Angle tackling and pursuit

Setup

1. Contact level: thud. Full speed to the moment of contact, then both players stay on their feet. Nobody goes to the ground.
2. Full helmet and shoulder pads. A coach watches every rep and blows the whistle to end it.
3. Mark a box about 15 yards square, with the top edge as the sideline and an end cone at the sideline corner.
4. The ball carrier starts at the bottom-left corner. The tackler starts 15 yards across, on the inside. The pursuer starts 10 yards deeper.
5. Count this drill towards the team's weekly limit on full-contact time.

How it runs

1. On the whistle, the ball carrier runs at three-quarter speed for the end cone at the sideline.
2. The tackler closes inside-out, keeping the carrier on their inside shoulder and pushing them to the sideline.
3. Tackler fits, wraps and drives the carrier 2 yards towards the sideline; the coach whistles and both stay up.
4. The pursuer sprints a deep angle to where the ball will be, not where it is, and arrives under control to finish with a two-hand touch.
5. Rotate: carrier to pursuer, pursuer to tackler, tackler to carrier.

Coaching points

• Inside-out leverage: stay a yard behind the ball, so the carrier can't cut back.
• Close the space fast, then buzz the feet and sink the hips 2 yards out.
• Near shoulder into the near thigh. The head goes up and behind the carrier, never across the front.
• Wrap, squeeze and drive the feet towards the sideline.
• The pursuer takes a flatter angle the deeper they start, so they arrive in front of the ball, not behind it.

Common mistakes

• Overrunning the carrier and giving up the cutback.
• Head across the front of the carrier; the coach stops the rep straight away.
• Lunging from too far away instead of closing with the feet.
• The pursuer chasing the carrier's back instead of running to a point ahead of them.