Rugby Tactics: Quick Ruck Ball Key to Wasps Success

Wasps have had an impressive start to their European Champions Cup campaign, dispatching two of the biggest teams in Europe in Leinster and an all star Toulon. Today The Deadballarea takes a look at a crucial facet of their play that allows them to attack so well.

While there is a long way to go in the competition, their brand of fast dynamic ball in hand rugby has caught many fans’ eyes, and key to that has been their ability to ruck quickly and efficiently, keeping defences unsettled and moving backwards whilst they flood forward at pace.

In this video we look at how key their rucking skills have been to this style of play.

What is important to note is how they try to attack shoulders instead of chests, dominate the initial contact, or at least taking it on their terms.

Also watch how their excellent decision making and ball placement on the floor keeps the tempo of the ruck and attack nice and high –  as outlined in our Rucking Drills exercise, watch how players wait for ruck clearers to pass before placing the ball back cleanly, concentrating on keeping control until the ball is cleared by the scrumhalf.

As we’ve seen in previous videos, again simple core skills done well under pressure make it easy to maintain a high tempo, once again proving that if teams get the basics right, the result will take care of itself. This holds true for teams at all levels of the game.