In the Full Back position we have 3 highly capable players with a good boot, speed and sure tackling and they are Ross Chan, Steven Shaffer and Donald Wood.
The Wing can be of any physique, for instance, two of the best Wings in Rugby were (listed Name, Height, Weight)
Jonah Lomu, 6'5", 265 and Shane Williams, 5'7", 176. Shane - relatively small, fast, nimble, known for his side-stepping. Jonah - large, heavy, strong, fast, known for not side-stepping.
Wings
Are good are both sides of the field, but here are some other qualities a wing has:
- Speed to burn, essential
- Acceleration is useful
- Good hands for taking the ball while running at speed
- agility, the ability to swerve and/or sidestep
* or the bulk to make being elusive unnecessary
As a Winger, they chase after the ball if it's on their side
- try to regain possession
- charge down any attempted clearing kick
- or contain the opposition player who gathers the ball.
The Wing is in position to support the centers with excellent rugby timing giving them options in continuing the play. A Wing if defending must tackle his opposite number. If in a position where there are more players coming with the ball in hand and don't have enough support in defense. The Wing must believe in his ability and the ability of the players inside to remain in position and tackle his own player.
This is a difficult thing to do because your first instinct is to tackle the ball, but they can't do that. They must remain in position to tackle their opposite number and leave those other players to their inside help/team-mates. As our players learn more about the game and practice with each other, they will gain that ability to trust themselves and their team-mates.
The Full Back
The Full Backs physiques are usually large-ish but not always, agile, speedy skills are more important. A Full Back should have the following:
- Great kicking ability - essential
- Great handling ability, especially for catch high balls
- Speed and accelleration are very useful
- Good vision and ability to read the game
- Know when to hang back and when to join the attack
- Great tackling ability and the attitude that NOBODY is going to get past him.
The Full Back might join in the back line formation running at high speed where he may be:
- a decoy runner
- might catch and run past his opposition
- might take the ball into contact with the opposition
- continue play with a clever kick, chip and chase
- maybe even slip the ball back inside to players coming through to support
The Full Back is the field general between his two Wings and the three of them work together with verbal and hand signals to insure the field is covered.
The Full Back along with his support Wing must guard against chip kicks and chases by the opposition and in the event the Full Back or Wing covers the ball they are communicating with each other on where the opposition is, stateing that they have time or they're under pressure. If they have time then they'll look to counter-attack, if they're under pressure, it's up the their support to get there and help secure the ball for our possession.
These positions are probably the easiest yet the hardest to coach or learn to play, because so much happens and you can't cover every situation in practice. But the Wings and Full Backs we have, all have picked up their position quite well and I expect them all to do very well in the future. Besides if they do excell at any of these positions and learn the game, then who knows maybe they'll become the next Scrum Half, Fly Half or even a Center. Or in Steven Hale and Zachary Ussery maybe become the next Flanker or Number 8.
This concludes all the positions on the Rugby Pitch, and if you have any questions regarding any of the positions or rugby in general, you can always contact me with your questions and I'll get you an answer. Or if you feel you'd like to know more about the game, there are a few books you can read. One book I highly recommend is "Rugby for Dummies" written by Pat Guthrie and Matt Brown. I personally played against both and have read their book and it is very interes