Hi Paul

From my experience i would say that a good scrum half needs to have very good decision making and communciative skills i.e when the ball should be slung wide, when he needs to take the pressure off his fly half and box kick himself, when to pull a forward out of the ruck to drive the ball on etc etc

Whilst factors such as speed and being able to tackle as you say are obviously highly beneficial, if he is not able to communicate with and take charge of the forwards in front of him and make the right decisions at the right time then no matter how quick you are - you wont necessarily make a good scrum half.

In terms of physical qualities - his speed will be a major bonus enabling him to make annoying sniping runs that scrum halves do! - so acceleration is crucial. Furthermore from a skill perspective his passing would need to be of top notch (preferably off both hands).

Rugby is a highly athletic and physically demanding sports so factors such as speed, strength and power are essential to every player in today's age.

So my advice would be to concentrate on his weak areas and focus on decision making and perceptual awareness drills for example.

Hope this waffle helps!

James

really all the decision making the scrum half needs to do is:

a. do i give it to the fly half (who should have first say in the matter)
b. do i create something myself.

Really its the fly half running the show, and if HE wants it to go wide then it should.

This means you must have a strong character at no.10

The fly half usually has a call for when theres nothing happening in the backs, and the scrum-half will pop a pass to a forward, or create a gap for a forward to go through, or a high chip on the blind winger so he can be pushed into touch.

However he must play with his head up (a la Matt Dawson) for the occassional run, but he MUST be sure its not when they have a 2 man overlap in the backs!

Whilst i fully agree that the fly half is the true general of the team, and maybe at a basic level a scrum half has to make 2 decisions. But to be a complete scrum half you have to make more than 2 decisions.

Whilst the forwards will have a pack leader - the scrum half is the one who can see the forwards in front of him. When you watch a decent scrum half - he will be pulling forwards out of rolling mauls and getting them to drive in better positions, constantly talking to them where the ball is, arranging defense around the base of a ruck or maul etc etc

May be necessary to take the pressure of the fly half, by kicking himself. Can he see the space to kick behind the back line when the oppostion full back has been sucked in and turned over, maybe by the time the ball was passed to the fly half the opposition may have got defenders retreating back to defensive positons.

There may be an overlap on the blind side even though the fly half is standing on the open side for etc etc

The point i am trying to make is that making the right decisions and communication is 'generally' more important as a scrum half than as a winger.

Cheers

James

understand your point, but when the scrum half get his hands on the ball, he makes just two decisions. I know it sounds little, but they are vitally important.

Mind if I stick my 2 pence worth in?

When the scrum half gets his hands on the ball the decision is already made. Approach, asses options, act. Must also be able to react to un-forseen events and make split second decisions.
It is often a good idea to plan about 3 phases ahead to help with this. it doesn't always work out but reduces mistakes and if a scrum half makes a mistake he is probably going to be forgiven less than any other player as he is the only player everyone is watching most of the game.

The key decisions are-
1-ball to 10?
2-crash ball to forward? (call this before you get to the ruck)
3-forward to pick and go? (do this when backs are regrouping or 10 is involved in ruck or on opposition try line)
4- take it on myself?
5- kick?

these decisions must all be made before a hand touches the ball. the whole time keeping an eye on opposition for offsides and encroaching. good way to gain penalties by alerting the ref.

There is much more but I've found these to be the 5 key decisions I make during games as a scrummie myself.

my god this thread is ancient