OFF THE FIELD

SPEED & AGILITY

Tuesday 13th February 2007

An essential element of successful rugby performance is to accelerate, change direction quickly and deceive the opposition. This requires development of speed and agility.

New Zealand international referee Steve Walsh has been sidelined by the International Rugby Board (IRB) following a complaint made by the British & Irish Lions about an incident when he was a touch judge in the tourists' match against Taranaki in June.

In rugby, the ability to accelerate, decelerate and change direction is more important than simply achieving high speed

How can speed and agility improve my performance?

Speed and agility training is an integral part of training for all top players, and can help you successfully perform the following rugby movements…

* Evading tacklers
* Catching attackers
* Retreating to referees commands
* Avoiding injury
* Lineout movements
* Catching passes and much more…

Agility has 3 fundamental elements – foot speed, balance, and reaction. These elements may be trained in isolation using various equipment like foot speed ladders, swiss balls, and balance boards.

For more information on speed & agility for rugby visit www.fitness4rugby.com