[minor updated revisions and some elaborations are in brackets]

The system was conceived in late 1983 and developed early in 1984 and implemented in the practice and play of teams at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where I was a tactician and assistant coach .

originally published in RUGBY, "Coaches Corner," 21 January 1985
under first North American serial rights as submitted
©1984-2000 by Dean Franklin "Frank" Coffman, Jr. / all subsequent rights reserved
Contact the author at fcoffman@pobox.com for permissions or information.

The distinctive thing about how players learned and went about carrying the ball is that it remained principally unchanged for more than 125 years. Club captains and senior players would organize such practices as there were (for the most part, they were only scrimmages and practice games), and demonstrated the skills of running and passing, sidestep, swerve, change-of-pace, the classic fall-away pass, etc. These early practices and hard game experiences were the ways novices learned.

The British did not take to the notion of coaching until the 1960's, although it had begun more than a generation earlier in the former colonies of New Zealand and South Africa. They felt that if players were fit and experienced, the individual "flair" of the backs and the strength of the forwards would prevail. To them, the notion of a planned or signalled move among the backs was nearly unthinkable: it stifled creativity.

However, by the time Izak van Heerden's Tactical and Attacking Rugby appeared in 1967, many of the game's theorists were becoming convinced that the battle on the rugby field needed a definite plan of attack -- needed tactics as well as pre-game strategies.

This is not to say that every backline did not have its pet attacking combinations and ploys. Rather, there was no consensus on what to call these moves, how to call them, or when to use them.

The resulting confusion has continued to this day. Although most people in the game understand such terms as "miss," "loop," and "scissors," they use such terms as "crash ball" with little consistency. Some terms, like van Heerden's "pocket" moves, have fallen out of general use in the common rugby vocabulary, and so, in the American game at least, are rarely seen. The non-use of a term has resulted in the relative non-use of a move.

There is a need for standardization of terminology and a simplification of the way we call plays [ploys]. Here is one place where American rugby can borrow from the game's over-specialized hybrid, American gridiron football.

This type of borrowing has two advantages. First, the tacticians of American football have devised, over the decades, an elaborate and descriptive system to tell 11 men what to do in an audible signal that takes only a few seconds to call. Second, as most American ruggers have played gridiron football, they have worked with this type of play-calling system.

What gridiron tacticians devised many years ago was the system of numbering the "holes" in the line (the gaps between linemen through which the numbered backs were to run). The standard system became odd holes left, even holes right. The standard back numbers became QB-#1, LH-#2, RH-#3, FB-#4. So, a fullback dive between the guard and tackle to the right of center would be called "44 dive," or simply 44. [Of course there were still some idiosyncratic labels and numbersings, but this was the basis of the system.]

The merit of this system is obvious: it quickly and efficiently tells a ball carrier [and the line ahead of him] what to do and where to do it.

A similar system can be usefully applied to backline play [ploy]-calling in rugby. If the backs are numbered according to their positions, one can call a play [ploy] with a command that includes only a 2-digit number and a single word or phrase. The first digit of the number is that of the ball carrier who initiates the move (all passing prior to the move is assumed to be normal passing out from the scrum half to wing on the open side). The second digit is the number of the player who is designated to receive the ball. The word or phrase describes the type of pass or action necessary for the move. In some few cases, a third number or a longer word or phrase may be needed.

The numbering of the backs is as follows:

An abbreviated list of code words follows:

A team that adopts this system and extends the code word vocabulary should be able to call and execute even complicated moves simply and quickly. These compound moves are, as the name would imply, usually combinations of more simply called plays [ploys]. For example, the play should be a dummy scissors between the centers with the fullback joining the line. The call would be "245 Cross-Join." The third digit represents the ultimate receiver. The second code word represents the second action of this two-part play [ploy]. Where the fullback joins can even be indicated: "join-in" for inside the wing, "join-out" for outside.

This play [ploy]-calling system has the virtues for which it was designed: it is quick to call, easy to understand, descriptive of the action indicated, and comprehensive. It has proven effective in the coaching of players at the University of Illinois, and was instrumental in our club's sweep of both "A" and "B" divisions of our Union Championship. Young initiates to the game, familiar with American gridiron, have mastered it quickly, and older players have adapted to it readily.

[And, in addition, it offers other potentialities and implementations.] [First,] It should be useful as a standardized shorthand for scouting the opposition, one of the new additions to rugby and another borrowing from the American game.

[Second,] It can be used inventively by the rugby tactician. By playing with the numbers and words, one can hit upon a few new, workable plays. One can come up with new varieties of what van Heerden calls "moves of enterprise and surprise . . . advanced tactical moves of evasion and deception -- the 'foxy' moves which bring the tries, and put magic in the game." ^[2]

[Third,] If the player understands the system fully, it should enable him to visualize and execute plays [ploys] never previously practiced: for the call describes the play so that the player can see the move in "instant pre-play."

The example ploys that were illustrated for the article and their respective captions are as follows:

Note: Differences between this system and the USARFU Guidelines for club coaching include:

1) "In" and "Out" in the USARFU Guidelines designate the positions of the weakside wing and/or fullback when entering the backline.

2) "Cut" is the equivalent to "Scissors" in the Guidelines.

3) "Skip" is equivalent to "Miss" in the Guidelines.

4) "Around" is equivalent to "Loop" in the Guidelines.

NOTES:

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[1] A part of the inscription on the plaque embedded in the wall near the original pitch on the "Close" at Rugby School. [use your browser's BACK command or Click Here to return to the text]

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[2] from the opening chapter of Tactical and Attacking Rugby by Izak van Heerden [use your browser's BACK command or Click Here to return to the text]