part one
Refereeing culture and background clearly make a huge difference to the officiating of the scrum As Nick Bishop expertly illustrates a sp...
Analysis
Will All Black smarts outperform Springbok brawn in the RGR series?
There is more at work in this series than just a contest between the two best teams in the world, it is a battle for the future of the ga...
Latest posts
Kicking
Why Super Rugby Pacific was right to drop ‘Dupont’s Law’ from SRP 2024
Super Rugby Pacific have dumped World Rugby’s “Dupont’s Law” for their 2024 competition. As Nick Bishop details using...
Set Piece
Why the driving lineout is here to stay as a prime attacking platform
The driving lineout is fast becoming the most creative source of offensive thinking in the professional game. Using t...
Attack
How to attack wide – the Toulouse way!
The best attacking teams in the current era never take the apparent space they are offered on the edge without checki...
Defence
Why defences need to adjust quickly to early-phase strikes
Whatever the pattern of defence, every player needs to be on the same page in terms of their attitudes and adjustment...
Attack
How to create early attacking options from the “21”
If your charges can learn to run one play exceptionally well, you will force opponents to adjust to it – and that wil...
Attack
How to run a two-phase switchback attack with options
Nick Bishop looks at how leading teams are creating multiple threats early in the phase-count, and sustaining those t...
Breakdown
How to strike the balance between tackling and ‘jackling’ on D
As a result of the WR 2020 Breakdown Guidelines, the role of the jackler has changed, so it has attracted quicker, mo...
Attack
What the raw statistics from the RWC say about the attack-defence balance in the global game [part 2]
Nick Bishop looks in more detail at what happened when teams of the same general type played one another, or two side...
Coaches Corner
What the raw statistics from the World Cup say about the attack-defence balance in the global game [part 1]
The first part of this two-piece survey Nick Bishop researches key stats thrown up over the course of the competition...
Defence
Has New Zealand solved the puzzle of the rush defence? [part 2]
Has the the Rush defence puzzle been truly solved? Nick Bishop details the evidence from the recent RWC final.
Defence
Has New Zealand solved the puzzle of the rush defence? [part 1]
Can a Kiwi attack handle an all-out Test-level rush defence? In Part 1 of the 2 part analysis, Nick Bishop explains h...
