Biomechanics and Skill Analysis of Scrum-Half Passing Skills Part 1 by Mark Calverley.

The author is a Pom in New Zealand and he is currently completing the highest coaching paper (Certificate in Rugby) with the NZRFU and Massey University. He played for Nuneaton, Warwickshire, Nottingham, Harlequins, England U18, Great Britain Students and England Students Rugby League. He is now Head of Physical Education and 1st XV coach at Wanganui Collegiate School in New Zealand.

INTRODUCTION: What is biomechanics? a personal perspective Why use biomechanics? Efficient and appropriate technique.

GUIDING BIOMECHANICAL PRINCIPLES: Base of Support. Centre of Gravity. Force Summation. Newtons Laws of Motion. Levers. Torque and Rotation. Acceleration distance.

APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES: HALFBACK SKILLS & PRACTICES Footwork. Approach. Hand placement (on ball). Rotation (and ball delivery). IDENTIFYING, ANALYSING AND CORRECTING PROBLEMS: Video analysis Passing drills and practices

Centre of Gravity (COG) & Base of Support (BOS).

Standing normally (anatomical position) the centre of gravity (COG) is generally centrally located in the body at around belly-button height. The COG can be moved in any direction by moving various body parts i.e. COG goes up if the athlete raises his arms, goes more to the left if he moves both arms left etc. (Refer Fig 3.) The base of support determines stability and balance. The wider the base of support and the more points in contact with the base, the greater the athletes actual stability.

Notice that the base of support in picture 1 is short and narrow, meaning that he is less stable. He is also less stable because he only has one point of contact with the ground. The wheelchair athlete is the most stable as his base of support is wide, spread over a wider surface area and has four points of contact (wheels). (He also has a lower centre of gravity.)

The golfer has two points of contact and a moderate base of support to keep him in balance. Stability becomes compromised when the Vertical (line of gravity) from the COG moves towards the edge of the base of support. Once the GOG moves outside the base of support, the athlete will lose balance and have to correct his stance or risk falling over.

Example 1 shows the athlete in perfect balance, with his COG directly over the BOS (VLG) Example 2 shows the athlete in balance, but with the COG moving towards the edges of the BOS (VLG) Example 3 shows the athlete out of balance as their COG (VLG) is outside his BOS. He needs to re-set his BOS (or fall over).

The balance of any sportsman may be further improved by lowering the COG (picture1 below) as the VLG has further to travel (i.e. a greater angle,) before shifting outside the BOS. For the scrum-half pass, the player will bend his legs slightly in order to add flex to the swing, but it also to helps to control balance whilst moving and swinging. Obviously a

COG that was too low would hinder other mechanical principles (i.e. leverage to be explained later) and needs to be balanced accordingly.

This picture shows a scrum-half with a wide base of support, a low(ish) centre of gravity and the vertical line of gravity within the edges of the base of support. The result is a pass that can be executed in balance.

This picture shows the scrum-half with a narrower base of support, a comparatively high centre of gravity and the vertical line of gravity near the edges of the base of support. The result is lack of balance and control. The likelihood is that the scrum-half will need to readjust his feet and centre of gravity in order to produce an efficient or effective pass. Shifting horizontal and vertical positions of the COG through movement.

Summation of Forces
Successfully completing any passing swing requires that the scrum-half co-ordinates the body parts throughout the skill so that they link together, in order, smoothly, effortlessly and in control. This is often referred to as timing. 1. For the forward phase of the pass, the movement and force is initiated in the ankles, legs and hips, then through the trunk and shoulders and finally the arms and wrists finish off the movement as the ball is thrown. 2. Try to complete a number of skills (throwing, hitting and kicking) and work out what order the skill forces operate best in. Then try to mix the order up and again complete the skill. It will feel awkward and success will be limited.

Obviously, all of the skills need to be linked together at the optimum performance time for the skill to be successful and with perfect timing. The next graph illustrates two complete passes. The first example shows the perfect summation of forces, the second shows the summation in the correct order, but with poor timing.

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Newtons 1st Law Of Motion

An object at rest (stationary) will remain at rest unless acted upon by an external force

Explanation: This means that the rugby ball will remain stationary until the scrum-half passes it. (Or some other force affects it i.e. another player, wind etc.)

Newtons 2nd Law Of Motion

When a force acts upon a mass, the result will be the acceleration of that mass

Explanation: This builds upon Law 1 to state that when the ball is passed it accelerates. Or, when the swing is done properly it begins smoothly and ends controlled but fast. Therefore, the arms/body are accelerating towards the desired target.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction Explanation: As the scrum-half passes the ball, the opposite reaction is for the ball to accelerate away proportionately to the force applied to it. ie., a ball passed hard will accelerate quickly, whereas a ball passed softly will accelerate less quickly. I have always thought that these Laws of Motion were blindingly obvious and rather simplistic, but they are none-the-less true to the principles and techniques we are looking at. Newtons 3rd law ( For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) is the main law in terms of analysing technique, as any problem that occurs at the end of the pass can be traced back to the start of the pass (with the exception of high wind conditions etc.).

