Positional Sense: Winger
The winger is the finisher of the team. He needs to knowhis way to the try line and be willing to work hard to getinto position to finish any opportunity created.
Physical Importance
A winger needs to have pace, but pace on its own is notenough. Wingers need to develop an outsidearcing run which is an excellent way to exploit a one onone situation.
Principals of an arcing run:The winger keeps the ball in two hands and runs at hisopposite man. He slows down and angles to cut inside. Asthe defender follows him he changes direction andaccelerates on the outside. By transferring the ball into hisoutside hand he can fend off on the inside if he needs to.
Work on:
- Changing pace and direction in training and work lots of realistic one against one scenarios.
- Switching the ball from two hands to one hand andback again while running at full pace.
- Practise skills in bothdirections.
Press ups will increase upper body strength and improvethe winger’s ability to fend effectively.
Arcing to Beat the Defender
Key Technique
The chip and chase is an excellent attacking weapon fora winger as often there is very little cover behind thedefender. It needs to be used sparingly and executedaccurately as it is usually used near the touch line.
The winger must carry the ball in twohands at all times and hide his intention to kick until thelast moment. The kick must be well timed so thedefender can’t block it but doesn’t have time to turn andwin the race for the ball.
Practise getting height on the kick rather than distance –the ball should just clear the oncoming defender and landjust behind him. This gives the winger a good chance tocatch the ball on the full.
Tactical Nous
Support play is an essential part of the winger’s role. Heneeds to be willing to run from one side of the pitch tothe other to receive a scoring pass. He also needs tounderstand the importance of arriving in support fromdepth and running onto the ball at pace.
He should hold his attacking runs until the last possiblemoment so he is almost struggling to get there in time.This ensures he arrives at pace and also hides theintention of the attack until the last moment.
Mental Strength
An effective winger is a greedy player. He has to be singleminded to get into scoring positions.