Welcome to the Rugby League Coaching blog, rather that complete articles or drills, the blog is just a little area where we will muse over different coaching ideas. Have something to say that you think would be useful to others? Send it over and we may add it here.

14th July 2007 - What are overs and unders lines?

Ultimatley when coching Rugby League, you want your players to create an overlap or to drag deffenders out of position so that a hole is created in the defensive line for someone to go through!! Overs and Unders are a way of creating these holes for people to go through.

Overs and Unders are 2 completely different techniques but work on the same principle of dragging a defender one way or the other so that there is space between the defenders to go through.

Unders Lines

The player with the ball attacks Defender 2 and steps out to the right of him just before passing to the support player who runs straight at defender one and then steps into the gap at the last moment.

The whole point of the ball carrier stepping before he passes is that will pull that defender with him and increase the space that the support player has to run into. The support player steps at the last moment which will hopefully leave his defender stood up as he can't react quickly enough to stop the attacker going past him.

Overs Lines

Overs lines are the exact opposite of the unders lines. The ball carrier would run at defender2 and then step into the gap between him and defender 1, the support player would again run at the defeder and then step outside of him receiving the ball at the last moment.

Running unders and overs as a drill

Split your team into 2 lines, with 2 players on the tackle shields who are static. First of all dictat to your players whether they are running overs or unders, then increase it to a coach calling when they are half way towards the pads meaning that that players need to react in a short place of time.

To expand the drill increase the number of shields until you have 3 or 4 in with the ball going down the line with each player giving an unders ball and each one running a good line onto it. Finally you can allow your defenders to move with the shields and reacting to the ball carrier before making the drill full contact.

Coaching Points

• Correct grip and carry.
• Communicaton.
• Step outside of the defender to create a bigger hole.
• Receiver stepping at the last moment into the gap.
• When expanding the drill it will only work if the support player stays deep and times their run.