LEVERS
For human movement (including all forms of rotation) there are three possible levers (called classes 1st class, 2nd class and 3rd class) that are used. There are three parts to each lever: The LOAD (L) (also sometimes referred to as RESISTANCE) The PIVOT (P) (also sometimes referred to as the FULCRUM) The EFFORT (E) (also sometimes referred to as the FORCE)

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The key part of understanding which level is which (1st, 2nd or 3rd class) is to look at which part is located in the middle of the lever, as it remains constant when the example is looked at from in front or behind. (Remember also, that the load, effort and pivot can be shifted to different points on the line this affects leverage potential, leverage effectiveness, power generated and amount of effort required. These are all points that you will experience in your practical application of levers.)

Examples of this would include a Leg Press (below) or Rowing where the oar pivots around the rowlock. The load/resistance is the water and the rower pulling is the effort.

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For a THIRD CLASS LEVER the EFFORT is always in the middle.

Examples include: Most sporting movements, especially bicep curl, kicking and passing (see below).

(NB This diagram has been simplified. There are other pivot points i.e. wrists, shoulder etc. with their own resistance and effort points.)

The 3rd class lever is the most common in rugby and applies to a multitude of skills (i.e. kicking, passing, pushing, tackling etc.) The picture above shows the shoulder as the pivot, the ball as the load and the direction of the swinging arms is the direction of effort. Once coaches understand how to identify types of levers, the key principle is then to understand how and why forces are applied and affected by the length of lever.

FORCE ARM V RESISTANCE ARM The FORCE ARM is the distance from where a FORCE/EFFORT is applied to the PIVOT

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The RESISTANCE/LOAD ARM is the distance from where a RESISTANCE/LOAD acts in relation to the PIVOT

The length and size of the FORCE ARM and RESISTANCE ARM have a profound and distinct effect in all sports, and especially passing. The longer the lever (RA) the greater the swing speed generated. (i.e. long arms produce greater force and longer passes). However, long levers can be more difficult to control due to their length. The shorter the lever (RA) the easier it is to control the ball direction, but less power and arm speed can be generated (with equal effort) than for the longer lever. (Scrum-halfs generally have short levers, but make up/compensate for the lack of lever length through muscle mass and efficient technique. The pass off the ground can be done with a greater resistance arm if the scrum-half adopts a wide base of support and places the ball near the back foot, thus maximising the swing distance.) Generally then we can assume that: SHORT LEVERS: EASY TO CONTROL, BUT LACK SPEED AND LENGTH OF PASS (UNLESS EXTRA STRENGTH AND MUSCLE MASS IS APPLIED.) LONG LEVERS: HARDER TO CONTROL, GENERATE MORE SPEED AND LENGTH OF PASS, BUT CAN BE SCRAGGED BY THE OPPOSITION IN THE PROCESS OF PASSING.

Torque & Rotation

TORQUE:

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Torque basically means a turning or spinning force. The speed of the torque is determined by how much and how far from the GOG force is applied (an eccentric force.) (Torque = FORCE (F) x DISTANCE (D) For the scrum-half this has two main effects: Firstly, the scrum-half himself generates torque as he rotates the arms to initiate the back swing and then the forward swing. The heavier and longer the lever being used (i.e. arm length and swing length) the greater the torque, as the mass of the ball is further away from the body, causing a more powerful turning effect. Secondly, the ball can have considerable torque (either deliberately or accidentally) when passed, depending on how far from the COG it is held by the controlling hand (the hand at the back of the ball.).

ROTATION: When passing, the scrum-half needs to be careful not to over-rotate about the vertical plane. By letting go of the ball too late and over-rotating, the result can be that the ball goes too high. The scrum-half can minimise this rotational effect by adopting and maintaining a low body position prior to, during and immediately after the pass.

Similar over-rotation on the horizontal plane results in a horizontal curved ball path, which is harder to control and less accurate when aiming for a specific target (i.e. in front of the receiving player.) This is probably the most common mistake made by scrum-halfs and usually results from poor/inefficient footwork and placement.

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Inevitably a mixture of both rotations is used when passing off the ground. This is called ELIPTICAL ROTATION, as the scrum-half needs to lift the ball off the ground (vertical) and then impart spin (torque) to the ball to speed the pass up (horizontal).

A pass that is consistently efficient (i.e. it stays straight and on-line to the target throughout flight) will utilise a very flat vertical rotation (i.e. the arc of a wide circle) and will try to eliminate as much horizontal or elliptical upper body movement as possible. The diagrams below (A and B) take a birds-eye view on the path of the scrum-halfs hands when passing. The hand path in diagram A is following a tight arc and this means that the optimum release point for a straight flight path (#2) is very precise and quick. This means the potential for releasing a less accurate pass (#2 too early, or #3 too late and behind the target) is markedly increased. This type of rotation occurs when too much upper body horizontal rotation is applied to the pass (usually a result of poor foot placement).

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Diagram B clearly shows a flatter arc of movement taken by the hands and as a result the optimum release points are more spread out. Thus, the passer is passing down the line of aim longer, resulting in greater accuracy. A useful comparison is the greater accuracy of a rifle compared with a hand gun, as the rifle has a longer barrel and the bullet remains on target longer before it is released (exits the barrel). The potential for accuracy is increased and, even if the ball is released too early (1) or too late (2), the pass is closer to the desired target (2) that in diagram A due to the flatter passing arc.

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This example of rotation can easily be used with FORCE SUMMATION to educate the scrum-half (or coach) into understanding the technical aspects of the skill and evaluating inefficient technique. The principles can easily be adapted and adopted for other skills such as general passing, kicking (especially place and drop kicks) and hookers throwing in (etc).

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