Right, so I’ve been feeling like my game at scrum-half has been a bit, well, vanilla. Super predictable. You know the drill: dig out, short pass, predictable box kick. Honestly, it was starting to bore me, and I bet it wasn’t much fun for anyone else either. I started watching some of the French nines, guys like Dupont, and they’re just different, aren’t they? They don’t just go through the motions; they create chaos, they attack, they’re always a threat. So, I figured, I need a bit of that in my life. My mission for today’s session was to try and inject some of that French flair into my own play.
I headed down to the local pitch, just me, a bag of balls, and a few cones. Didn’t need much else, because most of this, I reckon, is a mindset shift as much as a physical one. The plan wasn’t to become Antoine Dupont overnight, because let’s be real, that’s not happening. But I wanted to break some of my old, boring habits.
So, what did I actually try?
Well, I didn’t just focus on one thing. I figured if I was going to try and be less predictable, my practice had to reflect that. A bit of this, a bit of that.
First up, passing. My bread and butter, sure, but it needed some spice. I worked on:
- Quicker releases. Getting the ball away faster, even when I imagined pressure.
- Flat, hard passes. Not those loopy ones that give the defense all day to read it.
- A few cheeky no-look attempts. Some went beautifully to the imaginary winger, others nearly took out a pigeon. You win some, you lose some.
- Passing off both hands with more venom, trying to disguise which way I was going.
It felt weird at first. My muscle memory was screaming at me to just do the simple thing. But I pushed through. The aim wasn’t perfection, it was to get comfortable with being a bit more audacious.
Then, the kicking game needed a rethink.
My usual box kicks are fine, I guess. Safe. But “safe” wasn’t the theme of the day. I wanted to explore those little dinks over the top, the grubbers into space that can unlock a defense. The kind of kicks that make defenders turn and panic. Yeah, a few of them rolled harmlessly dead or went straight to an imaginary fullback, which was frustrating. But when one or two came off, and I could see the space I was aiming for, it felt pretty good. It’s a high-risk, high-reward kind of thing, and that’s what those French guys seem to thrive on.
And of course, the running threat.
This was the big one for me. I’m often guilty of just being a distributor. Get the ball, pass the ball. But the best nines, especially the French ones, are always looking for that little gap, that snipe around the fringes. So, I set up some cones to simulate the edge of a ruck and just practiced exploding into those gaps. Lots of short, sharp bursts. Changing direction. Trying to keep my head up and scan. My legs were burning pretty quickly, I tell ya. It’s a different kind of fitness, that explosive, repeated effort. Made me appreciate how hard those guys work off the ball.
Throughout all this, I kept asking myself, “What’s the unexpected play here? What would make the defense second-guess?” It was a constant internal battle against my own ingrained habits.
What did I really get from all this faffing about?
Well, for one, it’s a lot harder than it looks on TV. Shocker, I know. You see these guys pull off these amazing plays, and it looks so effortless. But trying to replicate even a fraction of that creativity under simulated pressure, even self-imposed, is tough. My execution was messy at times. Balls went astray. Kicks were overhit. My imaginary snipes probably would have run straight into a forward in a real game half the time.
But the biggest takeaway? It’s not just about the flashy skill. It’s about the decision-making. It’s about reading the game, seeing the space before it’s even there, and then having the guts to try something. That “controlled chaos” they talk about? It really is controlled. It’s not just running around like a headless chicken hoping for the best. There’s a thought process behind it, even if it’s happening at lightning speed.
So, was I suddenly transformed into a world-class French scrum-half? Absolutely not. My passing still needs work, my kicks were inconsistent, and my snipes were more like sluggish darts. But, you know what? It felt good to break the mould. It felt good to try. I’m going to keep chipping away at this. Maybe dedicate parts of my regular training to these more unpredictable elements. See if I can slowly, carefully, start to bring one or two of these things into a game situation. It’s a long road, but hey, at least it won’t be boring.
