Zone 1

Objective

Zone 1 is without a doubt the most dangerous and nerve racking Zone for any team. The number one objective of Zone 1 is to get the ball out of Zone 1. Preferably this is done by kicking the ball into touch, so the defending team doesn’t have to worry about a counter attack. Counter attacks can be especially troublesome in this area since the forwards will be focused on maintaining possession, not on filling the field with defenders. The ball is considered out of Zone 1 when a ruck is set outside of the defending 22m line. By setting a ruck outside of the defending 22m line, the attacking team can no longer kick the ball directly into touch and gain any ground.

Scrum

An attacking scrum in Zone 1 creates an opportunity where the attacking team is in a position to clear the ball and get play moved to a safer zone. The challenge from a scrum in Zone 1 is that the defense is expecting a kick to touch. This means they will have their loose forwards coming off of the scrum attempting to pressure the kicker. Another consideration is that the backs receiving the kick are positioned to counter-attack. If the kick does not reach touch or provides the opportunity for a quick lineout, expect the receiving team to be hot on attack. As a result, there is no room for error for the team looking to clear the ball out of Zone 1.

One way to give your kicker time is to run a crash phase from the scrum. The specific move should play to the strength of the team but many times this is either an 8-man pick or a crash ball from 12. Stress with your captain and players that the goal of this move is not to break tackles. Instead, you want your ball carrier and supporting players to set a clean ruck that allows an easy pass from the halfback to the kicker.

Another option best used when several defenders are rushing the primary kicker is shown below. In this move the next best kicker lines up inside of the fly-half (directly behind the scrum). When 10 gets the ball, he can then pass it to the man lined up behind the scrum. The angle of this move makes it very hard for the loose forwards looking to charge down the kick to change direction and apply pressure. The danger here is that a loose forward who stays on an effective flanker running line will be in excellent position to charge down the kick if they can identify the second kicking option.

Lineout

From a lineout, the objective within Zone 1 remains the same, get the ball safely to touch. But first, you need to get the ball. A lineout is far from guaranteed possession. In Zone 1, the opposition doesn’t need to worry about their try line, so they’re free to contest in the air. This lineout call needs to be a high percentage choice, preferably with the smallest possible margin of error.

One factor to consider is which direction your scrum half passes best. In a perfect world, your scrumhalf will pass equally well with both hands. In reality, most ruggers will have a preference for one hand over the other. Since the majority of rugby players are right handed, this article assumes that your scrumhalf is as well. If you’re a lefty, simply do the opposite of what we’re outlining here.

The general rule of right vs. left side lineout play is that you want to help a scrum half who is throwing from their weak hand (towards their dominate hand). The simplest way to accomplish this is to limit the distance that the scrum half must pass the ball, by throwing the ball towards the back of the lineout. The second is to give them a little momentum when passing with their non-dominant hand, by dropping the ball off the top of the lineout to the scrum-half who is already moving towards the fly-half.

When thinking about executing a clearance kick from a lineout, the opposition fly-half is not an immediate concern since they must start 10m away from the first receiver. From most lineouts, the “gunner” (defender at the back of the lineout who breaks directly for the first receiver) or scrumhalf will typically apply the most pressure to the first receiver. As with scrums, performing an action to keep these defenders occupied can be an effective way to buy your kicker time. The primary goal of the crash ball is not to gain ground but to attract defenders and provide clean ball for the scrumhalf to pass to the kicker.

Another option for creating space and time for an exit kick is to set up a maul from the lineout. With this maul, you are not looking to gain ground. Instead, the forwards want to ensure the ball gets back to the scrum-half and delays the “gunner” and scrumhalf. When the ball is cleared and kicked by the fly-half, the wing on the near side will chase to put the forwards onside. Once the forwards are put onside they will occupy the train tracks and rely on the open-side flanker linking the forward line with the backs to nullify any counterattack.